Ence’s forest heritage management goes beyond the sustainable use of wood. The company manages in Andalusia, especially in Huelva and Seville, some 36,000 hectares of eucalyptus forest and about 12,000 of Mediterranean forests, where it takes advantage of all natural resources such as cork, biomass, pastures for livestock or beekeeping with the utmost environmental respect. . The objective: to perpetuate all resources over time and generate economic and social benefits in the needy rural environment.
In addition to wood, Ence takes advantage of forest remains, which it uses for energy in its industrial complex in Huelva as biomass. It is also the main Huelva producer of cork. Specifically, the company maintains 1,500 hectares of cork oak forest in cork production where around 1,200 quintals of high-quality cork are collected per year for Huelva companies, for their transformation, or to cooperatives in the area, as is the case of the San Cooperativa José de Berrocal of which Ence is a partner.
The fifty bee businesses present in forest areas managed by Ence stand out for their social interest and the quality of the honey produced in eucalyptus trees. These local companies maintain more than 33,500 hives, most of them on the more than 33,000 hectares that the company has leased for this purpose.
Another sustainable synergy between human activity and nature, and a natural use of the mountains managed by Ence, is pastoral activity. The company maintains almost 11,500 hectares dedicated to this activity, where more than 5,200 heads of sheep, goats, cattle, pigs and horses from livestock families in the surrounding rural areas graze.
Hunting use, collecting mushrooms or collecting shoots of different species of eucalyptus for ornamental purposes, are other agroforestry resources that are used in the natural space and that collaborate in the sustainable maintenance of the mountains.
Ence’s forest management, endorsed by the most recognized international certifications, is based on planning, preventing and innovating continuously to guarantee the permanence over time of all the valuable environmental, economic and social resources of the natural environment. It is what best guarantees the protection of forest forests, so that they continue to offer society the multiple benefits they provide: employment, economic activity, biodiversity, oxygen and CO2 fixation, among other essential externalities for our quality of life.