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According to the entity, the project has aimed to promote land stewardship in four Biosphere Reserves in the provinces of Lugo, Asturias and León, convinced that the participation of the different social actors in conservation is key to advancing in the achievement of the objectives of the reserves. The initiative proposes the dissemination of land stewardship in these four reserves, contributing to the strengthening of the third sector that can develop land stewardship projects in them. In addition, the development of exemplary experiences that can serve as a reference for different productive or non-productive sectors is proposed. In addition, the exploration of possibilities for future collaborations between custodian entities and local administrations, communal owners and other owners of special interest in the reserves is proposed. Finally, it is proposed to carry out a pilot experience of land mobility to promote the maintenance of agricultural habitats threatened by the abandonment of traditional practices.

The main objective of the project has been to promote land stewardship as a strategy to stimulate social participation in the achievement of objectives in Spanish Biosphere Reserves (RRBB).

The specific objectives are:

• To improve knowledge of land stewardship as a participatory tool for sustainable management among the different social actors of the RRBB.
• To develop and publicise exemplary experiences of land stewardship in the RRBB.
• Explore alliances with different relevant social actors in the territory (local administrations, communal owners and other large owners).
• Strengthen the third sector with an environmental vocation in the RRBB.
• Explore participatory land mobility tools at the local scale that allow the maintenance and recovery of abandoned agricultural lands of environmental interest.

• Sectoral meetings with different social actors to explain the possibilities offered by stewardship and explore collaborations.
• Communication actions of the project to carry out various actions specifically focused on its dissemination.
• School land stewardship programme, in which schools will be proposed to carry out a stewardship experience on a plot of land near the centre.
• Develop stewardship agreements that incorporate biodiversity production into property management.
• Carrying out actions included in custody agreements such as; restoration of infrastructures, planting of species, installation of water tanks, etc.
• Carrying out informative visits to the farms where the exemplary experiences take place, open to the public who want to know them.
• Holding an event to disseminate exemplary experiences in cities around the RRBB, with the presence of the owners who participate in the actions.
• Review and mapping of public and communal lands and other properties of special interest with the selection of 11 plots.
• Preparation of stewardship proposals for the plots of interest identified in the previous action, taking into account the natural values they host, as well as management proposals for their conservation and restoration.
• Evaluation of the state of the third environmental sector in the RRBB and its relationship with the territory.
• Completion of a basic training course on management of third sector entities, project management and land stewardship in each RRBB.
• Identification and characterization of a work area for the recovery of semi-natural meadows in the RRBB Terras do Miño based on the results of the project “Adapting that is gerund” (Climate Change Call 2017).
• Identification and involvement of the livestock and agriculture sector in the area for their possible interest in the use and establishment of management criteria, as well as the provision of information on abandoned agricultural habitats. The possibility of a web tool is proposed to disseminate the initiative and to publicize the location and characteristics of plots for which there is not yet a management agreement.

The Living Reserves project has contributed to the dissemination of land stewardship in four Biosphere Reserves: Terras do Miño; Oscos, eo e Terras de Burón, Ancares Lugo and Ancares Leones.

Through the signing of seven new stewardship agreements in the four Biosphere Reserves, it has contributed to the conservation of semi-natural forests and meadows, an agricultural landscape of high natural value. In addition, the initiative has helped to support economic activity in the rural world in a way that respects the natural environment.

The results of the project include the creation of a cartographic viewer of plots of interest for stewardship in the project territory with information for 124 plots, the realization of a traveling exhibition on stewardship and Biosphere Reserves and an informative video. A stewardship course has also been given for small entities in these territories and a viewer has been created for the management of plots with agricultural habitats of interest.