LIFE Project: Agroforestry systems for climate change adaptation in agricultural and forested areas of the Mediterranean
- Type Project
- Status In progress
- Execution 2021 -2026
- Assigned Budget 3.024.537,00 €
- Scope Europeo
- Autonomous community Cataluña
- Main source of financing LIFE
- Project website Web del proyecto
The LIFE AgroForAdapt project aims to promote agroforestry systems for climate change adaptation in the agricultural and forestry sectors in the Mediterranean. The objective is to implement agroforestry systems in areas where they are still largely unknown, such as Catalonia and Castile and León, Spain. The work will focus on two types of agroforestry systems: silvoarable and silvopastoral.
In Europe, the Mediterranean region is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, due to rising temperatures, irregular rainfall, and the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events (droughts, heat waves, and storms). Therefore, it is essential to increase the resilience of Mediterranean ecosystems to these threats and their associated impacts, such as wildfires.
Agroforestry systems are the combination of woody vegetation with crop or livestock production systems to obtain benefits resulting from their ecological and economic interactions. To date, most studies related to silvoarable systems (woody vegetation combined with crops) have been developed in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Regarding silvopastoral systems (woody vegetation combined with livestock grazing), most studies have focused on grasslands in the western Iberian Peninsula. Outside of these areas, the adoption of agroforestry practices still falls far short of their potential.
These systems will improve resilience to drought and wildfires, while enhancing the provision of multiple ecosystem services such as biodiversity protection and carbon sequestration. They will also provide socioeconomic benefits, such as income diversification, increased farm profitability, and enhanced landscape and sociocultural values, through the production of new products for emerging markets.
- Establishment of 23 demonstrative forestry systems (164.5 ha), improvement in management through climate change adaptation criteria in 16 additional systems (126.3 ha) and promotion of their replication in 300 ha in the medium term.
- Establishment of 11 low-density demonstration silvopastoral systems (176 ha), promoting their subsequent replication in 275 ha.
- Establishment of demonstrative silvopastoral systems to reduce vulnerability to fires in 12 forests (335 ha), promoting their subsequent replication in 800 ha.
- An evaluation of the performance of these demonstration agroforestry systems, compared to conventional agriculture, pastoralism, and forestry, in terms of yield, profitability, carbon sequestration, forest structure and composition, pasture diversity, vulnerability to wildfires, tree vitality, buffering against extreme temperatures, air humidity, soil moisture, light availability, water balance, and biodiversity.
- Promoting changes in regulations, policies, and adaptation plans to facilitate agroforestry in Catalonia, the province of Girona, the Barcelona metropolitan area, and Occitania/Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
- Coordinator/entity name: Jaime Coello
Postal address: Ctra. de St. Llorenç de Morunys Km.2, 25280, Solsona,
The project is aligned with EU climate policies, especially those that explicitly promote agroforestry systems as a tool: the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, the European Green Deal, and the LULUCF Regulation.
The new CAP 2021-2027 is also aligned with this use of agroforestry systems. Furthermore, the project will promote general regulatory and policy changes to better harness the potential of agroforestry systems as an adaptation measure.
- Consorci Centre de Ciència i Tecnología Forestal de Catalunya
- AGROOF(AGROOF)
- AGRESTA(AGRESTA S. COOP.)
- Emys(Fundació Privada Emys)
- DiGi(DIPUTACIó DE GIRONA)
- DIBA(Diputació de Barcelona)
- AMB(àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona)
- DARP(Generalitat de Catalunya - Departament d’Agricultura, Ramaderia, Pesca i Alimentació)
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