According to the entity, land stewardship (CdT) has expanded its scope in Spain in recent years in terms of the number of existing entities and agreements, and the territorial area covered. The CoT is a complement to land management based on the (almost) exclusive activity of public administrations (e.g. the creation of protected areas) or on policies based on market mechanisms (e.g. payment for environmental services). The proposed project has a direct impact on the socio-economic analysis of different CdT entities and projects, contributing to their better knowledge and highlighting their interest as a model for the management of public and private spaces.
The main objective seeks to carry out a socio-economic analysis of land stewardship in Spain, contributing to its better knowledge and highlighting its interest as a model of management of public and private spaces.
The specific objectives are as follows:
The project has carried out a socio-economic diagnosis of land stewardship (CdT) in Spain, considering its institutional characterization, socio-economic impact and traditional knowledge associated with land management. The main results indicate that custody in Spain, despite being widespread in most of the Autonomous Communities, does not present a territorial balance. According to Fundació ENT, there is a greater representation of entities with few agreements and a minority with many. Based on data collected for the period 2013-2017, it was observed that the CdT entities analyzed registered an increase in paid personnel, organized volunteer activities, the annual volume of income obtained and the level of self-financing. Despite this, they also indicate that a possible fragility of some entities was identified in terms of dependence on volunteer personnel or the need to obtain external funding. Other positive aspects to highlight from the analysis include the balance observed between women and men among the paid staff in the entities analyzed, the variety of investments in custodial farms, the marketing of products and services and the diversity of objectives covered by the volunteer activities carried out by the CdT entities. In addition, it was noted that stewardship agreements can contribute positively to the preservation of a varied set of activities associated with traditional land management.
Socio-economic analysis of land stewardship in Spain