• The restoration of the Sa Duaia public highlands is included in the Red Eléctrica Forest national project

The Regional Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Territory, Gabriel Company, and the Director of Corporate Affairs and Institutional Relationship of Red Eléctrica de España, Ana Cuevas, have today signed a collaboration agreement to reforest the public common land of Sa Duaia-Es Recó, located in the municipality of Artà, and a biodiversity framework agreement, in which the general guidelines for collaboration between both entities are established.

The restoration of Sa Duaia is included in the framework of the Red Eléctrica Forest project

The municipality of Artà suffered a forest fire on 20 August, 2013 that devastated 496 hectares; an area which is 50% located within the limits of the Sa Duaia public highlands, owned by IBANAT, the Balearic Institute of Nature. These highlands are protected by the laws on natural areas of the Balearic Islands’ Government and are included in Red Natura 2000 as a Site of Community Importance (SCI) and as a Special Protection Area (SPA).

Thanks to this agreement, the repopulation of the burned area shall be carried out; specifically, 36 acres with native tree species such as pine, oak and wild olive.

For the carrying out of the project, whose budget amounts to 165,629 euros, Red Eléctrica will contribute 120,000 euros and IBANAT will contribute the remainder. The Balearic Institute will be responsible for project management and the supply of plants and the species necessary while Red Eléctrica is responsible for contracting the works to reforest the area through local companies in order to boost socio-economic development and employment in the forestry sector of the islands.

Red Eléctrica includes this forest restoration as part of their ‘Red Eléctrica Forest’ project, carried out by the Company nationwide. It is an ongoing project of an environmental nature that has been carried out by the Company since 2009 with the aim of collaborating in the conservation of natural areas rich in biodiversity, the restoration of degraded areas, as well as contributing to the fight against climate change.

The Artá project will be the eighth forest created by the Company, following those carried out in Badajoz, Teruel, Cádiz, Murcia, Valencia, Vizcaya and Albacete. This initiative responds to the commitment undertaken by the Company to collaborate with the regional administrations for sustainable economic and social development in the communities where the Company’s facilities and infrastructures are located.

Biodiversity framework agreement

Red Eléctrica and the Regional Ministry have also signed a collaboration framework agreement in the field of biodiversity, in relation to the development and maintenance of the electricity transmission grid in the Balearic Islands, with the objective of minimising the impact of these infrastructures on the natural heritage by means of environmental projects that contribute to the improvement of the natural environment in which the company facilities are located.

As the actions arising from this agreement (whose initial term is for five years) are defined and set out, the corresponding specific collaboration protocols will be formalised.

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