Javier Ferreiro: «Threats and conservation problems know no borders»
Although its etymology and derived terms may suggest otherwise, conservation is a discipline in constant change and evolution, which needs to be renewed and rethought daily to respond to the environmental demands of our planet, our only home.
The application of new cutting-edge technologies, the standardization of information, and the promotion of synergies between the different branches of knowledge are some of the strategies that nurture a perspective of preserving natural heritage that is necessary and effective. A perspective that Javier Ferreiro da Costa knows like the back of his hand.
He received the Extraordinary Doctorate Award in Forestry Engineering from the University of Santiago de Compostela and is a contract researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Biodiversity and Rural Development (IBADER) of Campus Terra. Javier Ferreiro enjoys a consolidated voice in the world of biodiversity management, protection of habitats of community interest and conservation of natural heritage.
His extensive experience in the preparation of applications and technical management of projects of the European LIFE program or his participation in the working team the drafting of the Natura 2000 Master Plan are just a small sample of a research career forged in the commitment to the planet, with our land and with the future.
On this occasion, we invite you to witness the valuable reflections that Javier Ferreiro gives us in today's interview, in which he deals with such relevant issues as the importance of protecting peatlands, the need to create transnational projects in the field of environmental conservation or the current situation in Galicia with regard to the declaration of protected areas.
-Conservation and preservation of biodiversity are undoubtedly some of the great challenges we face as a society. What relationships can be established between conservation and elements such as territorial management, agricultural practices or rural governance?
-The sectoral policies developed in the environment must consider the key conservation elements present in the territory since they have a heritage value (natural heritage) and, therefore, must be preserved. This is currently being implemented through its implementing legislation, as more and more all sectoral policies incorporate sustainability and conservation precepts in their articles.
This does not imply that no procedures must be sufficiently rigorous or that the legal provisions can be improved. Everything can be improved. And we still have a long way to go in terms of awareness and sensitization of society in this field.
We all understand that cultural heritage must be preserved and valued: nobody would be happy if a shopping mall were to be installed in Praza do Obradoiro, in front of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, or if the Wall of Lugo were to be partially demolished to make more parking spaces around the city centre.
Our natural ecosystems are also of incalculable value since biodiversity is our natural heritage, and therefore, there should be the same awareness about transforming a dune to plant pine trees or affecting populations of river mussels to install recreational facilities. And so far, there is not.
-Tell us, what are the new trends in conservation? What role can certain emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, play in protecting ecosystems?
-The truth is that the general panorama has changed a lot in the last three decades in terms of the environment. This has led the world of conservation to adapt quickly and even be far ahead of other sectors. Nowadays, protected areas are integrated into international networks (among which Natura 2000 stands out, undoubtedly due to its importance and territorial scope), which provokes an important need for the exchange of diagnostic information within these networks and, therefore, the need to standardize and update all the available information.
This meant that the incorporation of new technologies was a must from the very beginning of the operation of these international networks of sites. Thirty years ago, we began to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which made it possible to perform multi-parametric analyses, superimpose geographic layers of different origins and periods, and generate environmental cartographies that could then be uploaded to international repositories of protected areas for downloading or to web viewers for consultation by society as a whole.
With the arrival of SIX came artificial intelligence (although it seems very recent) for analysing remote sensors (aerial photographs, satellite images) by automatic classifications, improving their accuracy dramatically. For the last 10 years, the incorporation of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) has allowed progress in the protection and monitoring of specific environmental values since they allow immediate access to places or situations that are very difficult to reach, which used to require the deployment of very costly resources and time.
However, although increasingly accurate, the automatic classifications carried out with artificial intelligence must be supervised and trained by the people who handle them. I am still looking for an artificial intelligence that can compete with personnel with the necessary scientific and technical training, precise knowledge and experience in identifying habitats of conservation interest on aerial photography.
In environmental work, artificial intelligence can be of great help if it is well-trained and used to improve the accuracy of certain tasks, but its use cannot be an end in itself; it is simply a tool to enhance the work.
