The Vall de Camprodon wants to implement an ambitious circular bioeconomy project to adapt agriculture and livestock to climate change, making it more profitable and viable, and gain energy self-sufficiency by promoting renewables. It is led by the Fundació Comunitària de la Vall de Camprodon, made up of local volunteers, with the ultimate goal of improving people’s quality of life.
The project was born as a result of a diagnosis of vulnerabilities and opportunities two years ago and has the support of six city councils and the Generalitat. “It is a very touristy and authentic valley” and with future challenges that threaten it, such as forest management on private farms, Maite Vigueras, one of the members of the foundation, explains to ACN.
The spread of the forest mass is one of the challenges that needs to be urgently addressed, according to Vigueras. “In 7 years, the forest mass has grown by 40%, when in Catalonia in 20 years it has grown by 24% – in terms of density of feet per hectare -; these are data that make your hair stand on end and you have to look what can be done,” he details.
The Vall de Camprodon has 29,000 hectares and of these, 56% are forests. On the contrary, it only has 8% crops. “That means less food, not enough grass meadows” and also greater risk of fire and greater retention of subsoil water with the increase in forest mass.
According to their data, 63% of the forest belongs to private farms, of which only a small proportion is managed. There are currently 51 approved technical management plans, 28% of the total – while management work is being carried out by the Generalitat and the city councils.
The foundation has developed a project to address forest management in a sustainable way that adds value to the territory.
This is a circular bioeconomy project that seeks, among other objectives, to reduce the consumption of fossil products, diversify the local economy and make livestock and farmers more competitive. In short, “achieve sustainable, resilient and transformative development of the Vall” through an “ambitious” roadmap.
“The idea is to study the viability of heat networks in the six municipalities,” details Vigueras, to provide an outlet for the biomass extracted from the forests. Likewise, it is also planned to prepare a technical study on products made from wood and another on livestock and agriculture in the area so that it can adapt to climate change.
With all this information, a joint plan will be drawn up to put it into practice. In order to finance it, they requested state aid of more than 1.2 million euros financed with Next Generation funds. In the first call they were not awarded it despite having achieved a good score – the funds had already been exhausted – and now they will apply again.
In the last two years, this foundation has achieved the support of the six town councils that make up the valley – brought together in the Mancomunitat de la Vall de Camprodon – and the involvement of different agents and associations in the area.
Thanks to this consensus, the Generalitat has chosen it to be part of a pilot plan to create agroforestry landscapes resilient to climate change promoted by the Department of Climate Action. Information on the valley is currently being compiled from the Forest Science and Technology Center of Catalonia (CTFC).
At the end of summer it is planned to have a technical assessment with proposals to be implemented that will then be presented to economic agents.
“It is very interesting because we will be able to recover the water balance of the forests, reduce the risk of fire, improve biodiversity and habitats, enhance the primary sector with more pastures, create new economic activity, have energy self-sufficiency and a landscape that will be a tourist attraction and quality”, highlights the representative of the foundation.
The project has been presented at the BIT Congress held at the Vic Fairgrounds.
