The extremely fruitful collaboration between IfaS and Babes-Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Environmental Engineering) on the Transylvanian Wood Pasture project has resulted in the publication of another key research article in People and Nature as a scientific reference for the entire project (funded by the DBU Foundation): link to the article
This is the first biocultural assessment of wood pastures in Europe. With a clear concept and new methods, the article shows how biocultural systems can be recorded and evaluated. The authors are all members of the Transylvanian Wood Pastures project team. We have also specifically involved important local partners in order to highlight the results of our collaboration between practice and science. In fact, with their contributions, these partners have created truly remarkable added value for our project work.
Background: Traditional biocultural systems such as the wood pastures examined in this study have evolved over centuries of co-evolution between humans and nature, in which the structure, function and identity of ecosystems and landscapes are closely interwoven with human livelihoods and culturally embedded economic practices. These systems typically encompass distinctive ecological knowledge, land management traditions and symbolic associations. Through sustainable interaction, these systems shape cultural landscapes in which biodiversity, land use structures and symbolic meanings are co-produced. The resulting landscapes and ecosystems are often mixtures of ecologically valuable elements (such as species-rich grassland and old trees) in habitats shaped by use, which both shape local identities and document old economic practices.
Bibliography
Bădărău A.S., Pop M., Püsök I., Petrescu D.C., Petrescu-Mag R.M., Maloș C., Réti K., Csákány L., Rákosy L., Wagener T., Antal N., Arghiuș V., Spac M., Nita A., Wagener F., Bouriaud L., Hartel T. (2025): Applying the Cultural Values Model to assess biocultural change in Eastern European wood-pastures. People and Nature, 00, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70169