How Spain is Turning it's Deserts into a Farmland Oasis - GREENING THE DESERT PROJECT
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- čas přidán 9. 04. 2022
- How Spain is Turning it’s Deserts into a Farmland Oasis
Spain is home to The Tabernas Desert, known as mainland Europe's only desert. Shockingly scientific research suggests that Spain is set to become completely desertified in the next 80 years, right now 31.5% of Spain is already affected by desertification and 18% is at high risk of becoming irreversibly desert. This is due to the increase in temperatures, droughts, and less precipitation has made southern Europe vulnerable to problems such as “lower food production, soil infertility, decreases in the land’s natural resilience, and reduced water quality” as the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has pointed out in its report "Combating desertification in the EU."
The Iberian peninsular was once covered in ancient oak forests, and over the last centuries was completely deforested for timber use and overgrazing livestock. Currently 16 million hectares of land is used for Intensive industrial agriculture which is rapidly eroding the soil further.
However Spain has been making some remarkable restoration developments turning large areas suffering from desertification into fertile land. This transformation is a major accomplishment considering Spain’s semi arid regions only receive 11 inches of rainfall per year.
We are going to tell you how and why Spain is turning its deserts into bio-diverse ecosystems and fertile farmlands
In this episode of our Greening the Desert Series we will be exploring one of Spain’s many remarkable restoration projects to re-green the desert and turn it back into fertile land.
We will start of by visiting one of the most drastically effected areas in the north eastern coastal region of Spain called Catalonia. Where Coastal forests and farmlands are affected by saltwater intrusion and soil salinization due to sea levels rising, storms, tides, droughts, and water resources management. Salinization of soil negatively impacts plant development and induces land degradation, turning these already semi arid regions into deserts. The increased amount of soil salination is exasperated by the loss of the dune habitat which acts as a natural barrier between the land and the sea.
The sand dunes of coastal Spain having been declining since the 1970s and accelerated in recent decades due to over tourism. Local wildlife has suffered, sea turtles and birds have declined with many species of plants endangered or have disappeared all together.
In 2003 the government started a restoration of the dunes project near Barcelona airport and by 2019 it has expanded its initiative countrywide by using a very simple and cost effective technique.
A report on the Assessment of the Restoration of the Dunes was published by Antoni Calafatlast last year, which have shown a considerable improved in recent years and I have seen first hand how it has helped to restore coastal forests and farmlands since.
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No because I think deserts are a beautiful part of nature and we need to leave things alone and let the planet take its course
@@jamesbell5433 many deserts are created by humans.
Yes. Desertification must be stopped!
@@jamesbell5433 1/3 of the planet is desert, and its increasing by human activity that is not natural, that is man tampered!
@@jamesbell5433 Really??!!!
As we have done since the industrial revolution?? Pollution, overproduction, infinite waste, tons of plastic etc etc.. a crooked way of thinking yours
I would like to see you live in a manmade desert world, but I don't think it will be so cool as to watch "Dune"like movies..
Life needs WATER and humans are tempering with it due to greed and ignorance.. you should research for accurate information
As a Spanish resident living in the Granada region of Andalucía for 5 years, and also practicing permaculture on an acre of land, I can agree wholeheartedly with these comments. We are fortunate enough to live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada & right at the edge of the Sierra de Lujar. The acequias (traditional mooreish built waterways) span the entire area. This method has been criticised due to the amount of water used as opposed to a drip system, yet at the same time, the water thoroughly wets the landscape making it more humid to support life. You can see and feel the difference. Something that the Spanish campesinos do is to plough their land every spring (right now actually). This, I find strange, because all the trees in your plot of land are connected with a mychirrozal network of roots that work in a symbiotic relationship with your tree's roots. When they plough, they cut down all other plants,weeds,wild herbs, wild flowers like poppies, etc. This at perfectly the wrong time for all the pollinators like bees that rely on a wide range of plants for a healthy life. Not just the olive nectar or pollen that sometimes is the only thing available for miles around. Certainly in the Jaen province this can be seen. Intensive monocrop farming is destroying the land as plant diversity brings equilibrium to nature. All in balance. Thats why they have to use herbicides in increasing quantities. The land is sick! On our land we have 132 trees with 46 different varieties. We chip all cuttings creating a thick mulch that eventually becomes soil. We are building soil this way instead of creating soil erosion by having bare soil. The primary de-composers break the mulch down and the worms take it down, and create tunnels that allow air, water and nutrients to enter which support plant life. The mulch retains the moisture in the soil for much longer and therefore the surrounding air is more humid. Best of all, we create a wonderful environment for many insects, birds, and animals like the common chameleon of which I've seen 3 in our garden. One lives in a avocado tree, one in a lemon tree and another in a orange tree. Diversity is what the world needs.
