A Self-Protection Plan and a Party Protocol for Os Montes de Couso

The documents, results of the Terra Común project, seek to defend the territory with legal and cultural mechanisms respectively.

An internationally recognised model of community management

The management of Montes de Couso is a benchmark in sustainability, having been recognised in the UN ICCA register and awarded the IRGADE Prize for its contribution to the Galician language. The community promotes a multifunctional forest model, combining environmental conservation, sustainable agricultural production and strengthening of the social fabric.

The Self-Protection Plan not only seeks to protect Monte de Couso, but also proposes a replicable model for other communities fighting for the sovereignty of their territories and the preservation of their ecosystems.

For its part, the Fiesta Protocol ensures that the ritual is Os sentires do MonteThe festival can be replicated in new editions while remaining open to the changes experienced by the bush community. In this way, it allows the festival to become a living tradition, capable of evolving and mutating over time. 

Self-protection Plan

See the full document here at Gallego or in English.

The Community of Montes de Couso has, from now on, a Self-protection Plan to preserve their communal forest in the face of threats such as the expansion of eucalyptus monoculture, overexploitation, climate change and cultural loss.

This document is among the results of the participatory artistic process Tierra Común, led by the mediator Natalia Balseiro and the artist Asunción Molinos Gordo, in the framework of the European project Art Living Lab for Sustainability. Thanks to the legal advice of Ania González Castiñeira, the plan creates a protective framework around the autonomy, biodiversity and sustainability of the territory.

A plan based on rights and protection measures

The Self-Protection Plan begins with a symbolic declaration in which the mountain itself is recognised as a subject with fundamental rights, such as:
-Right to keep their air, water and soil free of pollutants.
-Right to the conservation of their biodiversity and ancestral memory.
Right to be a safe space for the human and non-human community.

Major actions for the protection of the forest

The document not only recognises these rights, but also details a set of concrete strategies to ensure their fulfilment, among them:

-Replacement of pyrophytic species (eucalyptus) with native species such as oak and chestnut to reduce the risk of fire.
-Promotion of sustainable agriculture and edible forest, with raspberry, blueberry and mushroom crops. shiitake.
-Creation of a refuge for amphibians and recovery of aquifers to improve biodiversity.
Promotion of communal culture and self-management, including the celebration of the festival-ritual. Os Sentires do Montewhich strengthens the link between the community and the natural environment.
-Legal defence of the forest against possible expropriation or industrialisation contrary to Community principles.

The Party Protocol

 See the full document here at Gallego.

After the mediation process carried out by Natalia Balseiro, the group of Terra común's patrons commissioned the artist Asunción Molinos Gordo to create a work of art that would serve to make the work of the community members visible in order to favour the establishment of a generational relay. Finally, the artist created, as a work of art, a feast-ritual entitled Os sentires do monte that would serve to mobilise the affections of the community for its bush. 

The first edition of the festival took place in October 2024 but, so that it could be repeated every year and thus become a tradition that commemorates the community's way of inhabiting its territory, a "festival protocol" was drawn up. The document, in addition to writing down the different elements of the festival in its first edition, lists the elementary and constituent characteristics of the festival, which should be respected in the following editions.