ICAAM International Conference, “The MONTADO / DEHESA as High Nature Value Farming Systems: implications for classification and for policy support”

Abstract

The Montados and Dehesas have long been acknowledged as a land use systems of high value both in natural and in social terms, due to its diversity in vegetation and land cover, the required balance between the forestry and the grazing uses, and of both these with the constraining environmental conditions of the Mediterranean region where they are found, and also the particular character of the resulting landscapes. Nevertheless, in face of the current pressures for intensification or extensification of land uses, in order to secure a management which respect the system balance and guarantees the maintenance of the above mentioned values, there is an urgent need to set up priorities in policy making, considering the Montado and Dehesas as complex and unique systems. The High Nature Value concept, can be the required pathway for the overall classification of these systems and for promoting their specific consideration in policy making, at the various scales of governance. For this, and in order to identify which Montados and Dehesas do really secure the non-production values that are valued by society today, there is an urgent need to identify criteria and select adequate indicators or other tools that make the identification and monitoring a straightforward task. But also, to guarantee the balanced management of these systems, specific consideration should be defined in policy design, both at European and at national and/or regional level. The often conflicting goals and tools of sectoral policies, together with fluctuating markets for some of the products issuing from the Montados and Dehesas, results in a tension for land managers and in unforeseen results in the future balance of these systems. In 2013, the application at national level of the policy orientations defined for the CAP 2013 will be under preparation, and a discussion in the start of that year will make it possible to draw guide-lines that could be a contribution for a better targeting of the future measures and schemes. Aiming to gather the experience and knowledge already developed by different teams in Spain and Portugal, and other Mediterranean countries, dealing with these complex silvo-opastoral systems, the present conference will thus address these two topics: the classification and the policy implications. Expected direct results are 1) the identification of the best adapted classification tools, based on a clear set of indicators, and 2) orientations for policy design at the national or regional levels, within the framework of the CAP post-2013. Furthermore, and following the Green Book of the Spanish Dehesas already existing in Spain, the organizers of this conference expect to hereby launch, together with all those involved and working with the Montado, the process of definition of a Green Book of the Portuguese Montados, as a characterization and awareness raising document on the values, potentialities and threats of this system.