EXACTLY WELL SAID ! in fact there is a movement going on to spot intensive ploughing because it causes so much dammage to the soil!
I only read the first line
@@Goggles1 too much to read.
@@skylerblack6139 That's the problem today, unfortunately. We're all looking for short cuts..🤣
@@Goggles1 again too much to read...
Saying that Spain share similar climates and resuming them in Mediterranean is a wrong statement. From north to south and east to west you can find several different climates. I live in the Atlantic coast of the country and our climate is pretty much different from the plateu of the interior or the south coast. Even in my autonomous region we have 4 climates.
Agreed they are called regional climates. They say the North of Spain is said to be similar to an English climate, but then England's climate also has different regional climates, in the North it is much colder but we still call an English climate "mild" in general.
Like spain in general is considered "mediterranean"
I didn't want to go into depth on this because this is not a geography video about climates, thats not the point of the video but thanks for educating everyone on that!
Estos son los del cambio climático. Van contando mentiras , se las subvencionan y encima las defienden
Spain is different 🤣
@@pedrosanchez6947 Me da a mí que el que no tiene ni idea de inglés, eres tú
This is a 9 minute video quickly expounding on how Spain is trying to negate desertification. Not a whole 9 hour explanation on every facet of the issue.
As a Spanish citizen living in a rural area and deeply immersed into permaculture, I have to say a few things:
1) Spain's dessertification is very probably not caused by lack of rain, higher temperatures or other external factors. These might contribute, but...
The agriculture model we've got is the major cause of this dramatic process. If you take a look at Spain's main areas in Maps, you can find out what's going on: natural areas stay more or less green, while almost every land patch from Madrid to the south that's not in a mountain is sand-coloured. These are mainly olive, almong and cereal fields that involve an obsessive process of continuous plowing and abuse of artificial fertilizers and aggressive pesticides.
This allows not any biodiversity in our lands (no little plants nor other kind of trees), a biodiversity needed to retain soil richness and prevent erosion, in addition to having animals that would naturally predate pests.
NASA and others have seen that in semi-arid areas (that have no mulch to retain humidity either, of course), this lack of a proper soil makes the environment unable to retain humidity, and thus making the atmosphere be drier, having less rain.
So, changing the production model grand-scale would detain erosion, retain humidity, keep pests away, lower the temperatures again and make it rain more.
2) Altough there are some programs to regreen certain areas, the vast majority of our land keeps the same year after year.
Some of us who see further than 1 year ahead and ahead of solely economic profit are trying to generate a change.
Altough many farmers (maybe due to ignorance and lack of sensibility) and most politicians (God knows what for) do nothing or almost nothing to stop this process.
A major change in our production models is needed, at the large scale and very urgently.
If any of you has contact(s) (associations, politicians, businesses...) that could promote this so much needed change in Spain, please do intervene. There's too much into play.
You make some very informative points, thank you on educating us, we need your perspective, I really hope things can change from the top, maybe money speaks louder than nature? Restoring the land is profitable.
I was just about to write the same.The reasons for desertification are quite different from those presented. For example, it was the stupid politicians who forced the burning of forests to convert them into construction land. That is one major reason for the loss of forests. The higher temperatures come afterwards and are not the primary reason.
The salinisation of the soil is mainly due to the surface application of water. Evaporation brings the salts to the surface through capillary action. Everything has been known for a long time, but politics and society are asleep.
For more info search: "Assessing the effect of soil tillage on crop growth: A meta-regression analysis on European crop yields under conservation agriculture",
"Why do we need to standardize no-tillage research?"
@@anabegins7349 its the tabernas desert in spain
Que fuerte en Costa Rica la mayoria del monocultivo no queda en el pais por ejemplo "piña" por dios no ha de bosque han desaparecido por ese cultivo. Otras regiones son mas diversificadas entre exportacion y consumo local.
Saludos🙋🏻♂️
Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country have oceanic climate, extremely rainy and their landscape is totally green.
