Sergio Couto

Regional Representative for Europe

Sergio Couto is a Galician biologist and activist interested in the links between nature conservation, community well-being, and communal governance. Sergio led the first nationwide study on ICCAs—Territories of Life in Spain and is one of the co-founders of Iniciativa Comunales, a network of local communities that govern commons in Spain. He also founded and coordinated the Common Lands Network of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. He served as the regional coordinator of the ICCA Consortium for Europe for 10 years and is currently an honorary member.

Currently, he works as a researcher on governance and recognition tools for traditional and historical irrigation systems at the Laboratory of Biocultural Archaeology (MEMOLab-UGR) at the University of Granada, where he is also pursuing his PhD. Previously, he worked at the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (CSIC), the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO/BirdLife), the European Commission, the Bearded Vulture Reintroduction Program in Andalusia, and on numerous conservation projects under the EU’s LIFE program, always in close collaboration with rural communities.