PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The project area is the Montserrat Mountain and surroundings in the Barcelona province. The area is mostly forest (64%) and covers 42 487 ha. Montserrat is an emblematic mountain in Catalonia. The mountain and its surroundings are a great natural resource and a significant part of the project area is included in the Natura 2000 network of sites. The mountain is also the location of a cultural, religious and spiritual pilgrimage centre, which is visited by both locals and tourists.
This area, however, has suffered from major forest fires in recent years and the risk of fire remains as a result of fuel load accumulation, the disappearance of crops and the decline of traditional forestry practice. Climate change has also increased the risk of wildfire.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE Montserrat project aimed to:
- Develop ecosystem-based measures to increase the resilience and stability of forests against fires, and to improve the prevention of wildfires in the project area by creating and/or maintaining strategic areas to help prevent the spread, facilitate the extinction and decrease the intensity and extension of wildfires;
- Contribute to the conservation and improvement of biodiversity in the Montserrat area, with habitats and species of high conservation value included in the EU Birds and Habitats directives. In particular, the project seeks to contribute to the conservation of the 16 threatened species that are found in the project area by maintaining and restoring some priority habitats, and improve the habitat of 121 species protected by the international, national or regional legislation by means of the recuperation of open habitats; and
- Contribute to biodiversity conservation by increasing connectivity through the creation of a mosaic of scrub, natural grasslands and forests that will link two Natura 2000 sites (Montserrat-Roques Blanques-Riu Llobregat and Sant Llorenç del Munt i l’Obac).
In order to meet these objectives, the project will implement, evaluate and disseminate an integrated silvopastoral management plan that will include a specific grazing management plan and a forest restoration plan. This plan will foster the multifunctionality and services of ecosystems. The total area covered by the project is 2 782.5 ha.
A local community awareness campaign would also be undertaken and results would be publicly disseminated.
RESULTS
LIFE MONTSERRAT developed and implemented a model of land management in the Montserrat area of Catalonia (Spain) based on extensive livestock farming in forests and open habitats. This helps prevent forest fires and enhances biodiversity and connectivity, while providing income to livestock farmers. The farming activity was targeted on strategic areas established by the forest fire service of the Catalonia Regional Government.
The main project achievements are as follows:
- Forestry works implemented over a total of 1 289 ha, including tree and scrub clearing to reduce the density of Aleppo pine forests and to prepare the land for subsequent pasture.
- Restoration of 117 ha of open habitats using mechanical means, and the creation of 65 ha through prescribed burning practices.
- Creation of 10 livestock farming units covering 3 614 ha on 39 private estates. At project end, the livestock farming system was operational in all these units with 1 420 ha under grazing.
- Livestock farming units managed on 8 farms (14 farmers in total): 5 farms are breeding goats as a result of the project, 1 farm donkeys, and the other 2 cows.
- 25 long-term (20-year) grazing contracts signed between farmers and landowners.
- Construction of 4 new livestock pens, and installation of fences and water supply points.
- Acquisition of livestock by beneficiaries: 499 goats and 32 cows.
- Creation of a local livestock farmers' association in 2018.
Monitoring indicators confirmed the effectiveness of the livestock farming units in reducing fire propagation and helping fire suppression, and their cost-efficiency compared to existing forestry practices. The project’s model also delivers a range of ecosystem benefits related to the reversal of land abandonment and economic rural development, biodiversity and connectivity enhancement, and resilience to climate change. Overall, it was estimated that project actions benefit a much larger area, of around 32 000 ha.
Regarding biodiversity, monitoring indicated a positive trend for some butterfly populations and an increase in the flora species richness and diversity in areas with combined interventions (forestry and grazing). Further benefits will probably be seen in a few years’ time. The prescribed burning actions had a high demonstration value, because they showed the technical feasibility of such practices over large areas and confirmed their effectiveness in reducing fuel loads in strategic areas. In addition, the project team demonstrated that with adequate preparatory information and dissemination work, prescribed burning could be accepted by the local population.
Beneficial socio-economic impacts include the development of new livestock farms, and activities such as cheese-making and meat production that had nearly disappeared from the area. The long-term continuity of the land management model presents a challenge, for example, due to extensive farming in forests being ineligible for CAP funding. A compensation or payment scheme for ecosystem services would be one solution to ensure economic viability.
Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report (see "Read more" section).
