Oil, crops and forest management to combat climate change
The Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation watches over the health of our forests with initiatives and sustainability projects. On International Environment Day, initiatives like these acquire even more value
Can oil put out fires? The question seems like a contradiction, almost a prank. Obviously, no one would think of putting out flames with oil. But if we think about the origin of this product, the idea makes perfect sense.
To produce oil, we must care for the land, preserve the fields, and keep an agricultural landscape alive that often also acts as a natural barrier against large fires. Talking about oil is talking about territory, forest management, and landscape conservation. And the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation has a lot to say about this.
L’Oli Nou de Barcelona, a project promoted by the Foundation, in alliance with L’Olivera Cooperativa, is a clear example of how agriculture can become a tool for environmental protection and sustainable territory management. Forest management and, at the same time, energy sustainability are two of the lines on which the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation works to build a more just, inclusive, and sustainable society. Generating a positive impact on the territory and the environment is the basis of the projects it develops, such as the Barcelona oil project that helps to put out fires.
On International Environment Day, the work of the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation becomes even more essential. The recovery of the first terraces in Collserola Park, with a total of up to 240 olive trees of the Arbequina variety, planted between 2002 and 2006, through actions such as intensive pruning, reduction of tree density, and clearing of adjacent vegetation, has now borne its first fruits. As of this year, L'Oli Nou de Barcelona is available in stores. This is the first edition within an ambitious plan that estimates a wider production from 2028 onwards.
Collserola as an opportunity
The Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation manages a network of natural spaces throughout Catalonia and carries out some of its conservation projects in the Metropolitan Area. Specifically, the foundation aims to restore 156 agricultural hectares here – 2% of the total area – distributed across six municipalities: Barcelona, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Molins de Rei, Cerdanyola, and Sant Just Desvern, and classified into different typologies: olive trees, fruit trees, vegetable gardens, cultivated land, and pastures.
Oil production is not the only tool to preserve the forest environment and keep it safe from fire. Neither are the cultivation of local foods, which at the same time promote responsible consumption and for which the Foundation is responsible for generating employment for at-risk groups. With the horizon set for 2050, the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation maintains its focus on a more resilient Collserola, promoting biodiversity in these areas of the park, strengthening the bond with the territory, and contributing to environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
Alinyà (Alt Urgell), Can Maçana (Anoia), Arnes (Terra Alta), the Vilalta forest (Alt Camp), Can Puig de Fitor (Baix Empordà), Mont-rebei (Pallars Jussà and Noguera), Món Sant Benet (Bages), les Gavarres, and les Planes de Son make up the bulk of the natural spaces managed by the institution. The aim is to make the forest an opportunity and not a threat, with a firm commitment to sustainability, active land management, and the link between nature and society.
The Bio For Piri project
Among these spaces, the Muntanya d'Alinyà stands out, which has consolidated itself as a benchmark example, thanks to the Bio For Piri project led by the Foundation, co-financed with European Next Generation funds, which promotes a management model adapted to new climate challenges. The Forest Bioeconomy in the Pyrenees (Bio For Piri) project, which the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation has developed over the last two years with the aim of preventing forest fires, has promoted the sustainable management of more than 233 hectares of forest, the recovery of 39 hectares of pastures, and biodiversity improvement actions, benefiting 428 people and contributing to the creation of 6 jobs and new economic opportunities linked to biomass and local wood.
In Gavarres, the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation has worked closely with the Consortium of Gavarres and the Provincial Council of Girona to promote biodiversity and reduce the risk of fires through shared actions with other forest owners. Among the actions to highlight are thinnings in pine stands and selective cuts in cork oak forests, to better adapt the forest to new climatic conditions, and the promotion of extensive livestock farming with Albera cows to contribute to the management and maintenance of the territory.
Working to reduce energy consumption and generate our own renewable energy are also part of its action plan. El Món Sant Benet is one of its exponents, where in 2024, 56.8% of the electricity consumed was produced renewably, thanks to the hydroelectric power plant and photovoltaic installations. Significant self-generation percentages have also been achieved at l’Escola Oms i de Prat (Manresa) and MónNatura Delta: 85% and 80% respectively.
The challenges of climate change involve forest conservation. Faced with the abandonment of forest management, the Foundation works to promote active and sustainable forest management that allows ecosystems to be more resilient and reduce the risk of large forest fires in a context of climate change.