Utvärdering av miljöersättning för odlingslandskapets värdefulla träd

Sammanfattning: Trees in agricultural landscapes are vital to many threatened animal and plant species. Intensified agricultural methods have led to a decreasing number of trees in agricultural landscapes in Sweden as well as in many other countries. The Swedish government has chosen to invest in environmental support for farmers who contribute to a better environment. Farmers have been able to apply for economical support for maintenance of avenue trees, solitary trees and pollard trees in agricultural landscapes since 1996, but since 2014 it is no longer possible to apply. This study is an evaluation of the environmental support for trees, based on data from the Tree Gateway which contains inventory data about trees of ecological or cultural importance. Trees with environmental support were compared to other trees in agricultural landscapes. The results show that maintenance needs have been fulfilled for a larger part of the supported trees compared to other trees which implies that the support has had a positive effect. However, there were big differences in the effect between different counties of Sweden. Trees with support had on average a smaller circumference and contained less suitable insect habitats than other trees in the study. Even though the supported trees were of ecological and cultural importance, the support could have had an even better effect on biodiversity if it would have included more hollow trees and dead trees. The removal of the environmental support for trees in agricultural landscapes will probably result in fewer trees being maintained which can cause negative effects for the biodiversity.