After the conditioning of the land, today the planting phase has finished of the seedlings of the ‘Bosque Axión Trigueros’ project, in which the telecommunications company Axión, together with Ence, the Spanish leader in sustainable forest management, are working for the recovery in this Huelva town of more than 26 hectares of forest mass affected by a fire in 2019. This initiative is part of the firm commitment to the sustainability of the two companies, and involves the planting of some 32,000 trees, with an investment by Axión more than 170,000 euros.
The objective of this first pilot project, with a horizon of 40 years, is to facilitate the regeneration nature and nature’s own processes for the recovery and promotion of biodiversity. For this reason, after an exhaustive analysis of the environment, a sustainable forest management plan has been designed. detailed and an autochthonous species of the area, the pinus pinea, has been chosen for the repopulation or stone pine. This conifer favors, with the shade and humidity it generates, the entry of leafy trees and scrub species so characteristic of Huelva such as hearts of palm, rosemary, lavender or thyme, and also quercineas such as holm oak or cork oak.
It should be noted that the planting has been carried out on old eucalyptus trees whose soil, despite of the fire, has maintained soil and hydrological quality conditions that have facilitated this first phase of the project.
Likewise, many animal species, which have their habitat in this area, will benefit from the improvement of its natural environment. In this way, this pine forest located next to the ecological corridor that supposes the river Odiel, will serve as a shelter and sustenance for birds of prey such as the short-toed eagle and the owl royal or kestrel; reptiles such as the horseshoe snake or the red-tailed lizard; and also for numerous amphibians and even for mammals such as roe deer.
FIXING CO2 EMISSIONS
Responsible for Axión, Ence and the Environment delegation of the Junta de Andalucía in Huelva, together with other companies in the communication sector and interest groups, have met this morning to complete this planting, as well as to see in situ the work carried out of this important project for local biodiversity and to move towards a neutral society in carbon emissions driving European policies. In fact, in the 40 years of the project ‘Axión Trigueros Forest’, a fixation of more than 4,650 tons of CO2 is calculated, which will allow the telecommunications company to offset the carbon footprint, both direct emissions as hints, about seven years.
At the event, Axión has also delivered certificates of mitigation of the carbon footprint of the services provided by the company in the past year for its main customers of broadcasting; Canal Sur, Cadena SER, Kiss FM or Radio María, and other public administrations, such as the Environment and Water Agency of the Junta de Andalucía.
Araceli García Cuartango, CEO of Axión, has highlighted that “this forest, in addition to its objective value for the mitigation of our carbon footprint, has symbolic value for us, meaning of belonging, and of pride in helping this community to recover its natural environment. Is a project that unites and identifies us through a common concern for sustainability’.
For Reyes Cerezo, general director of Sustainability at Ence, “the promotion of carbon sinks like the one we launched with Axión, and which will be followed by others, is a strategic line of our company to put our experience in sustainable forest management at the service of two pillars of our management: decarbonisation and sustainability’.
In the words of the territorial delegate of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy of the Board de Andalucía in Huelva, Pedro Yórquez, “public-private collaboration in environmental matters environment is essential from the premise that the planet belongs to everyone and we are all responsible for it. your care. Until now it seemed that this joint work for specific projects in areas of ecological value it was limited to environmental education. Actually, this action that we carry out today, World Day of Environmental Education, has a lot of dissemination and education. But it is clear that it is not only that. We are facing a great project to regenerate a burned area. We must continue advancing along this line and work together to set carbon as the ultimate goal.
Forest sinks are the most important natural terrestrial mechanism available to the society to fix carbon and offset human activity. Furthermore, and like any other forest, produce essential goods and services for life, such as the quality of the air or the water, and for the economy, such as the use of products such as cork, wood or mushrooms
