The Plaza de la Custodia is born, a virtual meeting platform about land stewardship in Spain
The Land Stewardship Technical Office, an information, guidance, and advisory service managed by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and the Forum of Land Sterwardship Networks and Entities (FRECT), has created the Plaza de la Custodia, the square of stewradship, a virtual platform for meeting and sharing information about land stewardship in Spain. There is an English translation of the site, which is displayed when selecting the option in the menu in the bottom letf-hand corner of the page.
Like any town or city square, visitors to the Plaza de la Custodia can connect and share tools, knowledge, and concerns, participate in discussions, consult documentary resources, and use tools to support the design of stewardship initiatives.
A social network to promote land stewardship in Spain
The Plaza de la Custodia is for technical staff from stewardship entities, landowners or managers, public administration staff, companies, researchers, the educational community, volunteers, and the general public, who can meet, search for, and share information in one place. Registration on the platform is free, and it is not necessary to belong to any organization to create an account.
The Community tab functions as a social network and can only be used after creating a profile. It provides access to thematic discussion groups about land stewardship. Within each group, forums can be created to share questions, concerns, and knowledge, connect with people of common interests, and build alliances. The groups are moderated by the Land Stewardship Technical Office, so the information shared will be verified.
Advice, training, and resource portal for land stewardship
Likewise, the Plaza de la Custodia offers advice from the Land Stewardship Technical Office in the Advice section. In addition, it includes a archive of resources on land stewardship. Furthermore, to ensure that information about events or relevant dates is not lost, the Calendar section allows users to consult and share meetings related to this conservation tool.
Finally, the User Guide section includes a search engine and organized content to answer frequently asked questions about using the platform.
In the future, other tools and features will be added, such as a financial advisor, training resources, and a custody agreement viewer.
This video is a tour of the Custody Plaza and a tutorial on how to register on the platform:
The Plaza de la Custodia thus stands as a collaborative space for organized and clear knowledge, allowing visitors to stay up-to-date on the latest developments and resources of land stewardship, and enabling registered members to connect with other community members, share knowledge, questions, and concerns, and forge alliances and new projects. This initiative is part of the Land Stewardship Technical Office, an information, guidance, and advisory service jointly promoted by the Biodiversity Foundation and the Forum of Land Sterwardship Networks and Entities within the framework of the LIFE Stewardship project.
LIFE STEWARDSHIP
The overall aim of the LIFE Stewardship project is to use land stewardship-based approaches to boost collaboration involving public and private entities as well as civil society for nature conservation and restoration in Spain, in the framework of the Europe Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and international agreements.
The project is coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, with the participation of Eurosite, the Forum of Land Stewardship Networks and Entities (FRECT), Global Nature Foundation (FGN), Fernando González Bernáldez/ Europarc-Spain Foundation, SEO/BirdLife and Nature Conservation Network (XCN) as partners. It has the financial contribution of the LIFE Programme of the European Union.