The overarching goal of Grassworks is to reverse the current trend of continuing loss and fragmentation of species-rich grasslands. In the project, researchers from ecology, social sciences and economics, together with the Thünen Institute as an interface between science and politics and the German Association for Landscape Management, want to investigate in a transdisciplinary research approach which factors are decisive for successful grassland restoration. In each of three regions of Germany (North, Central, South), 30 already implemented restoration projects will be subjected to a post-hoc analysis in order to quantify the influence of ecological, socio-ecological and socio-economic framework conditions on restoration success and to identify leverage points for more biodiversity and multifunctionality. Grassworks will thus provide a unique overall analysis of the direct and indirect drivers of the restoration success of grassland ecosystems.

In addition, three real world labs in North, Central, and South Germany will be installed, aiming for participatory restoration actions with regional stakeholders. In a transdisciplinary approach, we want to identify leverage points leading to a higher appreciation of biodiversity, ESF and ESS and a better knowledge of successful grassland restoration methods. An analysis of the economic and political aspects of grassland restoration will highlight strengths and deficits and provide options for action to improve governance at different scales.

By means of inter- and transdisciplinary modelling, the various results are synthesised and flow into an innovative online information and prognosis tool for successful grassland restoration. Initiating a research-based transformation process in the real world labs should lead to a continuation and be transferable to other regions. Our innovative advisory tools will significantly improve the planning, technical and ecological quality of implementation. Prioritisations will outline societal decision-making processes on suitable sites, taking into account the restoration target (including long-term carbon storage, increasing resilience to weather extremes, promoting pollinators, producing high-quality forage, improving cultural ESS).

Grassworks takes a social-ecological systems approach that explicitly captures the dynamics of biodiversity valuation, improves governance structures, develops scenarios of future policy instruments and nature conservation strategies, and thus contributes decisively to the protection of grassland biodiversity.

Link to the official project webpage

The varying degrees of success of grassland restoration projects make it possible to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of different restoration approaches - e. g. the choice of the restoration method – against the background of different framework conditions.

In the first work package the grassland restoration success is viewed from several perspectives – from the ecological, social-ecological and socio-economic perspective. Therefore the restored areas were selected that they covered a wide a range of different site conditions. In 2022 and 2023, 120 sites were analyzed and evaluated ecologically (soil, vegetation, butterflies & wild bees, landscape connectivity and complexity), socio-ecologically and socio-economically (integration of renaturation measures into farms, management and administrative structures), to enable a holistic assessment of the success of restoration.

Reference areas were also used to evaluate success. On the one hand we selected species-rich, non-restored pastures or meadows as positive references - on the other hand, grasslands degraded due to excessive land use or neglected care as negative references.

You can find more detailed insights into our ecological field research here.

Real-world laboratories are experimental spaces at the interface between science and society, in which scientists work with local actors, learn from each other and test things out. They therefore offer great potential to initiate transformative processes and generate corresponding knowledge.
In the second Grassworks work package, such transformation processes are to be initiated in three real-world laboratories. Among other things, the level of knowledge on the topic of species-rich grassland and its restoration as well as the values ​​of relevant stakeholder groups in relation to grassland restoration were compared before and after the project. In addition, renaturation measures were evaluated, planned and implemented together with the local population and demonstration areas for the multifunctionality of grassland areas were created to serve the transfer of knowledge.

Anhalt University of Applied Sciences initiated and actively supervised the transformation process in the real-world laboratory of the centre region i.e. in Hainrode and the southern Harz region. Among other things, locations for species-rich wildflower meadows were selected together with local residents and seeded in September 2023 - you can read a detailed report here. In 2024, a citizen science or participation campaign was carried out where the citizens of Hainrode and the southern Harz region were able to create, maintain and observe wildflower meadows in their own gardens. To this end, the Grassworks team gave away seed bags containing a certified wild plant mixture specially compiled for the region and created a brochure containing profiles of the plant species in this Hainröder mixture, information on creating and maintaining wildflower meadows, and a registration form (you can find out more here - german only).
The long-term fertilization and cultivation experiment in Hayn is a demonstration area for the model region Central - you can read the first results in the paper published in December 2023.

In order for the restoration of grassland to be successful in the long term, the application and knowledge of the correct approach and the selection of suitable renaturation methods is of central importance.

Knowledge on grassland restoration - involving actors from practice and research - is collected, bundled, made accessible and disseminated in work package 3 in order to stimulate mutual learning and promote integrated decision-making processes.

As part of Grassworks, the German Association for Landscape Conservation (DVL), as one of our project partners, has developed a practical film series on the subject of grassland restoration (in german only), which we warmly recommend at this point!

• Part 1: Creating species-rich meadows and pastures – motivation and procedures in grassland
• Part 2: Creating species-rich meadows and pastures – solutions in difficult terrain
• Part 3: Creating species-rich meadows and pastures – machines for grassland renaturation

The planning and implementation of restoration measures in grasslands are embedded in economic and legal framework conditions that are relevant for financing. Led by the University of Greifswald, this work package aims to examine the political and economic aspects of grassland restoration and identify existing deficits. The aim is to identify and show opportunities for future improvements at various levels.

In order to provide forecasts about the success of restoration and recommendations for the restoration of grasslands, the results of work packages 1–4 are brought together and linked together in this part of the project. For this purpose, interdisciplinary and data-driven modeling is used to determine the importance of the various relevant influencing factors on the success of restoration . On the other hand, causal models are developed through transdisciplinary participatory modeling of the success of renaturation with practical partners, which are intended to enable an even better understanding of the interactions between the various factors.