Tentative identification procedure for HNV Montados

Abstract

The silvo-pastoral systems of Iberia, the Portuguese Montados and Spanish Dehesas, are widely recognized today as being hotspots of farmland biodiversity and exponents of landscape multifunctionality. Such systems are fully dependent on agricultural management, thus its natural value and environmental qualities are closely related, not only to the high variability of the system components, but also to the pressure of different farming practices. Iberian silvo-pastoral systems are broadly classified as High Nature Value (HNV) systems, according to the classification proposed by the European Environment Agency. The HNV classification, which emerges today as central in the negotiation of the agri-environment and rural areas support on the CAP post-2013, is applicable across all Europe and aims to define objective criteria for the system functioning and for the ecosystem services associated with it. This classification must consider different types of farming systems, and specially connecting with management options in different contexts, in order to assess not a static situation, but the dynamics of the system and its long-term sustainability. There is so far not much work developed on the HNV assessment of Mediterranean silvo-pastoral systems, even if those are considered as one of the most significant examples of a fruitful relation between farming and conservation. In this paper we will present a methodology aiming to contribute to the integration of the HNV concept in the context of Mediterranean silvo-pastoral systems. This work will focus on producing and testing landscape based HNV indicators, applicable to Mediterranean agro-forestry systems.