Decree approving the Regulation on the promotion to specific agricultural practices for the maintenance of the natural environment.

This Decree, consisting of 23 articles and three Annexes, approves the Regulation on the promotion to specific agricultural practices for the maintenance of the natural environment. The Agriculture and Livestock Act of 22 June 2000 establishes as one of its main objectives the preservation of the natural environment of Andorra through the maintenance of traditional agricultural and livestock practices. With this objective, it creates and establishes the operating mechanisms of different types of public aid aiming to promote the survival of systems of income-livestock breeding that must ensure the regular presence of cows, horses, sheep and goats, both in the lowlands of the valleys and in the common pastures. The Government also establishes the procedures for the owners of agricultural holdings to obtain other types of aid, such as the one created under article 19 of the Law and which is aimed at the promotion of specific agricultural practices appropriate for the maintenance of the natural environment. This Regulation establishes criteria, conditions and amounts of granting of two new aid for the holders of agricultural holdings: one aimed at promoting the recovery of land for agricultural use and another to ensure the conservation of plants representative of local habitats. This Regulation is also framed in specific actions included in the National Landscape Strategy, and the National Strategy for Biodiversity, approved by the Government on 19 October 2016. Annexes deal with the following issues: Aid for the recovery or improvement of parcels for agricultural use (Annex 1); Aid for the maintenance of plant biodiversity (Annex 2); Technical prescriptions that must comply with the plots that aspire to the aid for the maintenance of the plant biodiversity (Annex 3).