The Green

Deserts project
Life+ 2009-2014

ECCA Conference - Climate Change, 20/03/2013, Hamburg, by Sven Kallen,

Director Transfer Consultancy

Spain frontier fight against climate change

Objectives
1. Prove technical and economic
feasibility of Groasis Waterboxx

2. Disseminate concept

Deal with desertification of abandoned

areas (dry, bare) which used to be lungs
for the capture of CO2, sources of food
production and landscape.

3. Involve local communities

4. Clarify best combination of soils,

trees, and application methods

Participants
Universidad de Valladolid

Diputacin de Valladolid
Diputacin de Len

Ayuntamiento de San Mateo de Gllego

Ayuntamiento de Riofro de Aliste

Aquapro

Sylma

Transfer Consultancy

The scope of the project

55,000 saplings
65 Ha.
5 areas
- Valladolid
- Len
- Zamora
- Zaragoza
- Barcelona

FACTS: Len
Altitude 1600-1800 m
Slope of 39,6 %
No water retention
Snow 8 months/year

The scope
FACTS: Zamora
Old quarry
Altitude of 900 m
Strong winds
high rainfall in winter

FACTS: Valladolid
Altitude of 800 m
Former illegal waste dumps
Dry summers & cold winters

FACTS: Barcelona
Altitude of 100-300 m
Hills suffered forest fires
Low water retention capacity
Stony soil

FACTS: Zaragoza
Altitude of 300 m
High degraded soil
Desertification
(Los Monegros)

Actions
Characterisation and selection of
species and lots
Preparation of saplings
Realisation of the Waterboxxes
and capillary drill
Planting of the saplings
Maintenance, control and
technical monitoring

Innovation: Groasis Waterboxx

Planting

Control & monitoring (1)

o
o
o
o

10% trees planted without Waterboxx as control group

Random sampling of 5-10%
Measurement of different factors (survival, growth, etc.)
Analysis of problems

Damage by frost and low

temperatures

Damage by wildlife: moles,

rabbits, wild boars

Control & Monitoring (2)

Control & monitoring (3)

State of project first

conclusions
The Groasis Waterboxx looks like a good
tool to improve survival rates of trees, but
other factors are at play:
o
o
o
o

Quality of the sapling

Correct positioning of Waterboxx
Maintenance
Animals

Communication - Local awareness

Cooperation with other Life+

LIFE Delta Lagoon - Sant Carles de la Rapita (Tarragona)-Fundacin Naturaleza y Hombre

LIFE Reserva Campanarios de Azaba (Salamanca)-IRTA

Delta del Ebro-Sant Carles de la Rapita

Campanarios de Azaba

The web: all content in 2 languages

Publicity

La Opinin de
Zamora
La Crnica
El Mundo
etc

Action!
Involvement lessons:
Involve people & local communities: offer concrete activities
Grasp attention: short articles, video, social media,
People see the issues (desertification, habitat loss, etc.) but feel
rather powerless: give them inspiration!

As a team we learned:
Its the SOIL stupid!
Develop new projects to deal with deserted, dry, bare lands

New LIFE projects

Operation CO2: Climate change project, 2 lines of action:

- Carbon credits for forest conservation (4.000 Ha.) for the
voluntary market
- Integral agroforestry systems (2 * 25 Ha.), pre-certification
All info at: www.operationCO2.com

Muchas gracias!
For more information, please check:
www.thegreendeserts.com
The Green Deserts on Facebook
Youtube channel
Or contact:
sven@transfer-lbc.com
(Sven Kallen)