Hmm, not sure, I'd say parts of each of those regions have more serious water issues than you think. They aren't like Extremadura, but they still have issues.
@@williamtell5365 sure? with an average rainfall of 1000mm per year and areas with 1500 up to 3000mm in mountain ranges of Galicia and in some parts of the Cordillera Cantabrica y montes Vascos, west part of Pirineos, etc. If with this rainfall you have problems, is economical and political fault, not climatic.
Spain is around 600L/m2 per year, which is not that far from France, for ex. Another thing is the geographical and season distribution, which is one of the main problems
@@pablolabarta5611 I'm Galician and you can tell that some parts are getting really dried due to eucalyptus single-forrestry
@@davidnumberoneporto que interesante eso que comentas, hay más factores lógicamente pero nunca me había dado cuenta de ese detalle y hay una diferencia increíble en la humedad y el suelo de un bosque de eucalipto y cualquier otro bosque de una especie autóctona como el pino o el caballo que se ven más húmedos tanto el suelo como el ambiente si si
I have just visited these regions to understand more about Spain, despite these regions being a milder oceanic climate which is true, it might not last that way for much longer. There is still a lot of BS agriculture going on which is drying out and stressing the landscape, its getting hotter, look at England, an oceanic climate country and it reach 40c this year, Asturias and Galicia and not far off, the wine belt of Galicia where tons of pesticides are destroying and degrading the landscape, making it almost reach 40c, I just witnessed a forest fire yesterday on the coast of Galicia although the temperature was only 22c the strong wind with direct sun, and dry kindling from monoculture forests of eucalyptus is all changing the climate, it might look green at certain times of the year but if these continued bad agricultural and land management practices continue, it will truly become a desert as they have predicted already. I think Spain is a beautiful country, Asturias for me is the most picturesque however they also cut all the hay fields at the hottest time of year, making the climate even hotter and the ground drier. Spain like most countries needs to not only look at land management from a regional perspective but also country wide, because if the areas that receive the most rainfall continue bad practices, the climate will change (already is) and rainfall will decrease.
Look at all that diversity reemerging and spreading around... Simply amazing!!! Thanks for sharing this! So inspiring!! This kind of stuff needs to spread around the internet... People need to see. -Thanks!
Thank you...free to share it around 🙏👍
China pioneered this technology more than 4 years ago.. They've already been turning their Gobi desert into green forest.
czcams.com/video/pSn6S-H7m-8/video.html
Unfortunately this is still that tiny drop in the ocean of ruin. These measures collide head first with the greed and corruption that allow the desert to grow in the first place!
That image of the so called "greenhouse city" it's not a joke. It's in fact one of the biggest climate dramas ever seen. At least we can claim it's for food growing. By far and wide for export (greed part)... So I'll leave some space for clear thinking!
Meanwhile mass tourism on the desert South. Consume absolutely ridiculous amounts of water to keep pools, fountains and golf courses running! Farmers less than 10km away cry in desperation without water to keep trees alive!!
Soil salinization is due to lower (fresh) water table! Anyone can understand WHY the water table is lowering so much by the tens of meters!!
So STOP the "cosmetic" arrangements while deliberately "forgeting" the base measures that must be taken!
No one will be able to drink "greed and corruption". That much I can say.
Es simplemente mentira. Desconozco el motivo de los autores para hacer este video de esta manera.
There is a correlation between precipitation rate and loss of forest and green foliage. However, it is proven that the cause and effect is in reverse order to what is tought in schools: the coastal forest helps increasing precipitation and triggers a positive feedback cycle. More precipitation resulting in more green foliage which in return pulls in more humid air from above the sea. It is only not known or ignired by profit hungry industries interested in harvesting all the forests at no matter what it costs to our future.
Coastal forests are crucial but some ppl don't seem to care 😒
But those forests were chopped down hundreds of years ago.
Also they sell us the CO2 tale without much mentioning that plants and trees are the simplest, natural way to absorb it. Plants thrive in higher CO2 concentration. They plan to ban crops and make food in labs, while crops is what actually absorbs atmospheric CO2, and straw builds soil. There's nothing wrong in fields of crops, only they used to be cultivated alternately with meadows, with neighboring forests, without today's vast areas of monocrops. Then, cattle also had its positive impact because it produced natural fertilizer for crops. Nature is wise, all it needs is balance.
