Simon Wade
A NEW initiative in the Vega Baja area of Spain’s Costa Blanca South will see over 200 trees planted to form a new forest on the banks of the River Segura.
Rojales City Council and Anse (the Association of Southeast Naturalists) have collaborated in a pioneering project to improve biodiversity in the region.
The initiative is to create a suitable habitat for the conservation of birds and other species, according to the local councillor, Inmaculada Chazarra.
The land chosen is to the east of Rojales village, just south of the river Segura.
The forest will include Elms, Poplars, Elderberries and Ash trees.
A special method of plantation using ‘drip irrigation’ will ensure rapid development of the trees, until the roots reach the water table.
The council has revealed that riverside forest along the Segura has practically disappeared in the Vega Baja, despite “innumerable benefits for both environment and landscape.”
On a wider scale, such a project also contributes to a speedy removal of greenhouse gases, the purification of water and reduction of water temperature in the river due to shading.
The forest is part of a larger environmental project supported by the FontVella brand.
Titled, NATURAQUA2000: Corridors for the biodiversity of the Natura 2000 Network in the Segura, councillor Chazarra claims it will: “contribute to the ecological restoration of the riparian systems of the Segura.”
