LIFE and Land Stewardship Lessons Learned
13th of October 2016
Marc Vilahur, president of XCT
Land stewardship stakeholder diagram
Land stewardship is settled with a land
stewardship agreement
The essence of LS is the joint work of different people from different backgrounds, towards a common
goal: taking care of the land.
Xarxa de Custòdia del Territori
Land Stewardship Network of Catalonia
Who are we?
• Communicates LS to the public
• Assists land trusts
• Networking strategy
• Studies legislative opportunities
• Research and pilot projects in LS
• XCT is non-profit association with ≈ 160 members from Catalonia and Balearic Islands
• Umbrella organization that promotes the use of Land Stewardship (LS)
LandLife aims to communicate the value of land stewardship as an effective and successful tool for nature and biodiversity conservation. The project was financed by the European Commission (LIFE+)
Land Life project
LIFE10 INF/ES/540
Boosting land stewardship as a conservation tool in the Western Mediterranean Arc: A communication and training scheme 2011-2014
Communication actions
Training actions
European manual on land stewardship
Regional workshops
European Congress
European website portal (www.landstewardship.eu)
Multimedia materials
European Week on land stewardship
Help desk
Online course
2014
2011
Land Life project. Main actions
Main actions - Publications
First European Manual on Land Stewardship
All documents are vailable on-line at www.landstewardship.eu
- Define Land Stewardship Projects
-Designing, negotiating and monitoring
- A model of Land Stewardship Agreement
- How to fund
1.330 downloads 7.816 downloads 1.274 downloads
Main actions – Landlife Workshops
Three regional LandLife Workshops
(technical profile)
10th-11th May Giussago (Italy)
22th-23th April Montpellier (France)
29th-31th May Tavertet (Catalonia)
Main actions - LandLife Congress
250 participants from over 20 countries 13 workshops 26 short communications 23 posters Field visits Technical profile
For more information about the Congress visit: www.lanstewardship.eu/congress
1st European LS Week, 2012 231 organizations 420 activities 22 countries
2nd European LS Week, 2014 260 organizations 432 activities 19 countries
Main actions – Land Stewardhip Week
Citizens profile
Invite citizens to participate in events organized all around Europe for the conservation and promotion of land and its natural, cultural and landscape heritage.
Main actions – Land Stewardhip Week
More than 250 pictures from 22 countries #connectnature
Exhibition “Connect with nature”. The best 30 pictures
Citizens profile
Connect with nature The campaign encouraged people to relive the simple pleasures derived from being in contact with nature, and to share those experiences through pictures.
Main actions – Land Stewardhip Week
Online course -“International introductory course to land stewardship: from theory to practice”
Online helpdesk
An interactive forum where users can post questions and doubts related to land stewardship that will be answered by the team of the Helpdesk’s advisers
30 hours course distributed in 6 weeks and structured in 3 modules 60 students from 8 countries Since the project has finished 2 new editions of the course has been carried out (in spanish) with a total of 270 students.
LESSONS LEARNED – Contribution of the project
•LandLife has widely analysed how land stewardship contributes to implement European policies related to nature conservation. •Has contributed to the standardisation of the land stewardship concept in Europe. As a result, the project provided mechanisms for land organisations to guarantee conservation of other areas outside the project regions. •Has promoted the signature of new land stewardship agreements. •Has created online and physical spaces to exchange and promote expertise on land stewardship and share experiences •Has involved more than 31.000 citizens in activities related with land stewardship and nature conservation under the common motto •The final output of the project was the signing of the "Barcelona Declaration“ and the initiative to create the European Network on Land Stewardship.
LESSONS LEARNED – Opportunities to promote LS in Europe
A- GENERAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR LAND STEWARDSHIP
Land stewardship is an inclusive concept
Economic restructuring today opens the door to land stewardship solutions
B- LAND STEWARDSHIP AS A TOOL FOR NATURE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
An integrated approach and joint work between different sectors will often prove to be more sustainable than individual microsite land use
Most of European landscapes need some sort of management to be maintained
The concept of land stewardship offers valuable tools for addressing the challenges for conserving biodiversity, landscapes and local communities in diverse regions of Europe
Land stewardship is suited to answer in practical ways to challenges climate change pose
Land stewardship is part of the rural green economy and social entrepreneurship
LESSONS LEARNED – Opportunities to promote LS in Europe
C - NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES FOR LAND STEWARDSHIP
Networking in Europe for land stewardship can strengthen regional efforts and spread innovation.
There is enough experience and innovation in Europe on land stewardship promotion
The common European nature conservation programmes fixed by European institutions will foster coordination
Europe’s cultural and political diversity will allow different ways to apply the concept of land stewardship
Linking of Europe to the worldwide scene of land stewardship in the world.
D - FROM LAND STEWARDSHIP AS A TOOL FOR SOCIAL INVOLVEMENT (LANDOWNERS, LOCAL PEOPLE, CITIZENS, BUSINESSES)
Land stewardship is an opportunity to empower society
The trend in protected areas management toward involving local people offers new opportunities to build alliances with landowners and resource-users
Land stewardship offers a means of extending the reach of conventional protected areas
Opportunities of private funding of land stewardship
LESSONS LEARNED – Opportunities to promote LS in Europe
E - OPPORTUNITIES ARISING FROM EUROPEAN POLICIES AND LEGAL INSTRUMENTS
Government policies which provide a strong legal basis and incentives for conservation agreements can encourage private initiative.
Stewardship organisations may be well positioned to give advice and support to new programmes and policies
The up-coming EU programmatic period (2014-2020) offers interesting new opportunities to finance an integrated approach to land conservation
The Natura 2000 network, with its legal, financial and administrative framework at the European and national levels, is a solid institutional basis for the development of land stewardship in the EU
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) offers key opportunities for land stewardship
European rural development instruments (Leader) can help reaching out local stakeholders
RECOGNITIONS
LANDLIFE project awarded as BEST LIFE INFORMATION PROJECTS Recognizing it as one of the 5 best Information and Communication LIFE projects in the area of Nature and Biodiversity among all the projects developed between 2011 and 2014.
31/05/2016