The EU 2030 biodiversity strategy, which is a key part of the European Green Deal, states that marine areas, forests, pastures, and agricultural lands must be strictly protected, and that managing these areas sustainably is essential for emissions reduction and climate adaptation.

Researchers have reported that all permanent pastures in Europe are under some kind of threat, such as heat and drought stress, transformation, and N accumulation, and that these threats need to be addressed more intensively to ensure the provision of many important ecosystem services provided by grassland ecosystems.

Protection of grasslands are very important in terms of reducing the effects of climate change, proptecting biodiversity and sustaining various ecosystem services. In addition, theese areas play a critical role in the sustainability of animal husbandry and ensuring food supply security.

We are faced with many deficiencies and problems in the protection of grasslands. In addition, climate change poses a new and major threat to grasslands and they will face various additional challenges. This will require trained agricultural professionals and special expertise.

The Smart Step project aims to develop and implement educational resources on the effects of climate change on grasslands,

the protection and improvement of grasslands under climate change conditions.

The motivation sources for the preparation of the project were the following topics.

– To provide training on grasslands management under climate change conditions for agricultural engineers and students studying at faculties of agriculture.

– To ensure that grasslands are managed by agricultural professionals who have received training on the subject.

– To increase the multiplier effect by training farmers in villages by trained agricultural experts (training of trainers)

– In this way, to contribute to the sustainability of grasslands

This project is carried out with the support of the Turkish National Agency and the European Union within the scope of the Erasmus+ Program 2025 – Collaborative Partnerships in Vocational Education and Training (VET).