Background Changing, and often inappropriate, use of land in mountainous areas throughout the world are impacting on the natural environment, including rivers and the water supply. In some regions, the gradual abandonment of hill slopes has led to growth of dense shrub cover and has affected the way in which these areas integrate into the whole system of land management. In others, the problems come through increased pressure from livestock. It is very difficult to manage each mountain according to its own special characteristics and in an optimum way. The tendency of governments trying to limit the degradation of natural areas is to produce a generalised legislative framework. The Ganecomet LIFE project focused on specific management solutions in two areas with different problems. The mountain range of Arbe, in the Central Pyrenees area of Huesca, Spain, has suffered an important loss of productive zones due to widespread encroachment of dense bushes – areas that are consequently neither exploited nor maintained, resulting in serious fire risk as well as reduction in wildlife species. Mount Limitaciones in the Natural Park of Urbasa-Andia in the Navarra region suffers from excessive concentrations of cattle in many areas. This results in high levels of organic matter, causing serious pollution in the underground reservoir that provides drinking water for much of the population in Navarra. Objectives The project aimed to introduce sustainable development strategies into the two project areas to restore their natural environmental balance. It set out to define methods which would take account of both economic and environmental factors and would redesign rules and guidelines for the exploitation of natural open spaces – particularly in regard to the raising of cattle in these areas. At Mount Limitationes, the focus was on introducing a sustainable organic system for cattle-raising that would eliminate pollution of the aquifers. At Arbe, the aim was to re-activate the area by clearing the land and re-introducing cattle, consequently reducing the fire risk. The project set out to identify the cattle species to be introduced; the required infrastructure and best methods of exploiting the land. It aimed to show recordable increases in use of mountain ranges and natural parks for cattle-rearing and to increase the percentage of those activities that used sustainable organic methods. It also aimed to demonstrate how the proposed methodology could be applied in other mountain ranges and open spaces with similar characteristics. This was to be shown by applying the new methods in four additional Spanish and one French mountain region during the project. Results The benefits and results from this project were limited and the project was closed before its intended end-date, but there was some success in reducing over-exploitation of land and in introducing basic monitoring systems that can be used in conjunction with management plans for these and similar areas. At Mount Limitationes, new areas have been opened up to the animals, and monitoring systems and controls introduced. This has led to the reduction in cattle concentration necessary to bring environmental benefit through improved water purity. The monitoring system established within the project helps control the effects of grazing on vegetation and eco-systems. This system, and the work done to define and evaluate the problem of over-grazing, are transferable to similar mountain regions. Other positives are indications that the project helped make local farmers more aware of environmental principles and practices, and that it contributed to the application of Community policy regarding integration of economic activities and the environment in that it aimed to make a natural area compatible with cattle-raising. The project partners also carried out work focusing on forestry management issues, such as the compatibility of livestock farming with sustainable woodland regeneration, that was not in the original proposals. The project’s effectiveness was greatly limited by problems. The Sierra de Campanue - substituted at the request of the beneficiary for the Arbe area - was hit by a hard winter and purchase of the land became unduly delayed. As a result, management planning, but no practical work, was carried out on this part of the project. Further problems meant the delays were considered irrecoverable and the project was closed before its intended end-date and before most of the expected outcomes and results could be obtained.