Balancing Agricultural Activities and Conservation Objectives in Spain’s Natura 2000 Network

Abstract

Purpose. To systematise and analytically synthesise Spain’s experience in reconciling agricultural activities with the objectives of species and natural habitat protection within the Natura 2000 network, as well as to identify the principal types of practices applied, the conditions determining their environmental effectiveness, and the mechanisms for their implementation. Methods. The study was conducted as an analytical review of recent scientific publications, official European Union documents, and Spanish regulatory and policy materials addressing farmland management, biodiversity protection, and the implementation of Common Agricultural Policy instruments. Content analysis, comparison, typological grouping, and analytical synthesis were applied. The reviewed practices were classified according to agroecosystem type, protected feature, the nature of permitted or required land use, principal implementation risks, and supporting mechanisms. Results. The analysis revealed the dual nature of interactions between farming and protected features. The ecological value of dehesa systems, mountain and semi-natural pastures, and some extensive cereal landscapes depends on the continuation of regulated traditional land use. The abandonment of grazing, mowing, or low-intensity cultivation may lead to the encroachment of shrubs and tall vegetation, reduced landscape heterogeneity, and the loss of habitats associated with traditionally managed landscapes. Conversely, excessive grazing pressure, field enlargement, loss of fallow land, pesticide use, continuous tillage in permanent crops, and other forms of intensification may accelerate degradation. Compatible practices for arable land and permanent crops include maintaining spatial heterogeneity, retaining semi-natural landscape features, regulating the timing of farming operations, and reducing agrochemical inputs. The suitability of a particular practice is therefore not an inherent or constant property but depends on the agroecosystem, the protected species or habitat, the intensity and timing of its application, and the spatial scale of its effects. In Spain, the implementation of these approaches is supported by a combination of site management plans, regional regulation, the Prioritised Action Framework for Natura 2000 funding, and the instruments of the national CAP Strategic Plan. Five principal conditions determining effectiveness were identified: correspondence between a measure and a specific protected feature; regulation of the intensity and timing of operations; implementation at a spatial scale consistent with the relevant ecological process; economic acceptability for landholders; and monitoring of actual changes in species and habitat status. Conclusions. Spain’s experience demonstrates that a uniform land-use regime cannot adequately address the diversity of Natura 2000 sites. The strategic basis of management is the differentiation of requirements according to agroecosystem type, protected features, the nature of pressures, and the spatial scale of ecological processes. Selected approaches to differentiating land-use regimes, engaging landholders, and assessing environmental outcomes may inform the further improvement of governance for areas combining ecological and productive functions in Ukraine. Their possible application, however, requires separate analysis and careful adaptation to the national legal framework, land-use structure, environmental conditions, and institutional capacity.