PARTRIDGE is a project co-funded by the North Sea Region Programme 2014 – 2020 which will look at how new management solutions can improve biodiversity and ecosystem services by up to 30%.
Our overall objective is to bring about a change in behaviours and working practices, in particular in regards to the uptake of agri-environment schemes, for the long-term sustainable management of farmland ecosystems. To achieve this goal we will work and interact with a wide range of rural key stakeholders, build capacity among all regional and national environment agencies of the NSR, and promote information exchange between them.
Over 7% of each demonstration site will be enhanced with existing and new high-quality wildlife habitats using tailored local management plans complemented by winter feeding and predation management. We will develop and field test new transnational monitoring protocols to provide evidence that our new solutions work, and to promote efficient tools for long-term cross-border comparison of conservation measures. We will complement our multidisciplinary approach by collecting and disseminating new socio-economic information on rural stakeholder behaviour which is necessary to improve the uptake and efficiency of agri-environment schemes across the EU member states. PARTRIDGE (Protecting the Area?s Resources Through Researched Innovative Demonstration of Good Examples), is one of 11 new projects which were approved recently by the Interreg North Sea Region.
The hunter groups in Belgium at the demo sites are responsible for the winter feeding and legal predator control, and they also contribute to the habitat management (see http://www.northsearegion.eu/partridge/press-releases/hunters-provide-extra-partridge-habitat-at-partridge-demonstration-site-ramskapelle-in-belgium/). Hunter groups in both demo and reference areas are involved with the monitoring of game species, which is carried out in a scientific way to evaluate the project results.
Country: Belgium,Germany,Netherlands,United Kingdom, UK
Starting date: 2017
Species: Partridge (Perdix Perdix)
Species characteristics: Huntable species, Protected species, Threatened species, Abundant species
Type of actions: Management of habitats and wildlife, Research and data collection, Communication, Policy work
Leading partners: Game and Wildlife Conservation Trusts (GWCT) (https://www.gwct.org.uk/);Hubertus Vereniging Vlaanderen (HVV) (https://hvv.be/);Instituut Natuur- en Bosonderzoek (https://www.inbo.be/);Vlaamse Landmaatschappij (VLM) (https://www.vlm.be/en);Agrobeheer Centrum (http://www.agrobeheercentrum.be/);Inagro (https://leden.inagro.be/);Vogelbescherming Nederland (https://www.vogelbescherming.nl/);Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/1.html);Stichting Landschapsbeheer Zeeland (https://landschapsbeheerzeeland.nl/);Het Zeeuwse Landschap (https://www.hetzeeuwselandschap.nl/);Brabants Landschap (http://www.brabantslandschap.nl/);Deutsche wildtier Stiftung (https://www.deutschewildtierstiftung.de/);Deutscher Jagdverband (DJV) (https://www.jagdverband.de/);Manfred Hermsen Stiftung (http://www.m-h-s.org/stiftung/front_content.php)
