Consequences of abandoning alpine meadows: Scrubs now encroaching on land that had been cultivated for centuries
Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - 16:00
in Earth & Climate
Agriculture is increasingly vanishing from the Alps. Land that was cultivated for centuries is now being abandoned and scrubs are encroaching on it. This affects not only the landscape, but also the water balance and will in future also have an impact on power generation. These are the conclusions reached by an interdisciplinary research group supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).