@@shamashelhashysh9159 the thing is that the people at the top are always looking for convenience and maximum profit rather than ecologically friendly ways which btw most of the time if done right can bring just as much profit without causing untold amount of damage but then again people just don't care or simply don't understand the consequences of their actions who knows if will ever be able to figure it out... how to live on this planet without killing everything on it including ourselves so it's incredibly disheartening seeing the billionaires of the world start another space race as if investing in space right now is what we desperately need instead of helping find solutions to this climate crisis their acting as if they already abandoned the planet and are looking for other option before it's too late which seriously could become our future in a 100 years or less if things don't change fast.
There are a lot of problems caused by the urbanization of the whole spanish coastline. The national geographers association or whatever it's called made a report where they asked to clear the coasts to avoid raising sea levels (besides the point that you are making and the one in the video about the dunes). But tourism is the national industry....
I live on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.....Many of these same 'dune preservation', as well as dune 'restoration' and beach replenishment projects have had excellent results. We didn't face the 'desertification' as much as we faced the OBX simply washing away and ending up a beach somewhere else. These stabilization, rehabilitation and preservation projects have helped to show that we can live alongside the natural forces....We just need to help them and live within their limits instead of 'master' and 'dominate' them.
Especially here it is easy to see where homes were built 70 years ago, versus seas level rise and dune erosion. Some homes that were 'waterfront' 50 years ago, with a substantial beach and gap between the beach road, are now out IN the water and the road is now the closest to the beach. Hopefully projects like mentioned in this video and those I mentioned will help to at least halt this. I have no delusions that it can be reversed (barring a nearly superhuman effort and billions in funding)
As a Spaniard I tell you that this is partly true, the Mediterranean area is desertifying at full speed, Albacete and Ciudad Real lose green areas year after year
En Murcia se pierden zonas verdes por varios motivos... Urbanización descontrolada, crecimiento de los polígonos industrial, carreteras nuevas, autovías, granjas en medio de sierras protegidas, cultivos intensivos...
@Mike J por qué dices eso? Murcia es una comunidad autónoma al sur de España.
@@a-83 no le hagas caso. Es simplemente tonto y se está haciendo el gracioso con una broma que ni gracia tiene. Suele ser gente que no ha pisado Murcia en su vida.
Amazing. Pleasantly surprised that this is happening in Spain. The Mediterranean coast was so brutally overdeveloped in the 1980's
Many coastal paradises have suffered alot to over development
@@LeafofLifeWorld spain is diversity the climate landscape coul places and mountains
The video is a fairytale though, there's no such thing happening
@@nixxxon18 what an odd statement
So no let’s make it look like 1450 again? I don’t see how this helps local economies they rely on tourism. 💀 Spains economy is not exactly the greatest.
There are many new and unique ways to rejuvenate the land. There is a man in Southern Africa using grazing methods based on mother nature's system if running many animals briefly over the land and then resting it like wildebeests 5. He is bringing back desert to cropland in just two or three years. Super work now being used in Africa, South America and the southern USA
Very interesting ty
I’m so happy to see the superb effect of permaculture. Such a joy to see re greening and flowers and plants and wildlife.
Its beautiful to see how simple techniques work! 💚
I love spain and its deserts. Spain is full of contrast. You can go from a beautiful forrest down into a hot desert valley within minutes. The vegetation changes dasticaly every few kilometres and thats what I love. The rural areas are verry remote, lots of beautiful nature. A Country much bigger than Germany and only the half in population which is living like 80% or so in big cities or directly on the cost makes Spain to the Wild West of Europe. Its unique.
Your description was captivating, it sounds lovely!
I think you meant desserts
The deserts are mainly there because of centuries of deforestation. Nothing beautiful about it.
It is exactly how he described it. Once upon a time in the West could've been filmed here. Like the many movies Clint Eastwood shot here. Spain most divers and beautiful country in Europe.
This is so well put together and explained really well. Thank you! Keep up your beautiful work. The world has such diversity, and functioned in it's own way. I am on a small cattle farm in Australia (NOT INDUSTRIALISED! ) and use all the regenerative practices I can. The soil cycles and systems you talk about are a beautiful thing! Things are building back after a century of poor use and a nasty 2019 drought.
I love that you point out all the different ways nature works out how to thrive. We here in Australia are seeminly taught that if it isn't like some french field , forrest and alp, there is something wrong with it.
