Project LJUBA

People for Marsh -Biodiversity Conservation at the Ljubljana Marsh

Project People for Marsh – Biodiversity Conservation at the Ljubljana Marsh, or shorter LJUBA, addresses the main causes of biodiversity loss in the Ljubljana Marsh. It will run until the end of April 2016. Its total value is € 554,274.20, of which 94.9% is co-financed by the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism (EEA Grants). The lead partner of the project is The Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, other partners are Ljubljana Marsh Nature Park Public Institute, Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia, Institute for agriculture and forestry Ljubljana and Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

The purpose of the project is to improve living conditions of three Natura 2000 qualifying habitat types of Ljubljana Marsh: purple moor-grass (Molinia caerulea), extensive meadows and lowland bog, and four Natura 2000 qualifying species: Fen orchid (Liparis loeselii) and butterflies The False Ringlet (Coenonympha oedippus), The Scarce Large Blue (Maculinea teleius) and The Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia).

Ljubljana Marsh is one of the most important key biodiversity area in Slovenia. The wetland of the Ljubljana Marsh is inhabited by many rare, endangered and protected animal and plant species. In the recent decades, the living conditions for many species and their habitats have rapidly deteriorated, mainly due to changes in agricultural use. With the implementation of project LJUBA we will present to public the important and responsible role of agriculture for the biodiversity conservation of Ljubljana Marsh. One of the major project objective is to improve the cooperation between agricultural and nature conservation institutions in the project area. We will be working with farmers to advise them about wildlife-friendly farming on grasslands, how to integrate conservation measures into farming practices. We will test various methods of removing invasive non-native plant species the Canadian goldenrod and giant goldenrod on selected plots. Together with volunteers we will remove the wood overgrowth in the valley of Strajanov breg, which is the last residue of lowland bog in the Ljubljana Marsh.