Rocío Losada Iglesias from Land Lab has just defended her doctoral thesis at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), focusing on the role of the Green Infrastructure as a strategic tool to achieve more integrated, resilient, and sustainable territorial planning in the face of current environmental challenges.
 

The study addresses biodiversity loss and the impacts of climate change, starting from the question of to what extent Green Infrastructure can contribute to nature conservation and the provision of ecosystem services through its core principles, in order to develop strategies that facilitate its integration into regional-scale territorial planning. To answer this, the thesis developed practical tools that support decision-making in territorial planning: a Spatial Decision Support System to identify ecological corridors that enable species movement under climate change conditions; a model for delimiting multifunctional buffer areas; and a comparative analysis of the governance systems in two strategic planning projects carried out in Galicia and the Netherlands.
 

The research shows that the success of planning depends not only on technical design but also on the active and coordinated involvement of all stakeholders, the clarity of available information, and the presence of governance models that are flexible, inclusive, and transparent. In this way, the thesis offers applicable solutions that make it possible to integrate biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services into land-use planning, strengthening the sustainability and resilience of socio-ecological systems.
 

These results provide tools and knowledge that can guide debate, support the design of nature-based territorial planning policies, and help achieve long-term sustainable and resilient territorial planning capable of responding to current climate challenges.