The catch is to add humans into the mix, they have to be soooooooo low impact...I mean really really low. Chemicals, vehicles, dirt biking and generally walking all over everything, not realising how many animal, insect, bird homes and plants are being impacted.
The craziest things I see out in nature in Australia, which has such a fragile system, is the 4WDing ...and throwing chemicals around thinking they just dissappear into the environment.
I once saw a few European girls, campervaning in a beauitul iscolated, well treed beachside nature reserve shampooing and conditioning their hair with the only fresh water, into the only freshwater open drain that the areas birds and animals would use. The products were like smelly bubble baths. The water was ruined for a long time.
The ignorance and lack of consideration the general human population has makes it mostly impossible to have them mix with nature.
The great thing in Australia is that you can just say everywhere is full snakes and spiders and people stay a bit clearer.
Thank you again for your efforts, I believe SERIOUS regreening and correct regeneration of all land is the only option for carbon drawdown. Our only hope.
Humans are so out of balance, but I think because of modern consumerism we have lost touch with our wild nature
@@LeafofLifeWorld indeed....we are part of the ecosystem.
I have found myself, it has taken time to decondition my nervous system and senses. But settles down on it's own if you don't spend your life surrounded and being influenced by it. Also the natural world becomes exquisitely fascinating, beautiful and way more interesting. Take care.
You have cattle. Not natural in Australia. Cattle herding is one of the main reasons for destruction of forests and natural ecosystems.
I agree with you: many people talk about environment, recycling, are full of expressed concerns about nature, but when it comes to nature, they walk over grassbeds to make a short cut, use silky products in a waterhole, throw their waste about, go on cruises, and so forth. All talk and no brain.
I completely agree! I'd also add the introduction of non-native species, like dogs and cats (feral cats too). People don't realize how damaging it is to the ecosystem when they let their pets roam freely and defecate (or do destructive behaviour) everywhere without cleaning up- it's a big problem here where I live.
I find it is a reflection on the people's attitude towards preservation, conservation, and respect for all the other living creatures they share the earth with. (Also disrespectful towards humans who wish to appreciate clean, healthy ecosystems.).
How do you encourage an interest and investment in preserving nature, or creating healthy green areas again, when at the most base point they won't clean up or be responsible for their own messes first!
I spend a lot of time outside and walking and hiking in the countryside (live in mountainous region) so I've just become more observant of these habits.
Magnificent 😍 Bravo and Thank you. Keep it up.
Thank you, its nice to see regenerative projects like this actually succeeding and increasing biodiversity and food production
Its inspiring and its really happening
A beautiful Country.
long rooted native grasses have made an amazing improvement of the natural water retention of the soil in some locations in Texas
Thanks for the video. Most of Italy's coastal area is suffering in the same way, but to my knowledge, there still aren't similar initiatives. You're right, money speaks louder than nature.
You did a great job on this video. Those wild flowers are beautiful too.
Ty 🙏 wild flowers are one of my favourite things
Her voice is so soothing. Makes it easy to learn from! Thank you! ☺️
glad to hear its easy for you to learn, thanks for letting me know!
We love Spain and it’s People
Wishing you the best of luck.
🇺🇸☮️🇪🇸
In a world that sometimes seems hopelss when it comes to the environment, videos like this and the ones you are producing not only bring hope, but inspiration to do more. Thank you 💚
Although very interesting, I find it a bit peculiar that you focus on a extremely smal fringe of the Spanish landscape, while there are better and longlasting examples. Such an example is how in 1880's a totally barren and ruined landscape similar to what you find in the Tavernes dessert, was turned over time with effort and dedication from a barren site into a protected space that nowadays is a natural park. This is the case of Sierra Espuña in Murcia. The intelligent way it was done, made it as an international example for how to do such undertakings. The engineer was Ricardo Codorníu y Stárico.
this is part 1 in a series, that we mentioned at the beginning so we focus on this project now and move on to more later. every restoration project is worthy and shouldn't be considered peculiar
Spain is diversity the northem and mesetas is Green
@@das5655 In the north there are also dry areas like Bardenas Reales and parts of Los Monegros. There's some forestation work done in the latter to avoid desertification.
@@kurtwaldheim4048 Why do you want to turn naturally arid areas like the Bardenas Reales, which produce exceptional pastures or Los Monegros, with its sabinas, its wheat and barley fields into a forest? You are very strange.
@@antonioalonsofernandez5909 Where did I write that it is something I want?
