We reflect on restoration in Europe at a conference in La Falconera

A technical conference on quarry restoration was held in La Falconera to exchange experiences and practices with biologists from the University of Liège, responsible for the European project “Life-in-quarries”.

This November a technical conference on quarry restoration was held at La Falconera. Molins organised the event jointly with two of the most important entities in the aggregates sector: the Gremio de Áridos, an organisation present in Catalonia and led by Jaume Puig, and the Federación Nacional de Áridos, a state-wide organisation led by César Luaces.

The day was very enriching, as we had the opportunity to exchange experiences and best practices with a group of three biologists from the University of Liège (Belgium), responsible for the European project “Life-in-quarries”, which ended this year. The team of researchers has been able to study for five years about twenty mining sites in Wallonia, using techniques of environmental preservation of protected species in wetlands during exploitation.

The Belgian project has been supported by LIFE, the European Union’s funding instrument for environment and climate action. This programme aims to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental and climate policy and legislation by co-financing projects with high added value.

We also had the ornithologists Kiku Parés and Rafael Bosch, who explained the evolution of two birds present in the Garraf quarries and which are currently in danger of extinction: the black colt and the Bonelli’s eagle. Emílio Valbuena, the biologist of the Garraf Natural Park, presented actions aimed at preserving the most vulnerable species and explained that areas such as La Falconera can be used to create habitats for these species.

On behalf of Molins, the participants in this event were Pilar López, head of Environment, and Carles Ventura, head of La Falconera. Both of them disseminated the good practices in the topics discussed at the event and highlighted the importance of integrating native species in the future restoration of La Falconera.