Mazarambroz (Toledo) bids for local development to go hand-in-hand with the Iberian lynx

The Life+Iberlince project, through Fomecam specialists, gives a talk to students of the employment workshop "Marazambroz Camina"

Toledo’s municipality of Mazarambroz has been committed to local development and for it to go largely hand-in-hand with the Iberian lynx. For this reason, Fomecam specialists, under the Life+Iberlince project, have given a talk in this municipality to value the Iberian lynx as an economic resource for rural areas.

Since May 1st of this year, Mazarambroz has fostered the development of "Mazarambroz Camina", an employment workshop on environmental tourism promoted by the Provincial Delegation of Toledo.

This six-month employment workshop involves the participation of nine student-workers who receive training in alternation with their professional practice, which allows them to acquire professional skills related to the environmental tourism sector.

The workshop content is divided into three training modules and its goals are the diversification of the local economy and the search for new sources of employment.

During the talk given by the Life+Iberlince project specialists, the importance of the lynx as a source of new opportunities for the area’s local development was highlighted.

The reintroduction of the feline, the Life+Iberlince project recalled, is causing environmental tourism to gradually position itself as an additional source of income for rural economies.

Releases made since 2014 and the births in the wild recorded over two consecutive years offer hope to the neighbouring municipalities of Montes de Toledo, who once again see the lynx inhabiting their region.

Students of the employment workshop have shown great interest in carrying out environmental tourism activities in the most respectful way possible for the species.

To achieve this, Fomecam specialists offered some of the behavioural guidelines that must be followed upon sighting this unique species.

On the other hand, they also emphasized the important role that private farm owners have in the conservation of the species, as well as their willingness to collaborate in the promotion of activities that will generate new economic resources for the region’s inhabitants.

Through this employment workshop, which is financially supported by the Provincial Delegation of Toledo, Mazarambroz becomes the nucleus of initiatives pertaining to the Iberian lynx, its conservation and the generation of positive economic impact as a result of its presence.

With this initiative, the Iberlince project intends for lynx areas to be internationally recognized as ecotourism regions, and allow for visitors to approach well preserved natural systems in order to take advantage of the entire landscape’s natural and cultural assets.

Life+Iberlince is a transnational project, involving two countries, Portugal and Spain, and four autonomous communities, Andalusia (as coordinator), Murcia, Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha.