“Open Areas” Seminar at Tuscia University

A different kind of dissemination: specialist seminars

LIFE projects envisage a plethora of options for dissemination. One of these is to inform a more selected audience, with a specific interest in areas of the project, for example the protection of open areas. For this reasion, LIFE LANNER met students of the Tuscia University taking part in the “Geomatics for territorial planning” course of the MSc course in “Conservation and Restoration of the Environment and Forests” of the DAFNE Department. The students have dealt with the theme of the loss of open areas, and the different consequences on the species associated with them.

LIFE LANNER on the field with students

The first encounter was on March 17 at the Marturanum Regional Park. Together we visited a construction site where areas are being recovered from the colonization of thorny bushes. Due to lack of management, this process has limited the available land both for the wildlife of the Park and for the livestock grazing in the municipal fields of Barbarano Romano. During the construction phase, the students learned about the phases of vegetation cutting (planning, scheduling, obtaining legal authorizations), the machinery involved, and the complexity of this procedure.

On the field with students from Tuscia University

The importance of open areas

The second meeting took place on March 29 at the University, during course hours. Part of this course dealt with the theme of the loss of open areas through cartographic reconstructions. This topic goes hand in hand with one of the actions brought by LIFE LANNER: reopening spaces colonized by shrubby vegetation, to ensure sufficient space for all the species connected to them, including the lanner falcon. The scientific literature shows that the loss of pastures and other open areas is a direct threat to the conservation of the diversity of many vegetation, animal and landscape systems.

During the seminar we presented the LIFE LANNER project, and more generally the European LIFE program as a financing source for the management and conservation of European biodiversity referred to in the Directives 92/43/EEC “Habitat” and 2009/147/EC “Birds”.