Application of biotic indicators for evaluation of sustainable land use

current procedures and future developments

authored by

Elisabeth Osinski, Uwe Meier, Wolfgang Büchs, Joerg Weickel, Bettina Matzdorf

Abstract

Indicators in the field of bio-diversity and landscape are applied on various levels, including the continental field as well as the individual agricultural enterprise. Apart from the ecological evaluation of agricultural enterprises and agrarian policy measures, indicators are also used in environmental reporting and evaluation as well as in planning or simulation models in administrative and scientific fields. Already for longer period of time, indicators have been used as assessment criteria in landscape planning to support decisions regarding land use. Due to the standards the EU commission requires from the member states in this regard, the application of indicators to assess the effects of agri-environment programs have gained prominence. The EU requires proof of the achievement of the promotion aims such as soil (erosion, nutrients, plant-protective agents), water, bio-diversity and landscape (EU/VO 12004/00). This commitment can be met by means of a functioning environmental reporting. However, only an insufficient number of suitable indicators exist in the fields of bio-diversity and landscape. In a bottom-up approach, control systems to assess ecological farming achieved on an operational level for a future development were recently developed. Here, a future development is seen in the alignment referring to results or goals, respectively, and in the regionalisation. The article gives an overview of the indicator application on different spatial levels and for different purposes.

External Organisation(s)

Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Julius Kühn Institute - Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants (JKI)
DLR Rheinhessen-Nahe-Hunsrück
Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)

Type

Article

Journal

Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment

Volume

98

Pages

407-421

No. of pages

15

ISSN

0167-8809

Publication date

09.2003

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, Animal Science and Zoology, Agronomy and Crop Science

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 15 - Life on Land

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8809(03)00100-2 (Access: Closed)