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Multiple uses of grasslands: Papers of the „Challenges and Aspects in Grassland Management” conference held on 22-23 May 2008.

Published:
2021-11-14
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Nagy, G. (2021). Multiple uses of grasslands: Papers of the „Challenges and Aspects in Grassland Management” conference held on 22-23 May 2008. Grassland Studies, 6(1-2), 5-8. https://doi.org/10.55725/gygk/2008/6/1-2/10327
Abstract

In recent decades grassland science has identified all those products and services, which grasslands can provide for society. Among commodity goods traditional (meat, milk, leather, fibre, medicinal plants, animal excreta for heating, animal power to cultivate crops) and new products (labelled food from grasslands, biodiversity as gene pool for plant breeding, grass for energy) have been discussed. Non commodity benefits of grasslands are discussed in global (mitigation of climate change, air quality, water resources, soil health, carbon sequestration, maintenance of gene pools for biodiversity), regional (aesthetic or landscape values, conservation of watersheds, facilitation of tourism and hunting, avoidance of disasters such as avalanches and landslides, buffer zones for power lines, rehabilitation of landscape damages in mining areas) and local (preservation of grassland based cultural heritage) contexts. These products and services are investigated from the points of sustainability and multifunctionality. Existing grasslands and turfs in the county are categorized according to their basic functions. It is concluded that grasslands are the only ecosystem that is able to fulfil so mary tasks and requirements. Future prospects of grassland use in Hungary are outlined from the point of multifunctionality. Production functions of grassland are facing a slight increase due to organic farming. Ecological function will maintain their high importance. Remarkable increase is expected in amenity uses of grasslands.