What a beautiful video. The narrator's voice is so soothing and the content put a smile on my face. An all round beautiful video.
Grazing ruminant animals in a targeted grazing schedule will also help immensely with greening Spain's deserts. There is a man named Alan Savory in Zimbabwe that is using cattle to do exactly that. He has recovered 10s of thousands of hectares across the decades from the desert.
It's a fascinating TedX talk.
While it looks nice what he's presenting, he can't present robust scientific data to even just prove that his suggestions work
@@zauberfrosch11 Scientific data about what? That nature works through photosynthesis? well.. it does. Ruminants keep the grasses alive and the grasses keep the ruminants alive. If you move one of em off the land, The other one dies also. Depending on the local microclimates humidity and precipitation the land will after that turn into growing woody plants, bushes or just desertifies.
In Spain there are only a couple of arid areas and due to the "fohn effect", one in the province of Navarra and another in the province of Almería and stop counting.
@@antonioalonsofernandez5909 Y Monegros?
This has made my day!
Great to hear some good news.
I love everything about Spain, but the intensive farming that can be seen from the plane is quite depressing.
The poly tunnels are a disgrace, but the demand for cheap, unseasonable food (especially in the UK) is to blame.
UK definately needs to sort out its food security and not rely solely on spain, spain needs to do the same because they are not secure either, making so much food for export! The environmental impact all around is insanity!
@@LeafofLifeWorld I think France and Italy have got it right
@@jumperpence And the People that practice permaculture in their huertas like Moi!
Same with germany. Spanish fruits and vegetables can be found all year round in the supermarkets here. Though i much rather buy stuff from spain than south africa or chile.
@@jumperpence No, at least not France. In Bretagne entire beaches are closed off to human beings because trespassing is deadly. Excessive nitrate due to industrial agrigulture has caused huge plagues of algae, the algae emit gases, the gases are mortal once inhalated. That's not a theory or a risk calculation but reality, people have died, young guys who went for a short run. French agricultors are not impressed, though. They go on as before, and politicians just shrug, close off beaches in order to not be charged with murder, and continue to pamper the agrobusiness with billions of taxpayer's euros.
Thank you for covering this topic and this restoration site in Spain. Very interested in trying my hand at greening the dessert and/or other degraded brittle landscapes.
🙏 thats great news to regreen degraded lands 💚
Se a europa não promover a reflorestação do sul da europa através da alocação de espaços públicos em que cada cidadão planta e cuida duma parcela com plantas resistentes à falta de água. Para garantir a preservação destes espaços deviam dar um benefício fiscal aos cidadãos intervenientes. Distribuir tarefas por muitos é mais facil do qe do poucos a fazerem muito. As arvores que são postas nos passeios devem dar frutos comestiveis em vez de só gerarem ramos e frutos intragaveis para o ser humano
Very encouraging…thank you caring humans 🕊
First time viewer and I watched till the very end, thoroughly enjoyed thr way the infomation was shared... defo found a new sub here... keep up the amazing work 👏 👌🏽
🙏ty
We have a complex,extreme and very rich climatic patterns here in Spain,in fact some of my friends are from the States and they use to spend some periods here for summer or winter holidays..is funny the way they say "man,this is colder than Minnesota" or "Bro,there is more hot here than New México"🤣
..but yes,now we have more forests,wildlife and despite the extremely dry summers in general we are now a more Green country.
And now a very little known fact:
The real cause of our former deserts and arid áreas were the built of vast fleets of wooden vessels in S XVI and XVII for America Conquest.😵
Thank you for letting us, locals, know about the fruits of this kinds of endeavours. You and your team are more than welcome. Come by sometimes and congratulations for your chanel.
Thank you! 🙏
In the last few years I bought a 10 000 m square land in morocco and planted it with trees, its nice to see different kinds of animals enjoying there :)
I love your report.
The Iberian Peninsula has been gaining forest mass in the last hundred years
Great news altho someone else said they are also loosing it too, so maybe really depends on your area?
Really interesting topic and great to see we can do something to make our environment better
It is great news and we need to celebrate and highlight every achievement and continue to improve our environment
Thank you so much to share experience about nature restoration and add sustainability development technic to the city area 💚
Thanks for sharing this inspirational story! I really enjoyed it
one of the good things that happened during the course of the pandemic is that nature was able to thrive and restore itself without much human intervention. When tourism in some areas were put to a halt, the natural vegetation of these areas were able to recover. I remember seeing a photo comparison of pre-covid city view, and in-covid city view.
