Spanish universities are committed to land stewardship as an innovative tool for biodiversity conservation based on voluntarism and citizen participation. This was made clear at the meeting held by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), which coordinates the Land Stewardship Platformand the University of Granada (UGR) held in Madrid with the participation of more than fifteen specialists and representatives of various university institutions from seven autonomous communities.

During the event, which took place at the headquarters of the Biodiversity Foundation, the great value of the potential of universities to increase the positive environmental, cultural, economic and social impact they have on their immediate territory through the promotion of stewardship agreements.

In this line, the University of Granada, through the Biocultural Archaeology Laboratory (MEMOLab), is one of the pioneering academic institutions in Spain to participate as a custodian. Specifically, although it has been exercising stewardship with historical and traditional irrigation communities in Andalusia for more than ten years, and has already signed eight agreements.

Thanks to this framework, the UGR supports the governance and management of spaces of high cultural and environmental value. with volunteer campaigns, facilitation and dialogue between key actors, research and cataloging initiatives, or a shared search for funding sources for the conservation of these cultural systems, so that they remain active, healthy and sustainable to face challenges such as climate change, food sovereignty, a sustainable irrigation and agricultural system, or rural depopulation.

In recent years, a new market has opened up collaboration path in other Spanish universities with the involvement of custodian entities, owners and other institutions. Some of them have shared their experiences during the meeting, which has laid the groundwork for establishing a roadmap of the possibilities of universities as entities and promoters of stewardship in Spain.

During the course of the day, the following were also announced strategic lines for the renewal of the land stewardship platformwhich begins a new stage in its 15th anniversary as a meeting and support point for stewardship networks and organizations in order to respond to the new needs and demands identified in the field of land stewardship in Spain.