Our research institute (IUCA) is interested in participating in consortiums that work on the conservation and improvement of priority habitats such as the Spanish "Dehesa" and similar systems in the rest of Europe. Involving agroforestry and pastoral activities as the main tool to conserve the rural population and the natural environment where they are developed, using techniques compatible with the European organic farming certification.
Being a cohesive multidisciplinary group of more than 250 researchers, our interest is very multifaceted, which will bring to the consortium a plural vision of the objective of the Agroecoly call. We have the means and services that the University of Zaragoza offers us, which gives us great power of execution in the lines of work of the call.

The "Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ciencias Ambientales de Aragón" of the University of Zaragoza, was established in September 2008 by order of the Government of Aragon, Spain, with the fundamental aim of fostering high-quality, internationally oriented new research initiatives, in order to achieve greater progress and projection in all the environmental sciences.

Our specific aims are:
- To foster excellence and high quality in research in the environmental sciences, with regard both to basic scientific aspects and their application. To this end, the IUCA adapts its lines of research to those established by the various regional, national and European programmes, as well as seeking to make use of the synergies provided by the university network Campus de Excelencia Internacional Iberus in order to establish collaborative projects between universities and across borders with other similar institutes.
- To adopt a multidisciplinary approach and take advantage of the synergies among the groups of the various areas that make up the IUCA by fomenting constant relations between these groups, shared work projects, the transfer of information, and joint participation in programmes and projects at a regional, national and European level.
- To cooperate with public and private enterprises within the fields of research and development of the areas proper to the Institute, fostering the generation of patents both of its own and in collaboration with enterprises, and publicizing the results of the research it undertakes.
- To coordinate and organize, within its sphere of competence, courses, specialist teaching and MSc and PhD studies in the field of the environmental sciences. These are adapted to the European Higher Education Area, with a major interdisciplinary component and involvement in the university network of the Campus de Excelencia Internacional Iberus, going beyond the activities of the university departments and thus contributing to the greater development of the European Research Area.
- To establish research networks in accordance with its international nature, seeking to endow the Institute with a preferential orientation towards Europe, America and the countries of the Mediterranean Basin.

Our mission, vision and values are:
Mission: To foster and promote research of the highest quality, fomenting greater knowledge of the environmental sciences, and to contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development at a regional and national level, providing solutions to the scientific and technological requirements for the conservation of the environment.
Vision: Given that the sphere of research in the environmental sciences is infinite, the Institute seeks to become a reference point at a national and international level in those fields on which it focuses its research.
Values: QUALITY, SCIENTIFIC EXCELLENCE, COMMITMENT, TEAMWORK, MULTIDISCIPLINARITY, RESPONSIBILITY