Since 2013, the International Day of Forests has been celebrated every March 21 to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining healthy forests for the well-being of our lives and the crucial role they play in poverty eradication, environmental sustainability and food security. Forests help create strong, resilient communities and increase the prosperity of their economies. They are also critical to combating climate change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This year, the International Day of Forests focuses on education as an indispensable means to learn to love the forest, and points to its importance in achieving sustainable management of forest areas and advancing biodiversity conservation.

From the Biodiversity Foundation we have been supporting forestry projects since our inception, for which we have allocated more than 3.5 million euros for 52 projects, of which 6 are in execution.

Despite the incredible ecological, economic and social benefits that forests provide, deforestation continues at a rate of 13 million hectares per year and is responsible for between 12 and 20% of greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to global warming. Adaptation to climate change is a complex process, which is why we collaborate with FSC Spain to establish an early diagnosis of the state and degree of adaptation of forest ecosystems, which allows us to design and establish appropriate management strategies that facilitate these adaptation processes.

We also support the Institute of Agricultural and Food Research and Technology in a project that addresses the vulnerability and resilience of mature Mediterranean Quercus forests in protected areas (Monfragüe and Cabañeros National Parks) under different climatic and management scenarios; or the Galician Association of Land Stewardship, which works in the Terras do Miño Biosphere Reserve to identify, assess and propose measures in alluvial forests, wetlands and semi-natural meadows.

The National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PNACC) recognizes rivers and river systems as one of the most affected ecosystems, particularly in Mediterranean areas and especially in semi-arid environments, concluding that riparian forests are some of the areas that may be most vulnerable to climate change. In this context, the Association of Naturalists of the Southeast (ANSE) develops, with our support, a project to adapt riverbed ecosystems in semi-arid environments through ecological restoration. It is also carrying out the LIFE+ RIPISILVANATURA project, which aims to control the expansion of invasive alien species present on the banks of the Segura River and promote the colonisation of the riparian or gallery forest (ripisilva) by native species.

From a biological point of view, forests are the most diverse terrestrial ecosystems, where more than 80% of animal and plant species are hosted. For the conservation of the habitat of interest for the capercaillie and other Cantabrian fauna, the Galician Association of Territorial Stewardship tries to consolidate in the long term a stewardship agreement within the Ancares Biosphere Reserve of Lugo, drawing up a management plan based on the conservation of its remarkable environmental values. at the same time, habitat management actions are developed and livestock activity is compatible with conservation.