Authors: Marta Baena, Mar Delgado, Sherman Farhad and Carmen Maestre (University of Cordoba)
Editor: Blanca Casares (AEIDL)
The reference region Sierra Morena (Spain) of MOVING H2020 project held its first face-to-face workshop at the Agri-Food Research Centre CICAP (Pozoblanco, Córdoba, Spain). The University of Cordoba (UCO) coordinates this project’s reference region.
The workshop was attended by 15 local stakeholders. This first meeting focused on the presentation of the main results of the vulnerability analysis of the dehesa and the validation of the preliminary conclusions of the research on the value chain of PDO Los Pedroches Iberian ham.
MOVING is a project that studies 23 value chains in European mountain areas, belonging to 16 countries. The MOVING methodology is based on the creation of Multi-Actor Platforms (MAPs) in each of the regions to analyse, in a participatory way, the challenges and opportunities faced by these mountain areas.
Three of these value chains are in Spain, and two of them, specifically in Andalusia: the value chain of organic mountain olive oil in the region oh Betic Systems and the value chain of PDO Los Pedroches Iberian ham in the region of Sierra Morena.
The UCO team presented the project and the main results of the participatory analysis of the vulnerability of the dehesa ecosystem that was carried out a few months ago. The main objective of this task was to identify with the MAP’ members the factors that could affect the production of acorns and pastures in the dehesa (as basic resources for the functioning of the PDO Los Pedroches Iberian ham value chain) in a 20-year scenario, as well as mechanisms to reduce the negative effects.
Among other conclusions, the main drivers of change, as perceived by local stakeholders, were identified. These are: drought; the presence of pests and diseases; rising temperatures and extreme events such as hailstorms or heat waves. Measures that support good farm management, good water management and encourage the rejuvenation and replacement of trees are therefore essential.
The need to continue to raise awareness of the specific characteristics of the dehesa as an agro-silvo-pastoral system in public administrations (especially with regard to Common Agricultural Policy support) was also highlighted, as well as the fact of being able to influence and participate in decision-making using the specific knowledge of each context.
The return of the results of the dehesa vulnerability analysis to the MAP’ members facilitated a debate between the different actors that has highlighted the diversity of view within the Iberian pig sector in the area. This exchange of opinions demonstrated the complexity of the functioning of this value chain, which presents as many challenges as it does strengths and opportunities for the region.
Finally, the opportunity was taken to inform the attendees of the next steps of the project and future workshops to which they will also be invited.
This analysis of value chains has also been carried out in the other 22 mountain reference regions of the project with their respective local stakeholders, which together provides a comprehensive analysis of the vulnerability of land use systems in the various European mountains. The results of this analysis will be used in the following project tasks to ultimately contribute to the design of future European rural policies.
You can read a press release in Spanish, here.