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Socio-economic analysis of land stewardship in Spain

MITECO

A socio-economic diagnosis of land stewardship (CdT) in Spain has been carried out, considering its institutional characterization, socio-economic impact and traditional knowledge associated with land management.

Line of action:

Terrestrial ecosystems

Status:

Finalizado

Execution date:

2018

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:

  • Definition of methodology for analysing the socio-economic impact of land stewardship in Spain.
  • Institutional analysis of land stewardship in Spain.
  • To analyze the impact of land stewardship on the preservation of traditional knowledge.
  • Analysis of the economic impact of land stewardship.
  • Promote the transfer of knowledge to different audiences: land stewardship actors (networks, entities, users and owners of spaces and other private and public actors) and the general population.
  • Specification of the socio-economic analysis approach, including the definition of the methodology, and the spatial and territorial scale of analysis according to the topic analyzed.
  • Institutional analysis of land stewardship at the national level, including the characterization of the type of actors, analysis of volunteering, social networks on the internet and analysis of cooperative relationships.
  • Analysis of the impact of land stewardship on the preservation of traditional knowledge, based on a diagnosis of agreements focused on the conservation of traditional land management.
  • Analysis of the economic impact of land stewardship in terms of the annual volume of operations carried out by the entities; direct investments in estates in custody; creation of direct jobs; and products traded in custody.
  • Report and final presentation of the results, including a final report and presentation file.

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.

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Socio-economic analysis of land stewardship in Spain