Line of action:

Terrestrial ecosystems

Status:

En ejecución

Location:

Guadalajara (Castilla-La Mancha)

Geographic scope:

España

Execution date:

2024

Duration:

01/01/2024 - 31/12/2025

Typology:

Integral projects for the recovery of mosaic/landscape multifunctionality (extensive livestock farming, agroforestry, etc.).

Total budget:

470,274.00 euros

Amount of aid from the Biodiversity Foundation:

446,760.00 euros

The driving forces that are most strongly determining changes in the landscape of Mediterranean countries are rural abandonment and climate change. The Sierra Norte de Guadalajara Natural Park is one of the largest protected areas in Castilla-La Mancha (116,953 hectares), but at the same time it is one of the most unpopulated areas in Europe (2,900 inhabitants in 35 municipalities). The socioeconomic dynamics of the territory has led to the progressive abandonment of traditional agroforestry and pastoral practices and the consequent drift towards a homogeneous landscape vulnerable to climate change (major fires, droughts), dominated by large unmanaged reforestations and scrubby agricultural and pastoral areas.

The economic potential of forest ecosystem services in the Sierra Norte de Guadalajara is great, and is being recognized by regional policies through the promotion of more resilient forest landscapes in MUP of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha and through the certification of their services through FSC. The Alliance for Ecosystem Services of Castilla-La Mancha is an ideal instrument for promoting dialogue and public-private collaboration to economically compensate the provision of these services in rural areas. The SierraNorte Paisaje Vivo project seeks to incorporate local initiatives and small forest owners (private landowners, municipalities) as beneficiaries of this Alliance, based on the participatory design of the expected forest landscape, and with the idea of promoting its replicability in other protected areas of Castilla-La Mancha and Spain. The certification of services in these properties and support for local initiatives that diversify the use of natural resources and integrate these services into the value chain is key to the project, since these are people and entities with very little capacity to join these processes with their own resources.

The main objective is to boost the local economy of the Sierra Norte de Guadalajara Natural Park through the valorization of ecosystem services associated with a forest mosaic that is resilient to climate change.

• Design of a resilient mosaic for the forest landscape of the Sierra Norte de Guadalajara.
• Application of resilient mosaic in the Valverde de los Arroyos mountain.
• Certification of forest ecosystem services in the forest of Valverde de los Arroyos.
• Fundraising for the financing of forest ecosystem services in the Sierra Norte de Guadalajara Natural Park.
• Identification and support for local entrepreneurship initiatives based on forest ecosystem services.
• Communication and awareness of the project.
• Project transferability plan.