-One of your latest research studies focuses on modifying peatlands due to the creation of wind farms for them. What role do these ecosystems play in the fight against climate change? How can we achieve an ecological transition without participating in the deterioration of this type of habitat?
-We can only talk about ecological transition, climate adaptation or mitigation by protecting and conserving peatland ecosystems, i.e. peatlands (in all their variants) and wet heaths.
Peatlands and wet heaths have the greatest biodiversity conservation value at a regional level but also at the state and European level since they are home to populations of species typical of these environments (which would disappear if these environments were lost), play an important role as a link in the migration and genetic exchange of biodiversity, and are the main regulators of the hydrological and nutrient cycles, and are highly fragile and vulnerable.
In addition, due to their natural functioning, they are the sinks with the greatest long-term carbon sequestration capacity. They are, therefore, our greatest allies in the fight against climate change. Talking about decarbonization, emission reductions, or even changing the transport model but not paying attention to our best weapon against climate change is completely absurd. They are already there; they do what we need; we do not have to build, create, or generate them. Just conserve them.
That is why we do not understand the excessive promotion of wind developments that allegedly serve to reduce carbon emissions but cause the loss and transformation of our best representations of turf habitats, destroying their biodiversity and losing their function as natural carbon sinks in the long term. Hence, our article, together with many European researchers in the field, denounces this process.
-For more than 30 years, the LIFE program has been the European Union's only financial instrument dedicated exclusively to the environment. You know it firsthand, as you have participated in several projects of this program. What have been your functions within these projects? How did the reality of the different locations in which you worked change?
-My work with these projects starts before the project, with the preparation of the application, including the search for partners, selection of locations, evaluation of alternatives, securing support for the project and drafting the document. This is the most complex part since we start with an idea, and then we have to materialize it, design it, budget it and finally validate it with a very tough evaluation at the European level.
Every year, more and more applications participate. Still, fewer and fewer projects are awarded, which increases the competition to levels that we could not have imagined 25 years ago when we started working on these projects.
During the project, my tasks are usually technical management, including the drafting of scientific and technical documents, the monitoring of restoration actions, the creation and supervision of informative materials, the organization and attendance to exchange events, the preparation of the mandatory activity reports and the support to the other partners in everything they need (since we are usually the coordinators of our projects).
As a Galician, working to restore and improve natural ecosystems in protected natural areas of Galicia is truly a privilege. Working with local administrations, competent authorities, NGOs, or even private landowners is the most positive aspect of my work.
These projects usually mean a before and after in terms of the environmental state of the locations and also in the technical training and knowledge of the agents involved since the restorations are designed by personnel with the proper scientific-technical preparation, using locally sourced and compatible plant material, avoiding genetic contamination, and of course rejecting the use of herbicides.
This motivates the results achieved to be continued and preserved by local entities and competent authorities even after the project's end and replicated in other areas and situations throughout the European continent.
-A characteristic shared by some of these projects is their transnational character, which dilutes political and administrative borders in favour of joint biodiversity management. What advantages does this perspective bring?
-Our projects tend to be transnational and always transregional because threats and conservation problems know no borders; they tend to be common in adjacent territories.
Working and learning together, in favour of eliminating threats and improving the conservation status of natural ecosystems, allows a greater working capacity and guarantees the effectiveness of the actions developed. What would be the point of eliminating an invasive species in the Galician bank of the Eo River if we do not also work in the Asturian bank? Well, nothing because the Asturian bank would function as a source of emissions, causing it to reappear on the Galician side quickly.
One of our latest projects is with the Irish National Park Service since the similarities with Galicia are palpable.
-We are currently immersed in the technical management and drafting of this program's three applications: LIFE WILD ATLANTIC NATURE, LIFE INSULAR and LIFE GLOBAL. What can you tell us about these projects?
-LIFE WILD ATLANTIC NATURE is an integrated LIFE project that solves national problems, which requires a great mobilization of resources, services, and agents, as well as the complementarity of funds.
