Drones being used to carry out reforestation projects in Spain

Drones are being used to carry out reforestation projects in Spain

Drones are being used in Spanish provinces to enable the reforesting of desertified areas within their territories. Using this unique new planting method involves the use of a drone from the startup COU Revolution. This has recently become the tool used by many Spanish companies to offset their carbon footprint.

Reforestations throughout Spain are certified by the Ministry for Ecological Transition, which offers guarantees of rigor in these actions.

Pontevedra, Palencia, Guadalajara, Burgos, Caceres, Valencia, Seville, Salamanca, Avila, and Leon will see new forests grow thanks to this CO2 Revolution technology. Using a drone, it has been proved possible to disperse seeds more quickly and efficiently. The result is that trees can be planted up to 100 times faster than using traditional methods and, furthermore, at a much lower economic cost.

Each drone can launch 10,000 ‘smart’ seeds in a single day. These seeds are contained in a small ‘pack’ that carries the pregerminated seed, together with all the elements it needs for its growth and development.

This method of repopulation has already been carried out in Guadalajara and Burgos in the first three months of 2021. Pontevedra started this past September 20, and the others will begin between November 1 and January.

All of the plantations that are underway are being carried out mainly in forested areas that have been destroyed by fires or desertified areas. These new areas will exceed 2,500 hectares, in which two and a half million trees will grow.

The new trees being planted are all native species

The promoters of this initiative are keen to point out that native tree species are used in all cases, as recommended by experts. This means that the subsequent reforestation is viable, and will have no counterproductive effects on the ecosystem of each region.

There are specific species of tree that this system does not work successfully for. In the case of the holm oak, for example, “whose seeds are planted more efficiently if it is done the old way, by hand”, said a spokesperson for CO2 Revolution.

Juan Carlos Sesma, CEO of the company said, “We create complete and sustainable ecosystems. It is not simply a question of making squared plantations of trees, but of including all the necessary elements, such as grass, flowers, shrubs, and trees, so that a complete ecosystem can be generated”.

Adding, “For this we use native species of the place, and we carry out monitoring and maintenance tasks so that it can be self-sustaining in a minimum period of time. Our country is the second in the EU, behind Sweden, with the largest forest area: almost 30 million hectares. If the environmental, social, and economic services provided by our forests were expanded and valued, we would be one of the major European powers of the new green economy”, as reported by elperiodico.com.

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