A project that seeks to value the Mediterranean forest and the pastureland, and to mobilise its products through forest certification.

The project “Sustainable Mobilization of the resources of the Dehesa and the Mediterranean Mountain. The Forest Certification in the New Markets”, which PEFC Spain is going to develop under the slogan “Sustainable Dehesa Dynamiza”, proposes a series of actions during the one-year execution period to enhance the value of the Mediterranean forest, the dehesa and its products, through forest certification.

The initiative will be structured in three phases: planning of sustainable forest management, certification of the territory and certification and marketing of products, and will have a transversal element: communication and awareness-raising.

The objective is to promote the implementation of management instruments that promote the conservation, maintenance and regeneration of ecosystems that are unique in the world, which are home to great biodiversity, contribute to the mitigation of climate change and have exceptional socio-economic values, but which, in turn, are fragile, vulnerable and have been subject to great degradation.

The application of these agile, realistic, measurable, auditable and certifiable instruments are the first step towards the mobilization in the value chain of forest resources such as cork, firewood and biomass, food products, etc., with guarantees of sustainable origin.

This project will be developed in regions where the dehesa and cork oak forests are located, as well as the production and processing industries of these products, that is, Andalusia, Castilla y León, Catalonia and Extremadura.

The establishment of synergies between the main public-private agents in these regions will be promoted to facilitate the exchange of advanced experiences in the planning, production and marketing of products of certified sustainable origin.

Within the framework of the initiative, forest certification will be promoted as an eco-innovation tool capable of providing added value and improving the competitiveness of raw materials and products in the sector, and the creation of a supply and demand for certified sustainable CO2-fixing products will be consolidated. The mobilisation of the resources of the dehesa and cork oak forest and the promotion of certification in these ecosystems will contribute to the dynamisation of the sector and the creation of green employment and development of rural communities in these regions.

The environmental and socio-economic values of the dehesa and the cork oak forest will also be communicated, as well as the importance of the certification of their products as an opportunity and positioning in the face of the new sustainability demands of national and international markets (winery companies, gourmet sector, rehabilitation and interior design, etc.).

The development of this project will decisively promote forest certification in the regions where it will be carried out, which will promote the multifunctional and sustainable management of these territories and will bring clear environmental benefits.

The environmental benefits that are incentivized by forest certification are directly related to the pan-European criteria for sustainable forest management: the improvement of forest resources and their contribution to carbon cycles (and to the mitigation of climate change), the improvement of the health and vitality of forest ecosystems (especially important is the prevention of diseases such as “drying”), the enhancement of productive and protective functions in forest management (mainly soil and water), the conservation of biodiversity and the maintenance of social and economic functions.