The area of the A Limia SPA (ES0000436) is located in the homonymous region, from which it inherits its name, and is located entirely in the province of Ourense, dividing its surface into the municipalities of A Porqueira, Bande, Rairiz de Veiga, Sandiás, Sarreaus, Trasmiras, Vilar de Barrio, Vilar de Santos, Xinzo de Limia and Xunqueira de Ambía. It houses species of high conservation interest, including priority and endangered taxa.
ZEPA A Limia – ES0000436
OVERVIEW
Area (ha): 6.939,2
Natura 2000 Code: ES0000436
Other protection statuses according to national or regional legislation:
The A Limia SPA (ES0000436), which partially overlaps with the Veiga de Ponteliñares SPA (ES1130006), is also considered a Protected Natural Area (Natura 2000 Protected Area), as well as an Area Protected by International Instruments (Allariz Area Biosphere Reserve), in accordance with Law 42/2007 and Law 5/2019.
CURRENT SITUATION AND CONSERVATION ACTIONS OF THE PROJECT
In the Limia SPA, 76% is agricultural land, 13% is dry and humid heathland, wetlands and freshwater ecosystems occupy 4% of the SPA, natural forests occupy 3%, and the remaining 4% corresponds to anthropogenic environments (urban centers and infrastructure).
Virtually all of the land within this SPA is privately owned, both individually and collectively (the MVMC, a Galician entity regulated by Law 13/1989). Some public plots remain as evidence of the attempts to drain the former Antela Lagoon and its subsequent agricultural colonization project in the 1950s. Plots can also be identified that are currently leased by the Galician Land Bank (BANTEGAL) to prevent their abandonment and make them available to all those who need a land base.
The little bustard (*Tetrax tetrax) is in a critical situation in the A Limia SPA due to agricultural intensification, water overexploitation, and climate change, which has reduced its breeding population to a single pair. To reverse this situation, the LIFE GLOBAL project seeks to improve its habitat by implementing specific conservation actions. The LIFE GLOBAL project will be implemented on 30 ha within the “Veiga de Gomareite” MVMC, on land that will be subject to one-off compensatory payments to its owners, as well as on 2.7 ha distributed across four plots leased for 30 years by SGHN (a non-profit environmental entity) from BANTEGAL. These plots will be transferred to the project to be subject to habitat improvement actions for the little bustard (*Tetrax tetrax).