The project

Raising water levels is the key factor for habitat optimisation in many areas. Water management that benefits meadow bird conservation can only be carried out permanently on public land. Thus, land acquisition is an essential requirement to achieve the project goals. Further funds must be raised for this purpose. We aim at purchasing 2.000 ha of land for meadow bird conservation in Lower Saxony.

In total, grassland habitats of 21,000 ha shall be optimised in Lower Saxony, including high water tables, low predation rates, open landscapes, and low-intensity farming. Additional funding is necessary to promote concentrated grassland bird conservation in the remaining bird sanctuaries. For this purpose, we primarily use European and federal funding sources.

The project team applies for funding from the European funding programme LIFE almost every year. In addition, the EAFRD and ERDF funding programmes are used to get further funding to implement measures on public land. The State of Lower Saxony usually provides the co-financing for these projects.

Smaller measures with a shorter duration are financed by the state's own funding programmes. Here, we collaborate with the competent district nature conservation authorities.