Line of action:

Terrestrial ecosystems

Status:

En ejecución

Location:

Ávila (Castilla y León) y Cantabria

Geographic scope:

España

Execution date:

2026

End date:

2028

Duration:

18/02/2026 - 30/09/2028

Total budget:

559.035 €

Amount of aid from the Biodiversity Foundation:

€318,679.80

The project aims to improve mountain goat grazing for the conservation of biodiversity, prevent fires and face the demographic challenge, through a pilot project in Gredos, remaking the cost/benefit balance in all its components: social (promoting their social prestige, improving their quality of life, promoting gender equality and promoting generational renewal), economic (valuing their productions in the market, improving their position in the food chain and increasing their net income) and environmental (valuing their ecosystem and social services, linking production to the conservation of biodiversity and, especially, to the bearded vulture).

• Promote extensive mountain goat farming, highlighting their milk and meat production.
• To promote opportunities and employment in rural areas to combat the demographic challenge, improving the income of farmers and promoting the consumption of local products (cheese and meat).
• To contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, especially the conservation of necrophagous birds and in particular the bearded vulture, in order to create a corridor between the populations of southern and northern Spain.
• Boost the development of multifunctional landscapes and increase their resilience to forest fires.
• To promote extensive mountain livestock farming, by disseminating the project and encouraging its replication in other territories.

• Improve the quality of the milk to adapt it to the requirements for its enhancement (cheese).
• To optimise meat production, to improve the position of the farmer in the food chain.
• Opening a mini slaughterhouse, to improve the position of the farmer in the food chain.
• Implement an animal welfare protocol for mountain livestock, to access new markets.
• Activate the value chain to bring production to the consumer.
• Involve society in the importance of extensive livestock farming and its ecosystem services. Project replication.

• Promote extensive mountain goat farming, highlighting their milk and meat production.
• To promote opportunities and rural employment, to fight against the demographic challenge, improving the income of livestock farmers and promoting the consumption of local products.
• Contribute to the conservation of biodiversity.
• Boost the development of multifunctional landscapes and increase their resilience to forest fires. The project will benefit several species of necrophagous.
• Setting up a feeder for necrophagous birds in support of the reintroduction of the bearded vulture; the disposal of slaughterhouse waste in the feeder will save 25,000 kg of CO2/year.
• The herds will graze 6,630 ha of public forest, maintaining diverse habitats and reducing the risk of fires, strengthening ecological connectivity for bearded vultures in the Iberian Peninsula by contributing to the country’s Green Infrastructure network.
• To promote extensive mountain livestock farming, by disseminating the project and encouraging its replication in other territories.
• It will be possible to maintain 12 family livestock farms, the creation of between 3 and 5 direct jobs and 10 to 15 indirect jobs, as well as the conversion of a full-time job.
• The project will generate outreach activities, gastronomic experiences and presence at fairs to make the model visible.