Plasencia (Cáceres), 28 May 2025. On 27 and 28 May, the Plasencia University Centre hosted the fourth face-to-face meeting of the European consortium SCRUBSNET, a project that promotes the conservation of scrubland ecosystems and their integration with sustainable models of extensive livestock farming.
27 May: management, communication and technical visits
The meeting began with a session dedicated to project management, during which financial issues were addressed, decisions were made on upcoming face-to-face meetings, and key performance indicators (KPIs) and the quality of deliverables were evaluated.
This was followed by a discussion on dissemination and awareness-raising, reviewing technical and general communication activities and planning future events.
The day continued with a field visit to the municipal farm Monte Valcorchero, where ecological restoration measures were analysed and decisions on new actions were taken. Afterwards, the participants visited the Dehesa Casablanca farm in Cáparra, where they saw first-hand an organic livestock farming model that combines biodiverse hedges and ‘cork oak islands’, assessing its replicability within the SCRUBSNET project actions.
28 May: conservation actions and project impact
The second day focused on the progress of conservation actions. Experiences of ‘scrub island’ restoration in Portugal were presented and results were shared by several partners on livestock management and monitoring of revegetation and soil conservation actions.
After a short break, the results of biodiversity monitoring were presented and the socio-economic impact of the project was discussed. The final block was devoted to the replicability strategy, with the presentation of a first draft by Innogestiona Ambiental and a participatory debate among all partners to identify concrete actions to be replicated.
The meeting concluded with a discussion of the next steps, consolidating the collaboration between the partners and reaffirming their common commitment to the conservation of scrubland landscapes in the Mediterranean region.
