Good practice:

Definition and indicators for the characterization of the Agricultural Areas

The project, promoted by the Rural World Foundation in collaboration with the Agri-territory Foundation, is a part of the desire to establish a consensus on the concept of ‘agricultural space’ in the first phase, to later work on the characterization of these spaces based on objective indicators that allow their assessment.
The designed indicators allow to analyze several important variables when evaluating and determining the value of agricultural areas, such as agricultural productivity, degree of biodiversity, value of the landscape, the productive model or its vulnerable areas among others. There are 20 indicators, which are grouped into 5 composite indicators categories and finally into 3 groups.
The Protocol for the methodological analysis of the characterization of agricultural areas of Catalonia in GIS was completed in March 2018 and became a basic work to study and analyze agricultural areas through cartographic means. Different working proposals have been presented to assess the agrarian spaces in an analysis of the Catalan territory on a scale of 1: 500,000.
In a pioneering way, the characterization of agricultural spaces facilitates identifying objectifiable indicators that determine the basic characteristics for its assessment during urban planning.
The Protocol for the methodological analysis in GIS is a pioneer in Catalonia, which has become a basic work to study and analyse agricultural areas through cartographic means.

The cost of the project implied 25.000 €. The Characterization was based on stakeholders’ meetings, implying almost 0 cost.

In 2015, created the Working Group of Agricultural Spaces, which prepared the Report on Agrarian Spaces: definition and indicators for their characterization.
Subsequently, the Working Group on Agricultural Areas (GTEA) developed the Protocol for the methodological analysis of characterization of agricultural areas of Catalonia in Geographical Information Systems.
These indicators were considered when developing the Catalan Agrarian Areas Law.

Agricultural areas are shared on the entire European territory and their valorisation is a common issue all over Europe.
The characterization is based mainly in local perceptions but external advisory and bibliography were considered in the public reports. In any case, the designed methodology is easily transferable and can be adjusted to conditions of a local characterization.