The RURALtXA! project, which promotes extensive livestock farming, biodiversity conservation and habitat restoration, brings together the project team, livestock farmers and the heads of the Biodiversity Foundation in Santiago de Compostela.
RURALtXA! is a major transformative project that aims to promote traditional extensive livestock farming activities, linked to habitat conservation, as the basis of the rural bioeconomy in the area surrounding the Natura Network and other natural mountain areas. The University of A Coruña, the University of Santiago de Compostela and the HAZI Foundation are the promoters of the initiative, which has the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) in the framework of the Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience (PRTR), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
In this context, the heads of the project and agents on the ground (livestock farmers and commoners) have held a meeting with the director of the Biodiversity Foundation, Elena Pita and the deputy director of biodiversity and climate change, Ignacio Torres, in which they have had the opportunity to delve into central issues of the initiative such as support for extensive livestock farming through its promotion and through the application of sustainable practices for biodiversity, and the restoration of habitats of community interest.
In addition, the project’s website, which will soon be operational, was presented during the meeting.
The project involves colleagues from the BIOCOST group, Dr. Laura Lagos Abarzuzael and Dr. Jaime Fagúndez Díaz, who is also the project coordinator and principal investigator.
TRANSFORMING, INTEGRAL and REPLICABLE PROJECT
The aim of the project is to promote traditional extensive livestock farming systems, which are key in mountain areas for the conservation of biodiversity and the generation of quality products and multiple ecosystem services that are fundamental for society. Its development seeks the conservation and sustainable management of those habitats in the north of the Iberian Peninsula that depend on traditional livestock farming practices such as mountain pastures, heathlands or peat bogs.
RURALtXA! will run until December 2025 and involves carrying out a diagnosis of the presence and state of conservation of natural habitats in mountainous areas of Galicia and the Basque Country, the development of management plans that apply best practices for their conservation and sustainable use, direct actions for the restoration and improvement of habitats and the monitoring of results. It also foresees the evaluation of the benefits that these habitats and products provide and the creation of a working network with multiple collaborative tools to support traditional livestock farming.
The scope of RURALtXA! is located in four pilot areas in Galicia, including the ZEC (Special Conservation Area) Serra do Xistral and Monte Maior in Lugo, as well as the Serra da Faladoira in A Coruña and the Serra da Groba in Pontevedra and five pilot areas in the Basque Country, such as the protected natural areas of Gorbeia, Aizkorri-Aratz, Aralar, Arkamo-Gibijo-Arrastaria and Salvada Mendileorra-Sierra Salvada. Thus, the project covers some 21,300 hectares of priority habitats of Community interest in open mountain areas.
Contact: Jaime Fagúndez: jaime.fagundez@udc.es tfno. 881012258
More information about the project on Fundación Biodivesidad website.