Line of action:

Terrestrial ecosystems

Status:

En ejecución

Location:

Huelva (Andalusia), Badajoz (Extremadura), Leon and Palencia (Castilla y Leon).

Geographic scope:

España

Execution date:

2024

Duration:

01/01/2024 - 31/12/2025

Typology:

Integral projects for the recovery of mosaic/landscape multifunctionality (extensive livestock farming, agroforestry, etc.).

Total budget:

1,177,439.35 euros

Amount of aid from the Biodiversity Foundation:

1,118,567.38 euros

Transhumant sheep farming contributes to the improvement of the ecological diversity of mountain habitats, which in recent years had suffered a notable regression due to the loss of this activity. In addition, the loss of the activity due to the lack of generational replacement and the lack of profitability of the farms had brought transhumance to the brink of disappearance. Therefore, in the context of the need to recover sustainable activities that contribute to the conservation of the natural environment and provide goods and services that improve the quality of life of society, BiONNOMIA proposes as a general objective the promotion of the bioeconomy through the sustainable use of endogenous resources associated with extensive livestock farming. BiONNOMIA will conserve habitats, design new products and valorize ecosystem services, as a thread of a circular bioeconomy to achieve ecological transformation, mitigate depopulation and ensure territorial resilience.

Since extensive livestock farming is the most sustainable of all, and transhumance is an ancestral activity, and bearing in mind the sustainable use of resources to obtain products derived from these activities, the project is expected to create a circular and sustainable bioeconomy model around extensive livestock farming in general, and transhumance in particular. In this way, it will be possible to act on the profitability of livestock farms, whose future is in jeopardy. BiONNOMIA will demonstrate the ecological and economic contribution of transhumance, as well as livestock trails as an ecological corridor, implementing digital, technological and logistical means aimed at the dignity of the shepherd’s profession and gender equality, ensuring the presence and employability of women in the rural world. The design and development of new products and services obtained from the activity and natural spaces will form the pillar for the profitability of the farms, their economic sustainability and the conservation of habitats of high ecological value. In addition, the creation of LA NUEVA MESTA will enable social and territorial cohesion between actors and territories.

The main objective of BIONNOMIA is to promote the bioeconomy through the sustainable use of endogenous resources associated with extensive livestock farming and the multifunctionality of ecosystems of high ecological value.

• Dissemination of the environmental, social and economic advantages and achievements of ecological transhumance and its associated bioeconomy.
• Methodological development for the evaluation of the carrying capacity of extensive pastures.
• Evaluation of multifunctionality and ecosystem services in grazing systems used by extensive transhumant sheep farming.
• Fire risk assessment and how transhumance and extensive livestock farming reduce fire risk.
• Organic certification of mountain farms and pastures
• Improving the value and supply of transhumance goods and products.
• Training and Circular Economy.
• New business models associated with environmental services to improve farm profitability.
• LA NUEVA MESTA: an opportunity for the promotion of extensive livestock farming and territorial cohesion.
• Solutions to improve gender equality, revalue the role of women on farms.