Restoration and conservation of dry grasslands

Maintenance and management of urban nature, Protection of natural ecosystems, Knowledge creation and awareness raising, Monitoring and maintenance of habitats and/or biodiversity

1)Apply best practice actions to protect and restore the two habitats and the butterfly species associated with them within the three Natura 2000 sites. 2)Reduce/eliminate the threats to the habitats/species, in particular, abandonment and/or unregulated grazing and invasion of alien species. 3)Establish a common approach for the long-term protection of these habitats based on sound monitoring of the two habitats and of the butterflies species which depend on them 4)Increase the level of awareness of the local population and stakeholders (local farmers) on the importance of these habitats (1). 5)conservation of the butterfly species associated with these habitats, in particular, Eriogaster catax and Melanargia arge" (1).

1)Implementation of grazing plans in collaboration with local breeders in order to avoid over/under-grazing and to achieve multiple benefits for both habitats/butterflies and livestock; 2)Install a “squared-standing fence” on each of the areas, to preserve the plant species from pasture, allowing the survey and species identification, comparing the evolution of the vegetation with and without grazing. 3)Information and environmental education in schools,integrating 4 educational packages provided by the project,redesigned as innovative teaching tools, particularly effective in amplifying the educational and training tasks. 4)Creation of informative materials, aimed to increase the communication and spreading of both project objectives and results.(ref.3) 5)Selective removal of shrubs, eradication of ruderal species and of invasive alien plant species, to recover the surface of dry grasslands colonised by these plants (ref.9)

• Local government/Municipality
• Citizens or community groups