Red Eléctrica de España, in collaboration with the Island Council of Tenerife, is in the process of completing the works for the reforestation of 23.4 hectares of the Chajaña wooded area, located within the La Corona Forestal Natural Park in Arico, through the planting of 7,168 native trees and shrubs, such as pine, Canary Islands juniper, tree lucerne and giant viper’s bugloss. This project, which is included as part of the nationwide Red Eléctrica Forest initiative, will be completed throughout 2018 with the planting of another 500 almond trees.
To date, pursuant to the agreement signed in 2017 between Red Eléctrica and the Island Council of Tenerife, the Company has contributed 80,000 euros for reforestation works and for carrying out awareness-raising activities that promote culture, volunteering and environmental education.
The Island Council of Tenerife has taken on the technical management in addition to the inspection and supervision activities of the works conducted, as well as the monitoring of the growth of the vegetation coverage.
This project also encompasses an educational programme geared towards disseminating information regarding the Red Eléctrica Forest project. The initiative also includes carrying out environmental education activities and awareness-raising workshops, as well as facilitating school visits to the areas where the works are being carried out. These activities have already been carried out in public education centres in Arico and Fasnia in collaboration with the Montañeros de Uzapa association and with the cooperation of the neighbourhood association of Fuente Nueva.
The ‘Red Eléctrica Forest’
With more than two million euros invested since its inception in 2009, the Red Eléctrica Forest project is an environmental initiative taken on by the Company at a national level with the aim of collaborating on the conservation of biodiversity-rich areas and for the recovery of degraded public common-land areas, as well as contributing to the fight against climate change, therefore allowing part of their greenhouse gas emissions to be offset.
With the Chajaña reforestation, there are now 14 Red Eléctrica Forests located in Badajoz, Teruel, Cadiz, Murcia, Valencia, Vizcaya, Albacete, Majorca, Zamora, La Coruña, Gran Canaria and Asturias that have enabled the Company to recover about 840 hectares with the planting of 682,400 trees and shrubs of various species native to each region and that will help offset nearly 193,000 tonnes of CO2 throughout the lifecycle of these forest restoration projects.
This initiative responds to the 2030 Sustainability Commitment, recently approved by Red Eléctrica, and which promotes, among other elements, the collaboration with the regional, island and local administrations for economic and social development and the promotion of natural capital in the territories in which the Company’s facilities are located.
With this type of action, Red Eléctrica aims to help contribute to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and, more specifically, goal number 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity.
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