Two years isn't enough
Florida has done in a similar manner along the Panhandle Coastline to stop erosion of the Coastline. Especially, in the Nature & Forgotten Coastal region. 🌞🌴
Thats great news!
It is funny you said that because I live in the panhandle and that is the first thing that came to my mind was that it looked very similar.
sooooooo cool thank you for sharing! I love how you went there, saw it for yourself and showed us what you learned
😁😄
everyone doing regenerative agriculture wish them all the best
Thank you for making this video. So nice to see the "good news" when there is so much bad news about the environmental destruction.
Definately need to highlight successful stories
@@LeafofLifeWorld I bet this technology can be used to save the Amazon rainforest because it is being cut down at such an alarming rate because the more trees we have on this earth the cooler the winters will be
Deeper in land I worked in a permaculture farm where they ressurected land exploited by mono avocado farming to a thriving multidiversity place with a very deep black soil (using f. exp. leguminosis). It was in Órgiva.
I so smashed that like button .. excellent narration style and accent well done miss ♥️
Wonderful activities! 🌳🌳🌳🌳
Yes, and because of this the Tagus is being dried up, leaving to severe drought concerns and losses on regions in both Spain and Portugal. And it's not only the Tagus, it's the Guadiana too (the Guadiana lakes in Ciudad Real are also being dried up). Another environmental catastrophe is actually what is going on in "Mar Menor", in Murcia.
Restoring the coastal dunes of Catalonia is causing the Tagus and other rivers to dry up? Perhaps you could explain how that might be the case?
Soy español y el tajo no se está secando,el problema es que hay un trasvase de agua a la región de Murcia que es seca y necesita agua para el regadío,el agua del tajo es desviada para esos regadíos...
@@Rafasamplerdj España no cumple el Acuerdo de Albufeira y deja el Tajo y otros ríos de la Península sin agua y sin un cauce sostenible. Hay aldeas qué quedaron arruinadas, tanto en España cómo en Portugal, por qué los peces murrieron todos y la actividad económica más relevante es la pesca. Hay otras situaciones en qué los embalses no tienen agua y la producción de electricidad se queda por la penumbra, siendo qué es la única fuente renovable de electricidad en muchas zonas de la Península. Y todo esto para regar cultivos intensivos en Tabiernas y otras zonas aridas, que incluso tienen ríos grandes más cercanos y en una zona que ha tenido más lluvia qué lo normal en los últimos años. No hablo de las dunas de Cataluña, hablo de otras zonas del país...
Y sí, después también hay el desastre del Mar Menor, relacionado indirectamente con esto todo, pero eso es otra historia!
I don't think he meant the coastal dunes are causing this, just that its happening
@@LeafofLifeWorld And I was not talking about the coastal dunes, he simply joined that to the debate.
This is very interesting and also gives hope! Thank you so much for sharing! My home island (Baltic Sea) is also more and more destroyed by tourism. They are so many every summer that there is not enough fresh water any more. I think tourism ought to be limited.
Tourism needs to get more sustainable it can't keep going like this!
Great content, keep up the good work!
What an inspiring and touching video. Keep going!
When I despair of the state of the world I look for videos on regenerative agriculture. Whenever humans work with Nature She responds magnanimously.
Its always up lifting to see regenerative programs working!
Hello dear, how are you doing?
An interesting and informative video, I have been involved in regenerative farming and land management since the 70's, mostly in the Kalahari and Namib ecosystems, and did some work on a small, former arable property when living in North Carolina USA. I prefer to use the term "continuous grazing" rather than "overgrazing" as, we usually find that when we change the management system to high density/holistic grazing, we have to increase the stocking rate to keep up with the increased production of native perennials, even as native megafauna begin to increase in these regenerated ecosystems. Sometimes changing the genotype of the livestock is also necessary in these programsto have a better adapted livestock profile than the common commercial breeds. I am now retired and living in the UK but enjoy discussions and videos about regenerative projects throughout the world. We need to remember to measure carbon sequestration in these projects as well to encourage more interest and financial support for this essential work.
Amazing work.
Thank you for your input on regenerative livestock management
Hello! I am an aspiring regenerative farmer…but I don’t know how to start (where to get money to get it going…) do you have any advice after such a career?
Thank you for this brilliant video!
