We celebrated the first Land Stewardship Day
More than twenty initiatives have joined in the celebration of the Land Stewardship Day, organized by the LIFE Stewardship project with the goal of highlighting the importance of this tool for nature conservation and restoration in our country.
In this first edition, more than 300 participants took part in the various organized activities, including open houses for land stewardship initiatives, guided tours, volunteer activities, artistic interventions, and birdwatching. Through these events, the organizations were able to demonstrate the benefits of land stewardship to the general public.
The activities took place in Bizkaia, Zaragoza, Teruel, Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia, the Community of Madrid, Ávila, Salamanca, Mallorca, Huelva, Cádiz, La Palma, and Tenerife. In addition, a webinar was held on the Technical Office of Land Stewardship and the Plaza de la Custodia.
Salt Flats Take Center Stage
The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, which coordinates the LIFE Stewardship project, has organized a visit to stewardship initiatives in the Bay of Cádiz, an area where nature conservation is closely linked to the preservation of traditional productive activities. The disappearance of traditional salt flats and estuaries—which served as a major economic driver in the area for many years—led to progressive environmental degradation and an increased impact from climate change.
Now, thanks to various conservation initiatives underway in the area—such as the one led by the University of Cádiz at the Esperanza salt flat—efforts are being made to promote environmental restoration, the revival of traditional activities, and research and development of new economic activities that can also boost the local economy.
During the visit, the Forum of Land Stewardship Networks announced that the next National Conference on Land Stewardship will be held at the University of Cádiz in March 2027.
During this day, an artistic intervention was also carried out on a mural at the Wine and Salt Interpretation Center in Chiclana de la Frontera. This infographic mural illustrates how land stewardship contributes to nature conservation, as well as the importance of salt flats, which bring together history, culture, and the environment.
In this first edition of the Land Stewardship Day, the partners of LIFE STEWARDSHIP collaborated in organizing activities, along with other organizations: Universidad de Cádiz, ayuntamiento de Chiclana, Sociedad Gaditana de Historia Natural, Bioterreta, Fundación Emys, Lurgaia Fundazioa, Asociación Amigos del Bosque de Agua García, Club Montañeros de Nivaria, Fundación Vida Silvestre Mediterránea, Fundación Monte Mediterráneo, Fundación Canaria Reserva Mundial de la Biosfera La Palma, Associació Medioambiental La Sínia, Asociación para la Integración de los Servicios de los Ecosistemas, Asociación Galega de Custodia do Territorio, Associació CEN, Associació El Petit Bosc, Fundación Miranda, Fundación Tormes-EB, Ayuntamiento de Monsagro and Colectivo Bellotero.
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.