Protecting living monuments in Alfaz del Pi

ALFAZ DEL PI was represented at a meeting earlier this week dedicated to the Valencian Community’s monumental trees.

The mini-conference was organised by the Generalitat’s Environment and Agriculture department to mark the 10th anniversary of the region’s Monumental Tree laws.

These are trees that because of their size, age, cultural, social and symbolic associations are classed as living monuments. Alfaz has several, the most notable of which is the Foia Brell carob tree which is 800 years old and the oldest in the Valencian Community.

According to environmentalists’ calculations, 80 per cent of Spain’s monumental trees have disappeared since the turn of the 20th century.

Experts in protecting and maintaining these ancient trees discussed the current circumstances of the Valencian Community Catalogue, setting up municipal tree catalogues and action taken in other autonomous regions.

For its part, Alfaz’s Environment Department presented its own catalogue listing 35 outstanding trees, which was created in 2003 and brought up to date in 2012.