Table 1.
Clustered key drivers identified in key informant interviews influencing grassland management decisions of farmers, grouped according to Wilson’s concept of community resilience (Wilson 2010); time horizon of scenarios ~2050
| Categories | Key drivers | |
|---|---|---|
| Economic capital | ||
| Village community development | Tourism | -Market for specialities, niche products, local food |
| -Demand for tourist services (e.g., accommodation, living museum for tourists) | ||
| Agricultural market | Demand for local products (e.g., Soliva et al. 2008) | |
| Community services | Market for community services (e.g., biogas) | |
| Settlement | Demand for building sites (pressure on agricultural land) | |
| Farm management | Supplementary income | -On farm (e.g. holidays on farm, gastronomy in alpine huts) |
| -Off-farm in the village (especially in tourism) | ||
| -Off-farm (commuting to Innsbruck) | ||
| -Time to manage grassland parallel to off-farm employment | ||
| Farm succession | Uncertain/guaranteed | |
| Structural change | -Expansion or termination of business (due to market) | |
| -Technological treadmill (need for new machinery) (e.g., Schermer 2015; Schermer et al. 2016) | ||
| -Accessibility of grassland sites and steepness (innovation produced by machinery) | ||
| Social capital | ||
| Political intervention | Subsidies | Provision of a basic income (e.g., direct payments). In Tyrol, Austria, on average >80% of farmers’ income comes from public transfer payments (Schermer et al. 2016) |
| Regulations | -Animal husbandry (e.g., barn regulation) | |
| -Environmental regulations (e.g., landscape conservation, protection of alpine pastures) | ||
| Farming community | Social organization (e.g., farmers, farm wives) and associations (breeders association) | -Attitude towards farming (e.g., Schermer et al. 2016) |
| -Collaboration among farmers | ||
| -Management of commons | ||
| -Cooperation with municipality | ||
| Environmental capital | ||
| Natural conditions—climate change | Climate change scenario based on IPCC A1B (Gobiet et al. 2014) | Need/possibilities for irrigation (increase in temperature by +1.5–2 K until 2050) |
| Natural hazards | Retention sites to protect against extreme events and natural catastrophes (e.g., protective forest instead of pasture) (e.g., Beniston 2012) | |