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Good practice Imported

Lavaux Vineyard Terraces — A Co-Financed Fund to Preserve 450km of Dry-Stone Walls (Switzerland)

Switzerland · Cully · See the Switzerland profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 58% 40/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Vaud canton and Lavaux's wine communes launched a 2025-2027 study to co-finance repair of the 450km of dry-stone walls holding up the UNESCO-listed terraces, after decades where costs fell almost entirely on individual winegrowers.

450 km
Dry-stone walls maintained
648
Plant and fern species recorded (2021–2025 survey)
8.7 CHF million
Cantonal viticulture support earmarked (2025–2028)
Lavaux Vineyard Terraces — A Co-Financed Fund to Preserve 450km of Dry-Stone Walls (Switzerland)

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Association Lavaux Patrimoine mondial / Canton de Vaud (DGAV) / Office fédéral de l'agriculture (OFAG)
Period
2025-2027 (co-financing pilot study), within a site protected since UNESCO inscription in 2007
Keywords
viticulture, cultural landscape heritage, land improvement, dry-stone wall conservation

Context

Lavaux's UNESCO-listed 830-hectare terraced vineyard on Lake Geneva is held up by an estimated 450km of dry-stone walls; upkeep has fallen almost exclusively on individual vineyard owners.

Results

In 2025 the canton of Vaud and heritage/wine-sector partners opened a co-financing study (running to spring 2027) splitting costs 50/50 between government agencies and industry; a parallel independent biodiversity survey of half of Lavaux's surface recorded 648 plant/fern species but found rare species concentrated in marginal features (rock outcrops, streambanks) rather than the cultivated parcels themselves.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Lavaux Patrimoine mondial (LPm), Lavaux Vignerons Federation, Canton of Vaud (DGAV)

Conditions for success

  • 50/50 cost-split between cantonal agriculture agencies and wine-sector/heritage partners

Common failure modes

  • Funding mechanism is a pilot (2025–2027) with no completed cost or outcome data yet

Commonly funded by

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Data sources

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