Enabling Transformative Actions to Leverage Sustainability of Eurasian Grasslands

ActSustainably is an international research project that supports the sustainable and just use, protection, and restoration of semi-natural grasslands. The project works in Austria and South Tyrol, Denmark, Hungary, and Kazakhstan. It combines research with close collaboration on the ground. Across Eurasia, many grasslands have become fragmented, lost ecological quality, or disappeared entirely due to changes in land use or abandonment. Even where protection measures exist, the condition is often poor, and sometimes it keeps declining. ActSustainably works with local communities, farmers, and decision-makers to understand how land is used, what matters to people, and what changes could help both nature and society. Together, we take stock of the current state, imagine possible futures, and plan practical steps that can actually be carried out locally. One of the main goals of the Biodiversa+ program is transformation. This isn’t just about improving daily practices. It also means addressing deeper issues—values, rules, and local institutions. Small, well-targeted changes can have lasting impact: we look at how formal laws, regulations, and local customs and norms interact. We also explore where adaptation can strengthen what already works, without putting extra pressure on local actors. When local values and nature-positive rules are included in management, protection, and restoration, decisions tend to serve both people and biodiversity better. Our work follows four guiding principles from the IPBES report on transformative change: justice, including diverse perspectives, respectful relationships between people and nature, and shared learning. These principles shape how we collaborate and guide how solutions are developed and tested. A key tool we use is the Three Horizons approach: it helps us to link short-term, practical steps to long-term, broader societal goals. ActSustainably develops solutions together with farmers, citizens and other actors. This includes shared actions, cooperative rules, and tools for more sustainable management of vulnerable grasslands at local, regional, and national levels. The aim is to find clear ways forward and provide advice that can help stop biodiversity loss, improve ecological quality, strengthen local responsibility, and keep grasslands rich and diverse for future generations. Through ongoing exchange and learning together, long-term change can take root—change that communities themselves carry forward and shape over time.