The LIFE Grace project aims to define and implement governance tools to be applied in the three SPAs of the project:

1. a cooperation model for the management of semi-natural grasslands
2. a cooperation model for biodiversity monitoring
3. a promotion model for co-marketing

These are three models of collaboration that integrate and complement each other with the aim of promoting the conservation of semi-natural grasslands, through extensive grazing, the promotion of quality products from grass-fed farms, the creation of short supply chains and consumer awareness, establishing a structured cooperation framework that involves all the actors in the territory, starting from the breeders, up to the bodies responsible for its management and the various subjects of the meat supply chain.

1. Cooperation model for the management of semi-natural grasslands

For the purpose of maintaining and conserving the surfaces of the target habitats, 6210(*), 6220*, 6230*, LIFE Grace has developed a Cooperation Model on the best management practices of grassland habitats. The model defines the best management practices for the various environmental contexts, which can be implemented with a participatory approach with individual breeders (owners and/or concessionaires) and/or the bodies representing collective rights (Municipalities and/or Agrarian Universities), through:

• Environmental Agreements/Contracts
• Conventions/Agreement Protocols

Environmental Agreements/Contracts: these are non-onerous collaboration agreements, developed within the framework of contractual measures (pursuant to DGR n. 569/2012), to be stipulated on a voluntary basis between Agricultural Universities and/or Municipalities representing the concessionaires (breeders) and the Lazio Region and/or the Regional and Natural Parks as managing bodies. They provide for the implementation of specific surface management interventions by the requesting entities, through a site-specific project, configured within the scope of a separate multi-year operational project.

Conventions/Agreements Protocols: these are acts that formalize a collaboration, free of charge, between Arsial, as the lead body of LIFE Grace, and the management bodies of the collective state lands, for the implementation of interventions for the restoration/maintenance of habitats. Specifically, within the framework of the Conventions/Protocols, LIFE Grace:

• provides studies, analyses and cartography;
• assists in defining and implementing management strategies;
• offers training for the correct execution of the interventions subject to commitment;
• provides the application and specific training on simplified habitat monitoring (see the Cooperation Model for Biodiversity Monitoring);
• offers indications for the identification and access to adequate financing measures (CSR calls or others) to compensate for the higher costs required or for the implementation of the interventions subject to commitment.

The models/schemes of the Environmental Agreements/Contracts and the Conventions/Agreement Protocols are described in the Environmental Agreement Model.

2. Cooperation model for biodiversity monitoring

This is a system for the participatory monitoring of the evolution of secondary grassland systems, through which the parties involved formally collaborate to investigate and evaluate the effectiveness of the maintenance/restoration activities applied within the framework of the Conventions/Agreement Protocols.

The model is based on specific protocols, an Application for portable devices (smartphones, tablets), through which each involved breeder will collect and send data on the status of the semi-natural grasslands that he will visit during his normal working day in the mountains, and a specific training on the use of the Application dedicated to breeders.

This model involves the collection of monitoring data by 3 different actors, with specific methods and in specific areas, subject to Conventions/Agreement Protocols:

• the DEB technical-scientific staff will identify the areas on which to carry out continuous monitoring and will carry out periodic vegetation surveys in the intervention areas;
• breeders will collect records on the survey areas through the specific Application;
• Regional officials will remotely collect land cover change data using satellite interpretation using Collect Earth.

3. Promotion model for co-marketing

LIFE Grace highlighted how the progressive shift in meat consumption towards species and breeds associated with intensive farming has been one of the main causes of the abandonment of extensive farming practices, on which the survival of semi-natural grassland habitats and local hardy breeds, threatened by genetic erosion, depends.

Consequently, to restore/maintain meadows and pastures it appears necessary to activate socio-economic changes in the pastoral systems of the 3 target areas. LIFE Grace has therefore developed a Co-marketing Model, as a tool aimed at supporting, through cooperation, the construction of co-marketing agreements (supply chain agreements, bio-districts, local development strategies, network contracts, etc.) between the different actors, producers/processors/distributors and the community to which they belong, in order to enhance and strengthen local networks and promote the sustainable development of the territories.

In each of the three project SPAs, to ensure greater cooperation between the subjects in the supply chain, LIFE Grace is formalising Business network accords, i.e. territorial network and co-marketing agreements involving a network of stakeholders, including breeders, processors, retailers and the Horeca sector (restaurants, school and hospital canteens, catering, agritourisms). The Agreements are formalized through the accession to the LIFE Grace Business network and/or participation in project activities and/or agreements between LIFE Grace and local authorities and/or Chambers of Commerce and, for breeders, signing a Code of Conduct, which defines principles, guidelines and models to support the conservation of grazing habitats and quality breeding, as well as to promote the social and economic development of the territory.

To learn more about Business network accords, read the factsheet.