Selecting and testing the plant indicator species for developing result based agri-environmental payment schemes for high nature value grasslands in Bulgaria

This practice abstract showcases the process of co-development of a RBAEP scheme for High Nature Value grasslands in 2022.

The first stage of the co-design involved botanists developing lists of positive and negative indicator species per Natura 2000 grassland habitat, and recommendations for structural indicators to assess the conservation status of grassland habitats in the area. Habitat cover data was requested from and provided by the Ministry of Environment.

During the first year, the lists of positive and negative indicator species were tested and verified on-site at a pilot farm. Although the initial results were encouraging, the farmer recommended that the lists be shortened and refined. A revised version was subsequently tested on four additional farms.

Field tests conducted in 2023, 2024, and 2025 show that the official habitat classifications for the selected farms do not fully match the results of on-farm monitoring. This indicates that habitat data must be validated before the scheme can be tested on a larger scale; or an alternative approach needs to be considered.