The Participation Committee of the Land Stewardship Platform (PCT) held its annual meeting today at the headquarters of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment in Madrid. During the session, the actions carried out by the PCT in 2017 were addressed and the work plan for this year was addressed.

The director of the Biodiversity Foundation, Sonia Castañeda, stressed that the objective of the Committee is to serve as a meeting forum for entities that work on land stewardship agreements, public administrations and entities that represent productive sectors or that are relevant to the promotion of land stewardship.

For his part, the technical deputy director of the Biodiversity Foundation, Ignacio Torres, stressed that the Biodiversity Foundation maintains its commitment to contribute to the development of land stewardship. In addition, he stressed that the entity is working on a governance strategy for the Natura 2000 Network within the framework of the INTEMARES project, led by WWF and SUBMON, which will be the first step towards landing different governance models, including stewardship.

In 2017, the year in which the PCT celebrated its tenth anniversary, the Biodiversity Foundation collaborated with land stewardship through its call for grants, supporting 13 land stewardship initiatives. In addition, the Foundation is one of the partners of the LIFE ELCN project, coordinated by the German entity NABU Bundesverband, within the framework of which a Europe-wide census of conservation initiatives on private lands was carried out last year. This project began its journey in May last year and ends in July 2020.

In 2017, the Foundation launched a new edition of its Environmental Volunteering Programme, which will be repeated this year. A program within the framework of which environmental volunteering activities are launched throughout the national territory, with the participation of citizens.  

The Platform’s work plan for this year was also presented at the meeting, and the Foundation will continue to support projects whose axis is land stewardship through its calls for grants. In addition, the Fifth Inventory of Land Stewardship Experiences will be published

The Participation Committee of the Land Stewardship Platform (PCT) meets once a year with the aim of analysing the work carried out and putting forward proposals that serve to strengthen the objectives and functions of the Platform. In this meeting Federico Cabello de Alba has presented the newly created Commission of Land Stewardship of the General Council of Notaries, of which he is one of the promoters.

Land stewardship is a nature conservation tool that promotes voluntary agreements between public or private landowners with non-profit entities. Here you can find out how the Biodiversity Foundation supports the land stewardship movement.