OLOT MEATS GROUP takes action against the climate emergency
It is the first Spanish company in the meat sector that, on its own initiative, manages forests to achieve sustainable forest management.
OLOT MEATS GROUP intervenes in a forest in Catalonia each year to address the global challenges of the environmental crisis, in a pioneering action within Spain’s meat slaughterhouse sector. To this end, it signed a collaboration agreement with the Catalan Forestry Consortium (CFC), which brings together the majority of private forest owners in Catalonia, and with the Boscos Foundation. Cooperation between public and private organizations is steadily increasing in the European context.
This is particularly significant in the case of this agreement, established for the implementation of a forest project for climate change mitigation and adaptation (PROMACC). It is a pilot initiative within the framework of the European LIFE CLIMARK project, aimed at promoting multifunctional forest management financed through climate credits. These credits will form part of a future voluntary and local market for emissions and energy expenditure offsetting.
The purpose of this collaboration agreement, promoted by Olot Meats Group, is the implementation of the PROMACC project in Sant Miquel del Mont–La Vall de Bianya (Garrotxa region, Girona province), based on quantifying the impact of forest management on carbon, water, and biodiversity in the selected areas. In this case, each climate credit has been established to correspond to the sequestration of 93 tons of CO2, the provision of 1,961 cubic meters of blue water, and a 9% improvement in the forest’s biodiversity hosting capacity.
The context
Catalan forests are undergoing a process of expansion and transformation caused, among other factors, by the profound socioeconomic changes experienced in rural areas since the mid-20th century and by the impact of climate change. Sustainable forest management is the tool that ensures forestry activities provide environmental, social, and economic benefits, while enhancing the current and future functions of the forests.
The challenges
- FIGHT AGAINST THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY
- INCREASE CO₂ SEQUESTRATION
- PREVENT FIRES
- PRESERVE BIODIVERSITY
- OPTIMIZE WATER USE
The action
A forest project for climate change mitigation and adaptation (PROMACC) is currently underway. This project involves managing a total of 29.5 hectares over 2 years, spread across 4 properties in the municipality of La Vall de Bianya (Garrotxa region, Girona province), which include mountain oak forests, a beech forest, and a pedunculate oak woodland.
On these properties, thinning operations will be carried out to regulate competition for water resources and thereby increase the vitality of the forest stands, following sustainable forest management principles. In addition, interventions will be implemented with conservation and biodiversity enhancement criteria in mind, such as preserving trees with cavities, standing dead trees, fallen logs, and other unique features that enhance the forest’s capacity to host biodiversity.
Water use: the primary objective
Aware of the impact of its activities and the ongoing drought situation in Catalonia, Olot Meats Group has made a firm commitment to optimizing water use through biomass cleaning, considering that the dense vegetation cover in forest areas is one of the factors reducing water inflow to rivers, reservoirs, and aquifers, in line with the measures outlined by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) of the Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
