Fundación Global Nature

Location

Madrid, Spain

Category

Hub

Ecosystems

High Nature Value farmlands, temporary saline wetlands, and Mediterranean coastal wetlands

Land Tenure

Private reserves (owned by FGN); Protected areas recognized by the Spanish government

Contact
Amanda del Río Murillo, [email protected]
Website

https://fundacionglobalnature.org/

Overview

Spain is the most biodiverse country in the EU and the Mediterranean Region, with the highest number of vascular plants (8,000-9,000 species) among European and Mediterranean countries.  Spain also has the highest incidence of threatened endemic flora, and plant endemism i.e., 20-25%, which is exceptionally high for extratropical countries, Spain is also home to some of the most remarkable landscapes and ecosystems in Europe, with agroecosystems covering 40.5% of the country's terrestrial territory ( , of which about half is traditional systems with high conservation value (https://biodiversity.europa.eu/countries/spain). Those traditional agroecosystems, and the corresponding agriscapes, including those with Dehesas – the ancient silvopastoral systems of Extremadura and Andalucia, are critical habitats for 40% of the species within 48% of the habitats protected in Spain under EU legislation. However, these high nature and cultural value landscapes all face significant threats.

One of the most pressing issues in Spain is desertification, which threatens approximately 74% of the national territory. This phenomenon is driven by unsustainable agricultural practices, and increasingly exacerbated by climate change, prolonging intensifying the hot and dry seasons in a country that is half arid and semi-arid to begin with.  Ongoing loss of vegetation and soil cover, as well as land use changes and invasive organisms, further endanger the biodiversity – and the people - that depend on healthy ecosystems. Additionally, with agriculture consuming 70% of the country's water resources, the anthropogenic impacts on Spain's wetlands—such as Doñana, Mar Menor, and the Albufera of Valencia—is already severe. Most of these wetlands are rather small, but they are critical for maintaining water quality, supporting migratory bird populations, and preventing floods in rural areas.

An estimated 44% of Spain's groundwater bodies are in poor condition, largely due to agricultural overuse, which compounds the stress on these already fragile ecosystems. The long-term conservation of Spain’s agroecosystems and wetlands is crucial, not only to protect the unique species and habitats they support but also to maintain the ecological processes and resilience and prevent or at least mitigate further degradation of landscapes. More than 60% of the country’s wetlands are destroyed or considered to be seriously threatened.  Restoring and rehabilitating these ecosystems is key for maintaining the natural and cultural landscape heritage of Spain.

FGN 's Conservation and Experimental Restoration Work

Fundación Global Nature's first project, starting in 1993, with the acquisition of the very old natural Fuentes de Nava lagoon, in Palencia, which had dried up in the middle of the 20th century.  Thus far, 300 hectares have been reflooded and they now provide safe, hunter-free habitat for one of the main populations of over-wintering birds in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Subsequently, the neighbouring lagoons of Boada and Pedraza de Campos were partly purchased and placed under protection. The conservation and increasingly active restoration of wetland areas has been the main thread and focus of our Foundation’s actions to date.

Wetland restoration projects begin with diagnoses of the environmental and social processes that affect wetlands. These studies allow us to develop partnerships with local groups and administrations, from which we create stewardship agreements with landowners or purchase some priority properties. The next step consists of field actions that include the restoration of vegetation (mowing, planting or grazing), soil (topographic surveys, removal of motes, adaptation of basins, drains or canals) and the entire water system (management of wetland management plans that promote rural development and encourage public use. The results of all these actions are monitored and evaluated in ecological, environmental, social and economic terms. Finally, we can use what we learn to communicate and transfer good practices and innovative processes to other public and private organizations.

In addition, we also work in the agroecosystem/ agriscapes land category in rural Spain. For starters, in collaboration with local farmers, Fundación Global Nature initiated and coordinates a farming stewardship network to develop and demonstrate the best practice agro-environmental measures to maintain and enhance biodiversity in farming areas in 9 different natural protected areas, in the Autonomous Communities of Extremadura, Comunidad Valenciana, Castilla La Mancha, and Castilla y León . The  El Baldio Dehesa is a space for learning, testing and demonstration. This dehesa farm -  232 hectares - owned by Fundación Global Nature, is located in Talaván (Cáceres, Extremadura),  between the Mediterranean forest of Monfragüe and the Llanos de Cáceres steppe area. Since 1993 FGN has implemented a program to maintain endangered breeds of Spanish livestock - White cacereña cattle and Black merino sheep.. For the last 10 years, we have also begun comparisons of various grazing and shrub encroachment management practices, through monitoring of soil carbon storage, changes in herbaceous pasture plant abundance and diversity, as well as  the economic yields of privately owned dehesas. Our overarching goals are to contribute scientific data and insights as well as a demonstration and training site for restorative interventions and ecology-oriented management to benefit biodiversity conservation, economic return, and flow of ecosystem services. For this reason, we are pleased to join the Ecological Health Network.

Fundación Global Nature as a new EHN Hub

FGN owns 763 ha of land in all, including 465 ha of wetlands and 298 ha of farmlands. The FGN HUB brings to the Ecological Health Network representative examples of two Mediterranean landscapes with high conservation, socio-economic and cultural value, namely Mediterranean inland wetlands and High Nature Value farmlands.

This Hub would be very pleased to join EHN and aims to improve and share the existing knowledge and know-how and experimental results relevant to Iberian agroecosystem and wetland restoration and conservation. By joining EHN we hope to share, showcase, and also learn and enhance the effectiveness of our work by nurturing hands-on learning and networking among Spanish, European, and international scientists and restoration and conservation managers and practitioners to better understand what adaptive management in the Mediterranean Basin, and other mediterranean-type climate regions, could and should be like today.

FGN is open to exchange any kind of knowledge and experiences between local initiatives and the broader Ecological Health Network, allowing lessons learned in the Spainto inform and inspire restoration efforts worldwide.

El Baldío

Location: Spain – Cáceres between the Mediterranean woodland of Monfragüe National Park and the Llanos (or Plains) de Cáceres steppe area.

Vegetation: Spanish dehesa, that is a human-made and maintained mixed-oak savanna with open canopies dominated by Holm oak (Quercus ilex)

Size: 232 ha
Date of initiation:
1993

El Hito

Location: Spain, Cuenca
Vegetation:
temporary saline wetlands and Mediterranean salt steppes
Size:
996
Date of initiation:
2020