PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The project LIFE IN COMMON LAND was born from a collaboration of three regional public bodies in Galicia with experience in planning and management of Natura 2000 network sites and from an interest in harmonising environmental conservation and land use in rural areas. Nature conservation is closely linked to economic activities in the areas of Atlantic wet heaths and peatland habitats, linked to agricultural systems with high nature value in the Natura 2000 site Serra do Xistral. These habitats have unfavourable or unknown conservation status.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE IN COMMON LAND project was a demonstration project whose main objective was to improve the conservation status of three priority habitats listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive - Atlantic wet heaths, raised bogs and blanket bogs - in the Natura 2000 network site Serra do Xistral, while reducing the social conflicts originating from the use of land for grazing by implementing integrated result-based management schemes. It followed successful examples applied in other areas of the Atlantic biogeographical region, with the particularity of taking place on land with collective ownership by the community of residents who live in the area (commoners).
The specific objectives, in order of importance, were to:
- Implement result-based management schemes on common land to improve the structure and function of the target habitats through management of livestock density, correction of livestock impacts and installation of livestock management infrastructure. This objective also included the capacity-building and training of the different stakeholders involved in the conservation of the habitats and Natura 2000 network sites;
- Design and implement result-based payment schemes that might be integrated along with the management schemes in the upcoming regional rural development plan (RDP) of Galicia, improving the future prospects of habitats and long-term sustainability of the project results;
- Disseminate and transfer management measures, result-based payments on common land, and a methodology of results monitoring using multispectral cameras mounted on drones;
- Develop actions for increasing and improving the area of wet heaths and peatlands habitat by replacing non-native woodland areas; and
- Raise awareness on the ecosystem services provided by the habitat diversity and their economic value to rural development in mountain areas. Evaluation of the common management of land as a nature conservation tool. The achievement of these objectives will take advantage of the outputs of previous projects and EU programmes (Horizon 2020 and LIFE).
RESULTS
This was a good and well-managed project, delivering almost all the planned outputs just under budget (slightly below 100%). As a result, the project successfully achieved its main objective: to improve the conservation status of habitats 7130*, 7110* and 4020* in the SAC Serra do Xistral (ES1120015) while reducing the social conflicts caused by livestock management through the implementation of a pioneering Results-Based Payments Scheme for Conservation. This was possible thanks to the correct implementation of a well-designed set of preparatory and conservation actions. The success of the project is largely due to the key role played by the owners of the 11 communal areas (Montes Vecinales en Mano Común in Spanish – MVMCs) where the project has been implemented, who actively collaborated and participated in the project.
Amongst the results achieved by the project, the mentioned Results-Based Payments Scheme for Conservation should be highlighted. Under this novel scheme, the 11 MVMCs participating in the project have received payments (totalling almost €300,000) based on the surface area of the habitats and their conservation status. This financial tool aims to make cattle managers have confidence in their ability to adopt best practices and incentivise their collaboration in preserving the wet heath and bog habitats. As a negative note, it should be pointed out that one of the project's objectives was to integrate this model into the upcoming regional Rural Development Plan of Galicia if it proved to be a success, improving the future prospects of habitats and the long-term sustainability of the project results. However, this has not been possible despite the efforts made by the project team to elicit a response from the policy makers within the Regional Government of Galicia.
The project has implemented direct conservation actions that involved the restoration and improvement of 443.55 ha of HIC*: 235.02 ha of wet heathlands (4020*), 15.73 ha of raised bogs (7110*), and 192.80 ha of blanket bogs (7130*). The works carried out to achieve this consisted of the installation of 3,792 m of new fences, removal of existing fences, installation of one cattle grid, shrub clearing of 61.72 ha, improvements along 3.4 km of roads, modification of soil profiles and naturalisation in the surroundings of the track works in 4.59 ha, building or improving 4 livestock crushes, installation of 200 m of exclusion fencing, and cutting exotic trees in 151 ha.
Throughout the project, a sound monitoring was conducted using drones (RPAs) and permanent monitoring plots in order to track the evolution of the vegetation in the project area. Also, vegetation indexes were calculated by using multi-spectral images captured with drones and satellites to allow before-and-after assessment of the results of the conservation actions. Other aspects assessed were the cost-effectiveness of the application of drones in the mapping and assessment of the conservation status of habitats or the socio-economic impact of the project and the impact on ecosystem services.
Dissemination, communication and networking actions matched in quality the sound implementation of the conservation actions and the results obtained despite the COVID-19 pandemic impact. The development of the dissemination plan yielded very good results. Among these, it is worth noting: participation or hosting 64 events and many more meetings with the commoners of the site, 128 media appearances, 5 radio interviews, 17 videos of the project (11 own, 6 external), 7 scientific papers published, 3 posters presented in scientific events, 10 newsletters and 10 bulletins published on the project website, 56 panels installed in the project area, book of abstracts and conclusions of the final congress produced and available on the project website, a wide range of merchandising materials produced (lantern, pocket magnifier, binoculars, notebooks, backpack, cup, windbreaker, rubber boots, neck warmer, t-shirt, umbrella, pen-drive, water bottle, cloth bag, sticker, page markers, etc), 3 brochures, a nature conservation card game specifically designed by the project, 2 roll-ups and a didactic unit produced, an itinerant exhibition made up of 13 roll-ups displayed in strategic places within the project area and of Galicia, etc. The 64 events above mentioned have reached more than 4,000 people (1,454 specialised public), from 186 different types of entities (associations, NGOs, research centres, landowners, public bodies, universities, companies). Likewise, through the media, more than 500,000 people would have been reached, highlighting the value of the Natura 2000 site Serra do Xistral and the conservation activity developed by the commoners.
The communication platform integrated into the project’s website to facilitate and promote discussions about project topics did not work as expected and other communication channels had to be sought for this purpose.
