Two million euros for rural development and nature conservation in the Pyrenees

The aim of the Forest Bioeconomy in the Pyrenees (Bio For Piri) project is to provide a solution to two of the great challenges of the Pyrenees: the large forest fires and the demographic challenge.

Bio For Piri is a project led by the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, in coordination with the Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC), the Foundation for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture, the Business & Climate Foundation, the Pau Costa Foundation and the Fundació Integra Pirineus.

Bio For Piri is a Forest Bioeconomy project in the Pyrenees, led by the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera and in coordination with 5 leading entities in their fields. The project has recently begun and, for nearly two years, will deploy a series of actions to reduce the threat of a large forest fire in two pre-Pyrenean geographical areas: Alinyà, in Lleida and Aínsa-Sobrarbe, in Huesca. The mission of the project is to promote the forest bioeconomy through forest management as a solution to two of the great challenges of the area: forest fires and the demographic challenge.

A transformative commitment with an investment of almost 2 million euros

Bio For Piri has obtained the second best position in the classification of all the proposals submitted in the call for grants for the “Conservation and restoration of ecosystems and their biodiversity” of the Biodiversity Foundation, and has received a total of € 1,992,473.22. This figure denotes that the project is a clear transformative commitment to the promotion of the bioeconomy linked to the field of forests and the contribution to the ecological transition.

The Biodiversity Foundation, which grants these grants within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP), financed by the European NextGenerationEU funds, has offered an endowment of 77 million euros to be distributed among the 56 selected projects throughout Spain.

One of the most sensitive and vulnerable areas to fire risk in the Iberian Peninsula

The Pre-Pyrenees are an area of great natural beauty for their diverse landscape with gentle hills, fertile valleys, winding rivers and dense forests. This region, which acts as a transition between the plains and the mountains, is the habitat of a great diversity of flora and fauna, and of rural villages and communities that live from agriculture, livestock and tourism. Its forests, in addition to being one of its main economic assets, represent a valuable natural heritage of great ecological importance for natural conservation on a European scale.

In recent years, the abandonment and precariousness of the primary sector have led to the loss of the agroforestry mosaic which, added to the current climatic context, has increased the risk of suffering a large forest fire (those that burn more than 500 hectares and that due to their behaviour escape the capacity to extinguish) in the Pyrenees. Due to the size and impact of this potential fire – it could burn en bloc from Navarre to Girona – we can say that it is one of the most sensitive and vulnerable areas to this threat in the Iberian Peninsula.

Six leading entities in their fields have joined forces to turn the threat of large forest fires into an opportunity

The Bio For Piri project is developing a series of actions to reduce the risk of a large forest fire in the Pyrenees and, at the same time, turns these tasks of prevention and forest management into opportunities for rural development and conservation of natural heritage through the forest bioeconomy. In this sense, the project focuses on three main lines of work:

1. Forest fire prevention and forest management
2. Boosting the forest bioeconomy
3. Knowledge transfer

The project is the result of the collaboration of six leading entities in their fields. At the helm, the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation as the coordinating entity, accompanied by five other partner entities: the Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC); the Foundation for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture; the Business & Climate Foundation; the Pau Costa Foundation; and the Integra Pirineus Foundation.

Results on two scales and with triple impact: social, economic and environmental

The results of the project’s actions will have an impact on two scales: regional and local. On the one hand, from the regional scale, action plans and criteria for the prevention of large forest fires applicable to the entire Pyrenees area (massif scale) will be defined. From the local scale, Alinyà, Aínsa-Sobrarbe, their surroundings and inhabitants, will benefit from the execution of actions with a direct impact on their territory, ranging from the generation of jobs to the conservation of the biodiversity of the area.

Main results:

• A stable brigade will be created to carry out forest management tasks in Alinyà (4 job placement jobs and 1 person in charge of the brigade).
• 2 jobs will be created, of which 1 for a woman, and the 6 already existing ones will be consolidated to reinforce pasture and extensive livestock farming in Alinyà.
• 16 people with a European chainsaw card will be trained to be hired in forestry brigades. Priority will be given to women and those who are from Alinyà or neighbouring villages.
• Sustainable forest management actions will be carried out in 80 ha of Alinyà considered high priority areas by the Fire Prevention Plan, and 24 ha in Aínsa-Sobrarbe.
• In the surroundings of Alinyà, a new pasture area of 40 ha will be generated and fountains and water points will be recovered.
• In the region of Sobrarbe, 19 ha of pastures will be expanded for extensive sheep farming managed by young farmers.
• A prototype of sustainable housing will be built with wood from the area.
• There will be 12 volunteer days linked to the sustainable management of forests, 6 in Alinyà and 6 in Aínsa-Sobrarbe, and a Bioblitz day in each space.
• A new ecotourism offer will be created with 5 new interpretive itineraries in Aínsa.
• 8 investment proposals will be generated for companies linked to the management of the local forests of Alinyà and Aínsa-Sobrarbe.
• There will be 2 training courses in forestry work in Alt Urgell and 3 training seminars in sustainable forest management, 2 in Alinyà and 1 in Aínsa-Sobrarbe.

Bio For Piri is supported by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (MITECO) within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.