Aims: To evaluate the suitability benefits of measures and agri-environmental schemes aimed at the conservation of steppe birds.
Location: Steppes in northern Spain.
Method: Through Delphi process, the assessment of twenty one experts was obtained on the measures and effects of an agri-environment scheme for steppe birds (ecological value). For each measure, the value was related to the area treated (ecological effectiveness) and its economic cost (cost effectiveness).
Results: Experts assessed the measures as positive, reaching a higher ecological value those that implied an increase in the surface or the ecological quality of set aside agricultural areas, those that eliminated direct causes of mortality and the creation of refuge areas. For ecological effectiveness, the most important are the measures which are highly valued ecologically and have a wide area of application. Cost effectiveness penalizes those areas with poor ecological effectiveness and significant economic cost.
Conclusions: Assessment of agri-environment schemes by an expert group suggests benefits, but no good opinion of the livestock management measures was detected. It is important to reach a great area of application for the efficacy of these schemes, without neglecting specific measures over small areas aimed at solving crucial aspects of the conservation of threatened species. For the new agri-environmental schemes, this paper address measures at two levels: horizontal (large area and cheap) and vertical (restricted0 and expensive), besides its scientific verification.
