Prioridad proyecto 27: 1 - Preserving Sudoe's natural capital and adapting to climate change

In the cross-border area of Arribes and Alto Douro the NBS measures to improve the IV will be implemented in vineyards of the Bodegas Pascual Fernández in Fermoselle (Zamora) and the Duorum Winery in Foz Coa and the surrounding land. These areas face challenges such as: — Fragmentation of plots, rugged orography and high cultivation costs. — Soils with little organic matter and unequal fertility. — Lack of variety in crops and increasing water stress. — Hotter and drier summers. — Risk of erosion on slopes. — Water scarcity and competition for it. — Increased erosion due to extreme weather events. — Soils with little organic matter. — Risk of fire and depopulation/desertification. In both regions, the project seeks to address agricultural and environmental challenges while promoting biodiversity and cultural heritage conservation, contributing to resilience to climate change. In the area of Mariñas -Betanzos will work on plots of the Bodega Pagos de Brigante in the area of action the challenges have to do with: — Small farms and wineries, with business at the limit of profitability. — Numerous vineyards abandoned in recent decades. — Planting tree species (eucalyptus) on abandoned vineyard farms – Difficult supply of local grapes. — Recurring crop damage caused by wildlife by abandoning farms close to the vineyards. This pilot aims to capitalise on the learnings of pilot 1 developed in France to implement NBS that increase SSEEs. In all these areas, the project seeks to address agricultural and environmental challenges while promoting biodiversity and the conservation of natural and cultural heritage, contributing to resilience to climate change and curbing depopulation.

The implementation of the 3 pilot actions contributes to the RCO84 Programme Implementation Indicator. Pilot action number 1 will consist of the creation and implementation of an energy community in the town of Bembibre, which will also study the implementation of the results of pilot action number 2 and 3 in order to replicate a sustainable mobility system based on green hydrogen as an engine and take advantage of possible surpluses for the distribution of natural gas. Action number 2 will integrate a self-consumption system and test a hydrogen bike system that will be tested in both Bembibre and Portalegre. Action 3 shall launch a demonstration laboratory in which application simulations will be carried out to adopt solutions to real cases: conversion of traffic, distribution of natural gas, modernisation of agricultural transport, etc.

The objective of this catalogue is to present in a synthetic and operational way the pilot actions that are currently experiencing new solutions to conserve forest resources, preserve and strengthen the resilience of forests. Pilot actions to be carried out in the territories (15 pilot sites are already planned) will include three types of solutions: 1/Planting new species and provenances to test their resistance in forests in the long term. This should help environments better cope with different threats. 2/Adoption of specific forestry actions to promote the adaptation and resilience of forests and the maintenance of associated ecosystem services. The aim is to improve, preserve or restore forest cover, for example by enriching the masses, which favors the mixing of species. 3/Implementing actions for the conservation of the forest genetic heritage. These actions aim to respond to important local challenges. The wide variety of forest situations (main objective of the masses, composition in species, age of the masses, etc.) and of the pedocclimatic conditions found must allow a good representativeness of the forest contexts of southwest Europe. The techniques used, the resources mobilised and the results of the pilot actions will be exploited and transferred 1) within the partnership, 2) to other local, regional and national institutions and actors and 3) to other territories of the EU through the European networks of partners and partners to facilitate their ownership. This catalogue will be integrated into the metadata base (ACT2.1) and will illustrate some of the operational recommendations of the Transnational Strategy (achievement of WG1).