Apply sustainable forest management actions in water points that take advantage of extensive sheep and goat herding with the objective of increasing income and rural employment and improving the resilience of Spanish Biosphere Reserves (SILVA AQUA).
PRTR Call for Proposals Project
The SILVA AQUA project will create opportunities for the generation of silvopastoral-based employment, with a special focus on rural women, and will improve the resilience of forests located in Biosphere Reserves, starting with the identification of suitable water points, from which, through sustainable forest management actions and taking into account the optimal capacity of native sheep and goat breeds, will facilitate their transit to strategic areas for the prevention of major forest fires and improve key aspects of their value chain.
Line of action:
Terrestrial ecosystemsStatus:
En ejecuciónLocation:
Valencia (Comunidad Valenciana), Albacete and Cuenca (Castilla-La Mancha) and Teruel (Aragón)Geographic scope:
EspañaExecution date:
2024Duration:
01/11/2023 - 31/12/2025Typology:
Integral projects for the recovery of mosaic/landscape multifunctionality (extensive livestock farming, agroforestry, etc.).Total budget:
665,645.00 eurosAmount of aid from the Biodiversity Foundation:
632,362.75 eurosValle del Cabriel Biosphere Reserve Association
University of Castilla-La Mancha
Villargordo del Cabriel City Council
Caudete de las Fuentes City Council
Biosphere Reserves are areas with unique ecological characteristics that should be adequately conserved. The municipalities that form them coincide in major problems that need to be addressed, such as depopulation, major forest fires, lack of opportunities in the rural world, masculinization and smallholdings. In addition, several areas defined as natural habitats of community interest by the Habitats Directive can be found in the same areas, such as the sclerophyllous grazing forests that constitute a representative example of a reduced area of distribution due to their regression.
This project aims to promote biodiversity conservation through sustainable forest management techniques, so as to encourage the introduction of extensive livestock farming in the territory, reduce the risk of major forest fires and generate bioeconomy initiatives in the rural world, especially for vulnerable groups.
The main objective of the project is to improve the resilience of the forest against large forest fires through the implementation of improvement actions for the recovery and extension of grazing in the forest ecosystems of the Cabriel Valley Biosphere Reserve.
- Introduce technological improvements provided by remote sensing and geographic information systems to locate water points.
- Rehabilitate, on an experimental basis, strategic water points such as fountains, springs or troughs in the territory of the Biosphere Reserve.
- Carry out silvicultural treatments in the area of influence of the water point to improve the passability of livestock.
- Recover existing abandoned terraces on the perimeter of the water point to activate them as pastures and implement plantings.
- Analysis of the different regulations.
- Elaborate a viability plan for extensive livestock product processing infrastructures, especially slaughterhouses.
- Integration of products from extensive livestock farming into the Biosphere Reserve brand.
- Design and implementation of training actions.
- Dissemination and transfer.
Apply sustainable forest management actions in water points that take advantage of extensive sheep and goat herding with the objective of increasing income and rural employment and improving the resilience of Spanish Biosphere Reserves (SILVA AQUA).
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