Sustainable Reforestation and CO2 Capture.
On Wednesday 22 February 2023 the symposium “Reforestation: Business in the Fight Against Climate Change — Sustainable Reforestation and CO2 Capture” was held at the Casa de Vacas cultural centre in the Retiro park, Madrid.
The symposium was organised by Desert Leaves, an organisation that works to build and spread knowledge about forests and afforestation in arid regions, to connect and support the people and organisations around the world working on the afforestation of drylands and the preservation of forests, and to back initiatives that pursue the growth of sustainable forests in arid lands.
CMI Business School took part in the round table “The Role of Afforestation and Forest Preservation in a Company’s CSR Policy”, represented by our founder, Rafael García Martín. The other participants were Dr Encarna Mateo, director of quality and the environment at Sacyr; Dr Jaime Ribalaygua, founder of the Foundation for Climate Research; and Marta Iglesias, president of Planta Árboles. The speakers described what their companies and CSR policies were doing on afforestation and forest preservation, exchanged ideas about sustainability and about projects now under way, and answered questions from the audience on the subject.
The symposium was chaired by Wim Cambien, a director of Desert Leaves. The welcome address was given by Santiago Saura, councillor for internationalisation and cooperation at Madrid City Council and second vice-president of the Spanish Network for Sustainable Development, who said that the aim of the symposium was to forge links, exchange ideas and make known what is being done across different fields in the fight against climate change. He also highlighted the commitment and the work of Madrid City Council on the SDGs and with companies through their CSR plans, and through the competitions and activities it runs to encourage participation in funding schemes and tenders.
He highlighted the commitment and the work of Madrid City Council on the SDGs and with companies through their CSR plans
Santiago Saura, councillor for internationalisation and cooperation at Madrid City Council
Silvia Villacañas, director general of urban regeneration strategy at Madrid City Council, presented the Metropolitan Forest green infrastructure project, which will run for 75 kilometres across the city. It will help rebalance Madrid, reduce CO2 emissions, fight climate change, restore degraded areas ecologically and visually, increase the number of walking and cycling routes, and benefit public health.
Lucía González, commissioner of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), set out the actions and initiatives of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. On the same theme, Luis Tejero, of the environment and mobility department’s climate change unit, presented Madrid City Council’s voluntary scheme for offsetting CO2 emissions and generating ecosystem services, which offers interested organisations the chance to reduce their carbon footprint and support nature in the city.
The symposium also hosted the round table “Afforestation and Society”, with Dr José Luis Rodríguez of the Official Association of Forestry Engineers, Francisco Martínez of Grupo Silvestre, Wim Cambien of Desert Leaves and Luis Cardallaguet, president of Folia Project. The panel concluded that the most important thing in mitigating CO2 is reduction first, and reforestation for offsetting second.
Wim Cambien presented “International mechanisms for CO2 offsetting, and examples of projects”, setting out the various offsetting mechanisms and highlighting Verra, Gold Standard, Plan Vivo, the Joint Crediting Mechanism, the Emission Reduction Fund and the Spanish “Calculo, Reduzco, Compenso” label. Marta Hernández de la Cruz, representing the Spanish Climate Change Office of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, then spoke on the “Calculo, Reduzco, Compenso” label, covering MITECO’s carbon footprint register, offsetting and carbon absorption projects.
This absorbing day on climate change, afforestation and CO2 offsetting closed with a paper from Dr Encarna Mateo, director of quality and the environment at Sacyr, on “Afforestation and carbon sequestration within Sacyr’s sustainability strategy”, and with the round table “The Role of Afforestation and Forest Preservation in a Company’s CSR Policy”, in which our founder and lecturer Rafael García took part.
