The Green Deserts project

Life+ 2009-2014

ECCA Conference - Climate Change, 20/03/2013, Hamburg, by Sven Kallen, Director Transfer Consultancy

Spain – frontier fight against climate change

Objectives1. Prove technical and economicfeasibility of Groasis Waterboxx

3. Involve local communities4. Clarify best combination of soils, trees, and application methods

¨Deal with desertification of abandoned areas (dry, bare) which used to be lungs for the capture of CO 2, sources of food

production and landscape .¨

2. Disseminate concept

Participants

Universidad de ValladolidAquapro

Sylma

Diputación de León

Ayuntamiento de Riofrío de Aliste

Diputación de Valladolid

Ayuntamiento de San Mateo de Gállego

Transfer Consultancy

The scope of the project

- Valladolid- León- Zamora- Zaragoza - Barcelona

55,000 saplings65 Ha.5 areas

The scopeFACTS: LeónAltitude 1600-1800 mSlope of 39,6 %No water retentionSnow 8 months/year

FACTS: ZamoraOld quarry Altitude of 900 mStrong winds high rainfall in winter

FACTS: ZaragozaAltitude of 300 mHigh degraded soilDesertification(Los Monegros)

FACTS: BarcelonaAltitude of 100-300 mHills suffered forest firesLow water retention capacityStony soil

FACTS: ValladolidAltitude of 800 mFormer illegal waste dumpsDry summers & cold winters

Actions

�Characterisation and selection of species and lots�Preparation of saplings�Realisation of the Waterboxxesand capillary drill�Planting of the saplings�Maintenance, control and technical monitoring

Innovation: Groasis Waterboxx

Planting

Control & monitoring (1)

Damage by frost and low temperatures

Damage by wildlife: moles, rabbits, wild boars…

o 10% trees planted without Waterboxx as control groupo Random sampling of 5-10% o Measurement of different factors (survival, growth, etc.)o Analysis of problems

Control & Monitoring (2)

Control & monitoring (3)

State of project – firstconclusions

The Groasis Waterboxx looks like a goodtool to improve survival rates of trees, butother factors are at play:

o Quality of the saplingo Correct positioning of Waterboxxo Maintenanceo Animals

Communication - Local awareness

Cooperation with other Life+

• LIFE Delta Lagoon - Sant Carles de la Rapita (Tarragona)-Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre

• LIFE Reserva Campanarios de Azaba (Salamanca)-IRTA

Campanarios de AzabaDelta del Ebro-Sant Carles de la Rapita

The web: all content in 2 languages

Publicity

La Opinión de ZamoraLa CrónicaEl Mundoetc

Action!

Involvement lessons: • Involve people & local communities: offer concrete activities• Grasp attention: short articles, video, social media, …• People see the issues (desertification, habitat loss, etc.) but feel

rather powerless: give them inspiration!

As a team we learned: • “It’s the SOIL stupid!”• Develop new projects to deal with deserted, dry, bare lands

New LIFE projects

Operation CO 2: Climate change project, 2 lines of action:- Carbon credits for forest conservation (4.000 Ha.) for the

voluntary market- Integral agroforestry systems (2 * 25 Ha.), pre-certification

All info at: www.operationCO2.com

¡Muchas gracias!For more information, please check:

• www.thegreendeserts.com• The Green Deserts on Facebook• Youtube channel

Or contact:

• sven@transfer-lbc.com (Sven Kallen)