Territorial Action Plan for the Management and Dynamization of the Horta de Valencia (PAT)
The Territorial Action Plan of the Horta de València aims to preserve the Orchard as an integrated productive, environmental and cultural system, the element of which are the people who plow. The Plan does not seek to protect the Horta from a museum and petrified vision of this space, but through the configuration of a living, productive, profitable and sustainable space from the triple economic dimension, environmental and social.
Agricultural landscapes have been undergoing a strong transformation throughout Europe and especially in the Mediterranean arc, where the disappearance of agricultural land that is transformed or abandoned has increased significantly. The Valencian region is among the areas in which most agricultural area has disappeared (compared to the European average) to be replaced by urban uses.
The Horta de València is an agricultural space, a unique cultural landscape, which despite its importance in terms of food sovereignty in Valencia and the ecosystem services it provides has been threatened by several external and internal factors: a strong urban pressure, the difficulty of the viability of agricultural activity and the lack of generational relevance (between others).
The first wills to protect the orchard from the administrations began in the 90s (for example it was mentioned in the Green Plan of the city of Valencia). It was also a demand of the public for many years, with a peak moment in 2001 with the presentation of an ILP for the protection of the vegetable garden with more than 117,000
signatures.In 2005, the then government of the Generalitat de Valencia began to work with a new plan for the territorial organization of the vegetable garden and the ideation of the Territorial Action Plan for the Management and Dynamization of the Garden of Valencia began. Among others, its main points were the protection of agricultural land, the inclusion of the vegetable garden in the green infrastructure and the dynamization of agricultural activity.
- Modify the current development model under sustainability guidelines
- Maintain agricultural activity and the landscape of the orchard
- Revitalizing the vegetable garden by introducing new economic activities
- Protect and value the resources of the vegetable garden
- Promote the public use and enjoyment of the vegetable garden
- The importance of coordination between the PAT and the PDE.
- The importance of landscape study and environmental assessment. They were key references throughout the decision-making process to define the PAT (defining different typologies of orchard landscape, inventorying cultural and heritage assets, identifying and describing key infrastructures such as the irrigation system, etc .).
- The importance of participatory processes in the planning of the territory and in the governance of spaces such as the vegetable garden. It allows to generate more social consensus and also to disseminate the proposal widely.
Being a protracted process, it becomes difficult to determine the initial budget. It was mainly for human resources: the technical staff of the ministry, and the reports and advice commissioned to external entities.
Since 2018, when the PAT was approved, a budget line was foreseen to implement the actions prioritized in the agrarian revitalization plan.
Until the managing body of these (the Consell de la Horta) was constituted in 2019, the budget did not really begin to be managed. It was expected (depending on the year) between 1 and 2 million euros
.
