Representatives of the PASTONATUR project took part in the “Open Day – Innovation Forum in the Dehesa”, held on 7 May in the Sierra de San Pedro, Badajoz.
At the stand of the Andanatura Foundation, the coordinating entity, visitors were able to learn about the main action areas of PASTONATUR, which spans seven protected areas across Spain and Portugal, namely in the regions of Andalusia, Castile and León, Extremadura, and Alentejo, where the dehesa* is the most representative and structuring ecosystem across most of these territories.
Several of the farms designated as pilot areas within PASTONATUR are dehesa areas, where methodologies will be applied and studied across four main domains: biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation, carbon balance, economic performance, and social impact.
The dehesa is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in Europe, sustained by extensive livestock farming practices which, when well managed, act as allies of conservation. It is precisely this potential that PASTONATUR seeks to demonstrate and strengthen: to show how pastoral activity in agroforestry systems of protected rural areas in the SUDOE region can generate positive and measurable impacts, both for ecosystems and for the rural communities that depend on them. The project also includes the French regions of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie.
The Innovation Forum in the Dehesa brought together researchers from various institutions as well as companies and public and private entities linked to the dehesa/montado system. Results from several research projects and demonstration actions focused on innovation in this high natural value ecosystem were shared.
A day marked by synergies that inspire the next steps of our project.
This event was organised within the framework of the CI Montado Dehesa project and took place in the “Sierra San Pedro and Monfragüe Learning Territory”. The agricultural and livestock farms implementing good practices will be assessed within PASTONATUR.
The connection between the two projects is also institutional: several PASTONATUR beneficiaries also participate in CI Montado Dehesa, namely the Andanatura Foundation, ADPM, the Directorate for Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy of the Regional Government of Andalusia, the University of Évora, and the Southern Farmers Association (ACOS).
* The montado is a traditional agro-silvo-pastoral landscape found primarily in southern Portugal, and its Spanish counterpart, the dehesa, extends across the border into Extremadura and Andalusia. It is one of Europe’s most biodiverse ecosystems — a mosaic of open woodland, shrubland, and grassland shaped over centuries by human stewardship rather than wilderness.
