Client: Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
The multifunctionality of the alpine pastures in Austria is based on a close connection between ecological, economic and socio-cultural factors. In the EVALM project the effects of the LE 07-13 program on the Austrian alpine pastures were evaluated as a whole and its influence was analyzed. The evaluation was able to show which concrete contribution individual or the LE measures as a whole influence the situation of alpine farming in Austria in ecological, economic and socio-cultural terms and what interactions there are between the measures.
Detailed surveys such as company interviews, vegetation-ecological mapping and interviews were carried out on individual farms and on test alpine pastures. These data were combined with the nationwide INVEKOS analyses. This made it possible to determine the socio-cultural and economic importance of alpine farming for the farms involved and the ecological state of the alpine pastures. The evaluation results were discussed and supplemented in three workshops with national and international experts and stakeholders.
In the project Suske Consulting led an interdisciplinary team consisting of Suske consulting, the Austrian Board for Agricultural Engineering and Rural Development (ÖKL), the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA), Birdlife Austria and Nature Consult.