The island Öland in southeastern Sweden, is characterised by a smallholder agricultural landscape with mixed-in grasslands, alvar, and forests, historical continuity and a very rich biological diversity as well as cultural heritage. A longer growing season compared to most of Sweden and highly fertile soils in some areas also means good agricultural potential. Thus, the landscape of the island´s134,100 hectares is inherently layered with multiple values, interests and potential trade-offs and synergies, including between agriculture, conservation, and tourism.

 

This is illustrated by the World Heritage site of “the Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland”,  declared based on how the location of settlements and villages on the island was historically strongly conditioned by the landscape, with the villages and cultivated fields situated where there were water sources and fertile land, along the road, with infertile moors (alvar) and forest in the centre of the island and meadows along the coast. As part of the designation of the World Heritage site, it was declared that in order for the natural and cultural attributes to be sustained, the future must also include a living prosperous agriculture. At the same time, the landscape geography and historical land use patterns has created conditions for high biological diversity, in terms of habitats, species richness and populations of rare species of plants, birds and insects. The island hosts a number of Natura 2000 areas, of which several are quite extensive, as well as a range of other forms of national conservation measures. The entire island of Öland is also designated an “areas of national interest for natural and cultural values or for outdoor recreation.”

Today, 63% of Öland’s total land area, or 85 100 hectares, is used as agricultural land, including vast areas of grazing. In addition to animal husbandry, a large number of vegetables and legumes are also grown on Öland, not least brown beans, which have received protected status in the EU.

 

In the BridgingValues project, we will focus on the area called “Mittlandet” (the land in the middle), which is a heterogeneous mixed landscape of smallholder farming with forest and grazing areas at the central part of the island. Its’ deciduous forest is considered Europe's largest continuous deciduous forest below the mountain range, and has high biodiversity values, in particular for insects and fungi. Continued grazing and forest management is needed to maintain biodiversity and well as biological heritage, but the smallholder farming and wooded grasslands does not match with EU subsidies for production or conservation. The area is interesting also because of an ongoing local initiative, a dialogue-driven collaborative project that has the aim to “in a long-term and sustainable way preserve and strengthen natural and cultural environmental values in the Mittland forest, while also creating added value for agriculture and rural development” (Forslund, 2023).