Malaga Province may be beautiful and a preferred holiday destination for many northern Europeans, but it has long been the victim of large scale erosion and parts of it are “at critical risk”, particularly the north east of the province. Climate change is largely responsible, but also ill-advised development.
The provincial government has decreed that the only way to challenge global warming is to begin reforestation without delay. An area of 2,500 hectares has been set aside, a swath of land especially badly affected and suffering from high risk of erosion. It will be native species like oaks and pines, wild olives and carob trees that will be planted here together with shrub land, comprising of fragrant natives like gorse, juniper, rosemary and lavender.
In total, the province sees 58,824 hectares, a staggering 8.1 per cent of Malaga Province’s total area, under environmental threat due to global warming. Here a high risk of desertification through loss of top soil has been identified.
The regional government’s reforestation plan is threefold:
• To increase the use or renewable energy in public buildings
• To improve energy efficiency
• To reduce harmful carbon dioxide emissions.
The latter will require at least one million trees to be planted over the next four years, commencing next autumn weather permitting. The whole province is currently experiencing a very dry season. NGOs, staff from local councils and volunteers will be carrying out the actual planting of shrubs and trees.
Areas most at risk:
• The northeast of Malaga Province
• Steep foothills and mountainsides
• Areas with low water supplies
Several municipalities in the Serranisa de Ronda are one of the high-risk areas, including the popular tourist destination of the ancient town of Ronda, a typical Andalucía settlement with white-washed houses nestling in the foothills of this mountainous terrain.
Almost 50 per cent of the land belonging to the municipality of Benaoján requires priority action. The municipalities of Cartjima and Atajate are also high-risk candidates with 42 and 40 per cent respectively. Alpandeire is at 37 per cent risk, requiring urgent action and in the Axarquia, the area of Cómpeta causes great concern, as a third of its territory is at extreme risk of desertification and requires immediate action.
More Work for Forestries
While expats buying a holiday home in Greater Marbella or elsewhere in Malaga Province will be delighted to eventually be able to go hiking or cycling in extended forests, reforestation brings the added headache with it that trees need looking after in the long run.
Baltasar Cabezudo, professor of plant biology at Malaga University, explained that it was “
easy to put a tree in a hole, but for it to grow it needs watering and looking after for at least two to three years. That’s where money is best invested.”
The Diputación has determined that local councils must undertake these tasks. Where the money is to come from to do so is at present not clear, although the Diputación hopes to be given ca. 100 million Euros in European funding to invest in sustainability and energy efficient measures.
Energy Saving Measures
Meanwhile, Elías Bendodo, the president of the Diputación, has asserted that reforestation will make it possible to save 125,000 tonnes of top soil from being eroded. In addition, he said, over the next 20 years these new trees will absorb 85,680 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, which equates to the emissions of five million cars – roughly the number of visitors expected to arrive at Malaga Airport this July and August.
But planting just trees won’t turn around the damage already seen by startled expat house hunters and environmentalists in many parts of Malaga Province. All public lighting across municipalities with less than 5,000 residents will have to be changed for a start. Every energy source across the province is to be optimised and the use of solar panels in public buildings to be encouraged.
Over the next few weeks, semi-permanent residents visiting their holiday homes in Marbella, Estepona or Ronda will see a compost plant becoming operative, allowing the processing of organic waste from 89 towns and villages to turn waste into compost for fertiliser. Finally, an additional challenge for local councils set by the Diputación is to encourage residential homes to recycle more, aiming to increase the 15,000 tonnes currently processed per annum.