On Wednesday, April 1, 2026, a biology evening—a public lecture organized by the Department of Biodiversity at the University of Primorska’s — took place via the Zoom platform, titled “Conservation and Management of Grasslands and Mowed Meadows in the Italian and Slovenian Karst”. The guest speaker was Dr. Giuseppe Oriolo from the organization For Nature srl (Udine, Italy). This event was also part of a series of biology evenings organized in collaboration with the Kras4us project.
The speaker has been engaged in vegetation classification and habitat mapping for many years, and his professional work focuses on monitoring the status and conservation of habitats, including grasslands in the Karst. Recently, he has devoted considerable attention to management plans and conservation measures for Natura 2000 sites.
During his lecture, he noted that Karst grasslands are particularly important for preserving biodiversity in this region, but socio-economic changes are driving overgrowth and thereby reducing their area. The decline in pastures for sheep and goats is a particularly prominent issue here. These habitats are therefore heavily dependent on management by the local population. He sees the future significance of preserving local livestock farming and grazing as a symbol of sustainable agriculture and the preservation of cultural heritage.
About 30 attendees from both Italy and Slovenia participated in the lecture; the event itself was bilingual with simultaneous interpretation. A recording of the lecture (in both languages) is available on the organizer’s YouTube channel (Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Information Technologies -@famnit).
