The Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council installs several shelters for wildlife in Aberasturi and Bolivar

29/05/2023

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) defines agrobiodiversity as the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms that are used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture, including the diversity of non-harvested species, such as soil micro-organisms, predators and pollinators that support agro-ecosystems. Therefore, agrobiodiversity has a fundamental role to play in ensuring food security for the population, sustaining primary activity and conserving the soil by increasing its fertility and health.

Agrobiodiversity is the result of the interaction between the environment, genetic resources, management and husbandry over time. In this sense, the Strategy for the Conservation of Biodiversity in Vitoria-Gasteiz recognises the deterioration of the biodiversity in our agrosystems due to the management arising from agricultural intensification: the use of herbicides and other plant protection products, the shortening of development cycles, the homogenisation of crop varieties, the dissociation of agricultural and livestock uses and the loss of organic matter content in the soil.

To tackle this problem, the Strategy sets out actions to improve the management and promotion of agricultural and livestock farming activities in symbiosis with the appropriate preservation of biodiversity. The LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 project (LIFE 18 IPC 0000001), in which Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council