The Fundación Biodiversidad approves the Natur-Smart project in which AFG participates
The Fundación Biodiversidad has just approved the project "Conservation of biodiversity through integrated agroforestry management models and the creation of associative networks: Natur-smart", in which the Galicia Forestry Association participates and will be coordinated by the Confederation of Forestry Organizations of Spain (COSE) and will receive a grant of € 1,551,109.96.
The general objective of the project is to conserve and mobilize agroforestry ecosystem services through the creation of a comprehensive and sustainable management model that increases biodiversity, the resistance and resilience of agroforestry stands, activates the rural bioeconomy from a gender perspective and creates an associative network between the key agents of the territory joining supply with demand through a digital network to strengthen the market for goods and services offered by natural ecosystems.
The specific objectives are:
- To promote the bioeconomy of pilot areas from a gender perspective through the creation of comprehensive agroforestry management models.
- To increase the biodiversity, resistance and resilience of agroforestry ecosystems in the pilot areas through the application of comprehensive agroforestry management models.
- To promote green employment for women, comprehensive agroforestry management models and custodial agreements, as well as the associative network of the pilot areas through the creation of a smart network between the territories of the pilot areas.
- To ensure the replicability and transferability of the project through the development of a digital space in the form of a "market place".
- To guarantee the monitoring, evaluation and coordination of the agents' project and the application of the gender perspective in a transversal way.
- To disseminate and promote gender equality in the use of integral agroforestry management models.
PILOT AREAS
In order to achieve these objectives and to be replicable, five pilot areas were selected in rural areas of low population and special ecological interest: one in Castilla-La Mancha, two in Castilla y León and two in Galicia. The provinces to develop pilot experiences are: Cuenca, Segovia, León, Lugo and Ourense:
– I. Located in the municipality of Pozorrubielos de La Mancha, Cuenca, with a population of 173 inhabitants. The property is part of the Natura 2000 Network.
– II. Located in the municipality of Torrecaballeros, Segovia, with a population of 1,410 inhabitants (2022). The property is a protection forest.
– III. Located in the municipality of Villamartín de Don Sancho, León, with a population of 156 inhabitants (2022). The forest is located within the Natura 2000 Network and an endemism grows there Oak pauciradiata, a species in critical conservation status.
– IV. Located in the municipality of Folgoso do Courel, Lugo, with a population of 985 inhabitants (2022). Private communal neighbourhood forest owners of Vilar. This forest burned in the summer of 2022, it is part of the Natura 2000 Network, in an area of high ecological interest.
– IN. Located in the municipality of Piñor, Ourense, with a population of 1,146 inhabitants (2022). The pilot area has the presence of the priority habitat 91E0, Alluvial forests of Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior (Galaico-Portuguese Ameneirais), in the east and southeast of the pilot area linked to the Sabugueiro stream and the Río Asneiros.
PARTNERS OF THE PROJECT
The project partners are: COSE (Confederation of Forestry Organizations of Spain) as coordinator; and also the University of Valladolid, the University of Salamanca, the Galicia Forestry Association, FAFCYLE (Federation of Forestry Associations of Castilla y León) and the Agroecosistema Foundation.
NATUR-SMART has the support of the Fundación Biodiversidad of the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (MITECO) within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
