1 Common and conflicting objectives and practices of herders and conservation managers: the need for a conservation herder Zsolt Molnár, 1,8 József Kis, 2 Csaba Vadász, 3 László Papp, 4 István Sándor, 5 Sándor Béres, 6 Gábor Sinka, 7 and Anna Varga 1 1 MTA Centre for Ecological Research, 2163, Vácrátót, Alkotmány u. 2-4., Hungary 2 Freelance catle herder, 4060, Balmazújváros, Kiskálló köz 3., Hungary 3 Kiskunság National Park, 6001, Kecskemét, Liszt F. u. 19., Hungary 4 Freelance catle herder, 6794, Üllés, Rúzsai u. 4., Hungary 5 Zoo Budapest, 1146, Budapest, Állatkerti krt.6-12., Hungary 6 ELTE, Institute of Ethnography and Folklore, Department of Material Ethnography, 1088, Budapest, Múzeum krt. 6-8., Hungary 7 Balaton Uplands National Park, 8229, Csopak, Kossuth u. 16., Hungary Ecosystem Health and Sustainability www.ecohealthsustain.org SPECIAL FEATURE ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT IN TRANSITION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE Abstract. The mutual dependence of extensive land-use and conservation management has become appar- ent in Europe in the last 20–30 yr. Extensive land-use oten survives in protected areas only, in the form of conservation management. Knowledge of extensive herding and that of conservation management are parts of two knowledge systems (traditional and scientiic) which oten leads to conlicts between locals and con- servationists. We studied two herding/conservation systems (salt steppes and wood-pastures), and devel- oped an inventory on the common/similar and conlicting/diferent objectives and pasture management practices of herders and conservationists. Data were collected by participatory knowledge co-production in teamwork of the co-authors (herders, conservation managers, and scientists). Data were analyzed and discussed in teamwork too. Herders and conservationists identiied 23 objectives and 29 management prac- tices. We found a number of common interests with respect to herding, the ideal state of pastures, legal provisions, and communication. Conlict resolution recommendations (e.g., on time and place of grazing, pasture improvements) were also developed. We argue that by co-production of knowledge, and establish- ment of a herder “school” the mitigation of the existing conlicts would be more efective. Our conclusion is that a new profession is needed: that of the conservation herder. The conservation herder shall be an indi- vidual knowledgeable about herding and pasture management, trained in conservation and ecology, able to design management experiments, and develop novel but tradition-based management practices. As such, he/she could facilitate adaptation of extensive herding in the changing socio-economic environment. Key words: agri-environment schemes; extensive grazing and herding; extensive land-use; Hungary; pasture man- agement; salt steppe; Special Feature: Ecosystem Management in Transition in Central and Eastern Europe; traditional ecological knowledge; wood-pasture. Citation: Molnár, Z., J. Kis, C. Vadász, L. Papp, I. Sándor, S. Béres, G. Sinka, and A. Varga. 2016. Common and conlicting objectives and practices of herders and conservation managers: the need for a conservation herder. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability 2(4):e01215. doi: 10.1002/ehs2.1215 Manuscript received 15 June 2015; revised 5 February 2016; accepted 10 February 2016. 8 E-mail: molnar.zsolt@okologia.mta.hu Introduction Extensive land-use types (i.e., labor-intensive manage- ment practices with limited mechanization, no or low input of fertilizers and chemicals) play a key role in preserving natural values in habitats developed and maintained by long-term extensive land management (Beaufoy 1998, Sheil and Lawrence 2004, Plieninger et al. 2006, Pe’er et al. 2014, Sutclife et al. 2015). Nature conservation therefore encourages and supports extensive land-use systems and a partial extensiication of the more intensive systems (Batáry et al. 2015). The mutual dependence of extensive land-use and na- ture conservation has become explicitly apparent in Eu- rope in the past 20–30 yr (Beaufoy and Marsden 2010,