Line of action:

Terrestrial ecosystems

Status:

En ejecución

Location:

Castellón, Huesca, Lleida, Tarragona and Teruel

Execution date:

2022

Duration:

15/07/2022 - 31/12/2025

Typology:

Agriculture / agroecological transition

Total budget:

1,609,217.17 euros

Amount of aid from the Biodiversity Foundation:

1,380,550.61 euros (95%)

Coordinating entity:

Association of friends of the Wildlife Recovery Centre (CRFS) of Valcalent.

In the current context of devaluation of the rural environment and growing loss of biodiversity, it is very necessary to create and implement an environmentally friendly approach to resource generation that promotes biodiversity. A transformation of production objectives is absolutely necessary, placing the emphasis on quality and sustainability, both at the agricultural and natural levels.

The main justification of the project is the implementation of an ecological and economically and environmentally sustainable agro-rural development model in economically depressed regions with a clear agricultural and rural vocation. This model will be implemented in olive groves, giving value to these monumental specimens of hundreds or thousands of years, to the traditional elements of the landscape, such as dry stone constructions and to all the biodiversity that these traditional crops host, such as birds of prey, some of them in danger of extinction.

The scope of action focuses on the territories of Lleida and Terres de l’Ebre in Catalonia and Bajo Maestrazgo and Matarraña in Castellón and Teruel respectively and on La Litera in Huesca. In Catalonia, specifically the counties of Les Garrigues and Montsià, they are counties with a rich agricultural and rural environment and with a large number of centenary olive trees, but with an adverse climate, an aging population and a clearly decreasing population. The aim is to offer the population of these regions a model that highlights the value of a territory that is currently devalued.

Olive groves are characteristic elements of the rural environment in the regions of Las Garriges and Terres del Ebro, with a significant presence of centenary and millenary olive trees. This landscape is home to a great biodiversity of species of fauna and flora and heritage elements of interest (dry stone). Conventional agricultural practices have led to a loss of biodiversity, as well as reducing the value and quality of the products obtained. The reduction in the sale price of olives has favoured the abandonment of olive groves and their sale as ornamental trees. Through the consolidation and expansion of this project, which began in Les Garrigues in 2011, the aim is to achieve socio-economic revitalisation based on the organic cultivation of old and monumental olive groves for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity, cultural heritage and the landscape itself.

In the new farms, their state of conservation will be analysed and management and action plans will be designed and implemented for agricultural adaptation and recovery and for sustainable agricultural exploitation, which will be accompanied by production, marketing, marketing and sale actions of the oil obtained. At the same time, it is planned to implement livestock management of the farms, carry out actions to improve biodiversity and recover cultural heritage, all together with a validation and scientific monitoring of the agricultural model implemented, the preparation of manuals of good practices for farmers, design of ecotourism itineraries and development of environmental education activities.

With all this, it is expected to have 85 new hectares of olive groves recovered on 10 farms, where, together with the 35 hectares already in production, 400,000 kg of olives will be harvested, producing a total of 25,000 liters of oil that will be sold mostly locally, through the existing oil brand and the creation of a new one. On the new farms, turtles will be released and nest boxes, biodiversity ponds and insect hotels will be placed, in addition to restoring elements of cultural heritage, creating 4 ecotourism itineraries and carrying out 5 volunteer actions and activities in 20 educational centers, 30 local groups and 10 companies.