Towards a joint strategy for Iberian oak agroforestry systems: acknowledging the value of dehesas and montados

Presentation

The Iberian working oak woodlands (dehesas and montados) are outstanding High Nature Value (HNV) farming systems in a European context. However, management practices applied are not always appropriate to maintain their sustainability. Ensuring tree regeneration, soil protection, and landscape mosaics are essential for their long-term conservation. Policy measures should bear this in mind and consider these priorities in an integrated way. The main decisions are now made at national level, in the Portuguese case, and at the regional level, in the Spanish. There should therefore be room for specific schemes considering the specific land use systems in each country/region. Rural Development Program gives priority to the HNV farming systems, especially within the so-called agri-environmental measures, but these measures will only work if supported by pro-active and expert advisory systems. Current efforts to address these needs in a transnational network through co-operation projects between both countries are presented and discussed. The recent elaboration of the Green Book on Dehesas and Montados (a concise report supported by most associations of land-managers and producers) is an opportunity for those who have knowledge on the functioning of this system to work together, to gather existing expertise, to assess opportunities and to propose actions that can be implemented through policies. And in order to give the Montado and Dehesas the acknowledgment they deserve, we should join forces and come up with a joint Iberian Strategy for the Montados and Dehesas, reflected in a joint document and joint actions at European level as well as parallel actions in the two countries.