With the support of the Biodiversity Foundation, of the Ministry for Ecological Transition, the UNEX (University of Extremadura) has developed the project “Management of the biodiversity of the dehesa to increase its resilience to climate change”.

The products of the dehesa, the largest silvopastoral system in Europe, depend heavily on rainwater, both for direct consumption by livestock and for the production of pastures, acorns and other resources. The reduction in rainfall and the increase in temperatures predicted for the end of the century due to climate change is a major threat to its sustainability.

The main objective of the project was to raise awareness of the need to improve the sustainability of the dehesa in the face of climate change. To this end, a network of demonstration pastures of participation and development has been created where practices are being carried out to improve the adaptation capacity of the dehesa in the face of climate change. The network serves as a reference point for other farmers and managers to start applying these management practices.

In total, the network is made up of around 25 public and private farms spread throughout the national territory. All the pastures in the network are making some improvement in the use of resources in order to improve their long-term sustainability. The actions they are carrying out are the improvement of pastures, the use of forage banks, the use of pruning remains and the implementation of keyline design to improve rainwater harvesting.

The project has also included communication and dissemination actions. To this end, five visits have been made to pastures in the network where more than 150 participants of different profiles have seen how to improve the adaptation of the dehesa to climate change. The project concluded with the celebration of the First Meeting of the Network of Climate-Friendly Dehesas.