This is a 9-year project of more than 20 million euros for the restoration of blanket bogs in the Natura 2000 in Ireland (as a Member State that concentrates more than 90% after the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union), led by its National Parks Service, but in which the other competent bodies are involved: agriculture, forestry, livestock, tourism, cultural heritage and national dissemination.
Our participation in this project is to provide an expert view of the blanket bogs of Southern Europe and, therefore, generate knowledge and exchange of information between all the agents involved, incorporating the lessons learned and knowledge generated into the scheme of work developed in Ireland.
LIFE INSULAR is a 5-year project, with a budget of 5 million euros, for the conservation of natural ecosystems on islands in the Atlantic Ocean, for which Natura 2000 island sites in Galicia, the Canary Islands and Ireland were selected.
This project will change the landscape of the Cíes islands, replacing senescent eucalyptus tree plantations with natural island ecosystems, making possible a very high environmental benefit and recovering the natural aspect of the islands before the reforestation initiatives promoted during the Franco regime.
In Ireland, similar actions will be developed to recover the dune landscapes by eliminating the old forestry plantations established by the Irish autarchic policies of the mid-20th century.
LIFE GLOBAL has a budget of just over 5 million euros and 5 years of execution in an interesting project that will make it possible to improve the state of conservation of priority habitats and species for the European Union, which is considered an "umbrella," that is, that have a reduced area of occupation, have a positive impact on the Natura 2000 areas in which they are present, and are characteristic of the three scenarios of greatest vulnerability and fragility to global change: the coastal zone, inland wetlands, and mountain areas.
To this end, the project will develop small-scale actions in 5 regions in the North of the Iberian Peninsula, around the boundary formed by the Atlantic and Mediterranean regions: in Spain, it will be Galicia, Castilla y León, Euskadi and Navarra, while in Portugal it will be the Região Norte.
-And finally, what is the process of proposing a new protected area like? Have you witnessed any candidacy that did not go ahead in the end?
-The process of proposing a new protected area differs greatly depending on the type of protected area. In the case of terrestrial Natural Protected Areas (Parks, Reserves, Natural Monuments, Protected Landscapes), it is the autonomous communities that have the authority to declare them, although sometimes the idea can arise from the motivation of a specific agent or group. In the case of marine Protected Natural Spaces in Spanish territorial waters, the Ministry of the Environment has attributed these competencies.
It should be noted that in Galicia, we have two types of protected areas, the Natural Areas of Local Interest (ENIL) and the Private Areas of Natural Interest (EPIN), in which the promotion for their declaration and subsequent management corresponds to the local administrations and private owners, respectively. However, the autonomous government also carries out the declaration.
In the case of the Natura 2000 Protected Areas, it is the European Union that carries out the whole procedure through the corresponding proposals of the Member States, which, in the case of Spain, are submitted to the Autonomous Communities themselves since the powers in environmental matters have been transferred, with the Ministry acting as the coordinating body.
Areas protected by international instruments, such as Wetlands of International Importance, Biosphere Reserves, or World Heritage, have procedures and forms for their candidacy established by the convention or program that regulates them. These documents are usually of a certain complexity, compiling and generating a large amount of scientific and technical environmental information on the proposed area to demonstrate that it meets the criteria of global sustainability, public participation, social consensus and excellence of the values to be protected.
Consequently, making an international proposal is usually reserved for expert teams, with personnel with the proper preparation and training. My research team has a great deal of experience in this task.
However, not all initiatives to declare a protected area are always successful. The complexity of these procedures can lead to conflicts of interest, media misinformation, or smear campaigns, which ultimately lead decision-makers to prefer to avoid going ahead with the candidacy and to the idea being put away in a drawer.
This type of decision is especially serious considering the need we currently have in Galicia to increase our protected area to meet the objectives of the European and Global Biodiversity Strategies for 2030 since one of the main conclusions of my doctoral thesis, read two years ago and which has just received the Extraordinary Doctoral Award, is that Galicia is the autonomous community of Spain that is in the worst situation to meet international standards in terms of declaration of protected areas.
This is a pity, considering the high values of Galician biodiversity compared to the rest of the Iberian Peninsula.