Line of action:

Terrestrial ecosystems

Status:

En ejecución

Location:

Almeria, Granada, Lugo and Navarre

Geographic scope:

España

Execution date:

2022

Duration:

01/11/2022 - 31/12/2025

Typology:

Extensive livestock farming

Total budget:

1,434,971.13 euros

Amount of aid from the Biodiversity Foundation:

1,363,222.57 euros (95%)

Coordinating entity:

Public University of Navarra

In the current scenario of global change, landscape management is a priority. The mega fires of recent years, which have occurred both in Europe (Portugal, Greece, Andalusia, etc.) and in other parts of the world (Chile, California, Australia, etc.), have brought to the fore new risk scenarios with which we will have to live and which we will have to face in a global, integrated and intelligent way.

Investments in firefighting do not reduce the causes of fire or control fifth- and sixth-generation fires, which are outside the extinguishing capacity of technical equipment. Efforts in the coming decades must focus on fire prevention and the creation of resilient landscapes, adapted to new environmental scenarios.

Pyric herbivory is a practice for preventive risk management based on emulating the disturbance regime in which natural ecosystems evolved, in which fire and herbivore controlled the cycle of terrestrial plant matter. The practice, modernized and based on solid scientific knowledge, seeks to value the ancestral role of fire and herbivore in the cycle of matter, and to establish the foundations of fuel management and ecosystem restoration, especially in critical and strategic areas for the prevention of forest fires.

COMPÁS promotes research and the application of new technologies for the implementation of pyric herbrilliance, a practice that tries to emulate the regime of disturbances of natural ecosystems, in which fire and herbivores controlled the cycle of terrestrial plant matter.

To this end, it is planned to work in different pilot areas where a fire prevention proposal based on prescribed burning and extensive livestock farming will be implemented, making a proposal for a regulatory and technical framework for the implementation of this model, with research and practice actions for new grazing and remote sensing models, as well as training actions and the design of new business models that allow their economic and social viability.

The implementation of the model in pilot experiences will allow information to be obtained on improvements in the reduction of fuel load and in the definition of multi-year plans for directed grazing, which will culminate in the signing of 6 participation contracts for the implementation of pyric herviroism practices for environmental and civil protection purposes. It is also expected to have at least 60 technicians and 60 livestock farmers and shepherds trained in fuel management and the creation of resilient landscapes, as well as at least 90 people accredited as trainers in the field and 8 agreements signed with the administrations responsible for the environment in each territory for the periodic holding of Courses for Trainers of “Combustibility Managers”.