Direct and indirect effects of the most widely implemented Dutch agri‐environment schemes on breeding waders

Summary In the Netherlands, agri‐environment schemes are an important tool for halting the ongoing decline of meadow birds and, in particular, waders breeding on wet meadows. The effectiveness of the main scheme, postponed mowing, is heavily debated because it does not result in higher breeding densities. Recently, agri‐environmental collectives have become involved in the co‐ordination of scheme applications and additional measures have been introduced. One of them is per‐clutch payment: farmers are paid per wader clutch without being restricted in their farming practices. We evaluated the ef... Mehr ...