MBAG - farmland bird monitoring MAS

The state of biodiversity in the agricultural area is deteriorating, with negative consequences for biodiversity outside the agricultural area, for agriculture itself and for resilience to climate change. With the project Monitoring biodiversity in agricultural areas (MBAG), we aim to better monitor this situation, as a basis for targeted measures in order to reverse the decline. This project aims to start a monitoring network for farmland birds. A pilot monitoring grid in two specific regions will be expanded to a wider area in 2023, and will cover all main agricultural areas in Flanders in 2024. Therefore we will design a sampling method that covers a gradient of the most relevant variables. From these random points, counts are carried out within a 300 meter radius, mapping all visible bird and mammal species, using the MAS methodology.