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? XCT is non-profit association with 160 members from Catalonia and Balearic Islands Umbrella organization that promotes the use of Land Stewardship (LS) Communicates LS to the public Assists land trusts Networking strategy Studies legislative opportunities Research and pilot projects in LS
Land Life project Boosting land stewardship as a conservation tool in the Western Mediterranean Arc: A communication and training scheme 2011-2014 LIFE10 INF/ES/540 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. Main actions Communication actions 2011 Training actions European website portal (www.landstewardship.eu) European manual on land stewardship Regional workshops European Week on land stewardship Multimedia materials Help desk European Congress Online course 2014
Main actions - Publications 1.330 downloads 7.816 downloads 1.274 downloads 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
Main actions Landlife Workshops Three regional LandLife Workshops (technical profile) 22th-23th April Montpellier (France) 29th-31th May Tavertet (Catalonia) 10th-11th May Giussago (Italy)
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
Main actions Land Stewardhip Week Invite citizens to participate in events organized all around Europe for the conservation and promotion of land and its natural, cultural and landscape heritage. 1 st European LS Week, 2012 231 organizations 420 activities 22 countries 2nd European LS Week, 2014 260 organizations 432 activities 19 countries Citizens profile
Main actions Land Stewardhip Week 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. Citizens profile Exhibition Connect with nature. The best 30 pictures More than 250 pictures from 22 countries #connectnature
Main actions Land Stewardhip Week Online course - International introductory course to land stewardship: from theory to practice 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. 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
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
Thank you for your attention! For more info contact with marcv@fundacioemys.org