The project brings together different actors from three countries, Spain, France and Portugal, from scientists to environmental technicians, site managers and socio-economic actors, who pool their skills to constitute indigenous seed mixtures and structure renaturalisation chains adapted to the diversity of needs in the SUDOE area.
Spain, France and Portugal are working in several pilot territories to experiment with nature-based solutions with indigenous seeds that promote biodiversity. Based on common working methods, each partner implements restoration chains that respond to specific local challenges, be they vineyard canopies, flowering meadows or areas damaged by fires.
“Fleurs locales” enables the actors involved to work on a common territorial strategy to make the use of native seeds profitable. To this end, it will test these solutions in different pilot projects in each of the countries and carry out specific actions to make them known and available on the market. At the same time, it includes working closely with the administration to take the necessary steps to put native seeds at the centre of the production and supply chain.
Ecological restoration and biodiversity
Their genetic complexity and interactions with other elements of ecosystems and agro-ecosystems are some of the basic characteristics that make them essential in ecological restoration processes and the recovery of biodiversity (not only plant biodiversity) in agro-ecosystems.
In practical terms, only the seeds of herbaceous species (annuals and perennials) with local genetic origin fall under the concept of “native seeds”, since woody species (trees and shrubs) are understood, at least from the perspective of this project, as forest species, whether autochthonous or allochthonous.