Conferences for a living common land in Rianxo
The Barbanza Ecosocial Laboratory is organizing two outreach and celebration events in the municipality of Rianxo, with the aim of spotlighting and raising awareness of the best practices being implemented by the common land comunities associated with the project.
November 5, 2024 — The Barbanza Ecosocial Laboratory held two outreach and participation events in Rianxo to highlight the best practices of the common land comunities involved in the project. These events, organized in the parish of Taragoña on October 27 and in Leiro on November 2, brought together various local entities and groups that promote sustainable and active land management.
The main objective of these meetings was to create spaces for dialogue and coexistence between communities, citizens, and administrations, allowing the Barbanza Ecosocial Laboratory to share what it has learned to date. These events also seek to strengthen the commitment of Rianxo’s common land comunities to sustainable land management and foster partnerships with other communities working in the same direction.
In Leiro, the activities began with a volunteer intervention to eliminate black locust (Acacia melanoxylon), organized by the Montescola Foundation. 30 people of all ages climbed the ‘montes’ equipped with gloves and tools to strip the acacias’ bark, a technique that weakens the trees by interrupting sap flow. “The stripping technique works,” said Ánxela Míguens, president of the Leiro CMVMC, explaining that dried acacias (treated in previous interventions) had already been observed.
Once work had ended, a guided tour of the experimental chestnut plantation at the Lourizán CIF in Leiro was held; Fina Fernández López, geneticist, and Beatriz Míguez Soto, biologist, explained their research in chestnut varieties, selecting for adaptation to the conditions of inland Galicia. This project seeks to identify trees with optimal characteristics in terms of hardiness, wood quality, and fruit production capacity, as well as resistance to pests.
At the same time, the Montescola team organized educational and painting activities for children, including the creation of a mural at the goat shelter operated by Plataforma pola Defensa do Monte (PDM). During this event, the president of the PDM explained the community grazing project, highlighting the value of this practice for the conservation of common lands.
Afterwards, in the Campo da Veliña square, the Baroña Common Land Community demonstrated the use of a mobile sawmill. The occasion provided the opportunity to formalize a collaboration agreement between the common land comunities participating in the project, thus strengthening support networks and promoting innovation for the use of local raw materials.
During the communal meal at the Vicente Vidal Cultural Center, dishes of Baroña horse meat (chorizos and empanadas) and goat meat from the PDM communities were served, prepared by the Curral do Marqués restaurant. This initiative, promoted through the Laboratory, is linked to the future Baroña Meat Processing Center, which will help enhance the local food chain and serve both common land comunities and small farms in the Barbanza sierra.
The afternoon activities included the presentation of a brochure prepared by the Leiro common land community, with recommendations for managing invasive species. The book “When We Were Sustainable” was also presented, which compiles the Laboratory’s work in Barbanza between 2020 and 2024. It was led by researcher David Fontán of the HISTAGRA group, who also moderated the talks and the ensuing debate.
Among the speakers was Fina Fernández López, who shared her research on the future of the chestnut forests in Atlantic Galicia. Xosé Carlos Castro García, environmental agent in Rianxo, addressed the challenges of forest fire prevention, while Xosé Antón Araúxo, president of the Couso CMVMC, presented the sustainable management work in his ‘montes’. Finally, Lucía Rodríguez Cao, environmental educator at the Montescola Foundation, spoke about the energy community project in Froxán and the community mobility program.
These sessions reinforce the commitment to the sustainable development of Galician common land, promoting comprehensive and collaborative management for the benefit of both stakeholders and the territory.
Barbanza Ecosocial Lab has the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) of the Government of Spain, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
Coordinated by Fundación RIA, the Barbanza Ecosocial Lab is a project dedicated to promoting the transition towards environmental sustainability and strengthening resilience in the territorial management of the Barbanza common land.