Clever, knowledge and the best managements.
Firstly, really enjoyed this. And i like to watch videos like this on how certain countries are doing this and that to combat soil degradation due to climate change, turning deserts into farmland like on the Arabian coast or in Africa.. the difference with your videos is you actually explain the plants that are growing in great detail and that's why I like your channel the best. Thanks for the education
I'm glad you have found the ideas useful 🙏 thank you
This is an incredible video, thanks for share this information! I’m so glad that Spain are doing this work.
It’s very interesting for me because I plant wildflower meadows on scrubland/wasteland in England to increase pollinators. We often use non toxic cardboard on the ground to stop evasive species and weeds then add 4” of topsoil before the wildflower seed mix. Along riversides we’ve seen fish jumping because of the increase in insects and the return of swallow which haven’t been seen for years.
I love the bit we’re the wild grasses are creating there on compost on top of the sand, this is incredible and to see Borage growing on a beach is just Wow!!
That’s for your hard work
Bravo
Thats amazing 👏 we would love to see you work, feel free to send us fb message or email with some photos we can include you in a post on fb
Your planting work sounds interesting. But I hope you have thoroughly done your homework on the local ecology and local plant species, and are not using commercial seed mixes. Most 'wildflower' seeds are nothing like real wildflowers, and result in species being planted in places that they do not naturally grow. Please allow nature to take the lead where you can, rather than imposing 'foreign' species into 'wasteland.' The introduction of alien species is one of the biggest threats to our natural world.
Wonderful report, thanks for much!
Thank you for sharing.
I did not even know we had deserts in Europe. Thank you for showing this. Regreening definitely is one of the big challenges of our times.
I think so
That's where all the spaghetti cowboys are made.
We got one the UK as well
old western movies were all shot in spain not the usa.
@@jesselivermore2291 not strictly factual, most, if not all, spaghetti westerns were shot in Spain. 95% of "old" westerns were shot in the. USA. Now they probably use GFI lol
Great video! Thank you. Am in Galicia. Would love to learn more about the wild edible and medicinal plants in these areas.
That would be interesting! I would also love to visit there to find out more, any ideas where I should go an investigate?
@@LeafofLifeWorld Fragas do Eume
Well done Spain Spain moving in right direction
Nice video, interesting stuff! Got to say the ending, in such a soft and calm tone saying SMASH! the like button got me off guard and made me laugh, pretty sure it wasn't intended 🤣🤣
It is wonderful that satellite images show that Earth is indeed getting greener. Increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere encourage plant growth.
You can even notice huge differences in vegetation in photos taken in the 1920's in the UK to photos taken today.
One major concern is the huge drop in insect numbers and the consequent decline in our birds.
There must be something in the atmosphere, mobile phone signals or maybe fumes from planes or cars, that are acting as an insecticide.
It depends what greenery has increased, garden lawns will not attract insects, a pollinator garden will.
chemtrials
i loved watching this. I am hoping more beaches do this. It seems like it's hard at first...but nature just needs a helping hand then it can thrive on it's own.
Fascinating! Great video! DD
Amazing video. This is some really good stuff to learn 🙏
Restoring what was destroyed and stopping the desert spread seems like a nice idea, if done correctly. There is also the problem with the global increase in temperature that will make it harder.
The Sun controls earth's Temps, not a gas with 140 parts of carbon per million out of 280 parts per million of Oxygen....it's absurd to believe the climate, and our Atmosphere is that fragile....
@@ChiefCabioch It's easy to test or simulate. It takes very little to change the temperature just a few degrees and life on earth including us is very fragile. Compare our earth to the several hundred degrees on Venus or the cold mars or even colder places. I'm sure you're familiar with greenhouses and how they can help tropical plants flurish in colder climates.
Just add those 280 parts permillion and stack them 50000meters and it starts adding up like a blanket or greenhouse.
We also know the climate was warmer way back when giant centipedes and spiders and insects in general rules the earth. Rock samples tells us the carbon amount back then. Carbon that was stored in the earths crust over hundreds of millions of years are now being released back into the atmosphere and it won't be good for us or life as we know it when the temperature increases and weather paterns change..
It's already started, I don't know how you could have missed it but it will get worse no question about it. Eventually you might notice it too.
@@peterzimmerman1114 you are spouting nonsense, Earth's climate has never stood still, never repeated itself, never been "normal" or "average", it's had much higher levels Of CO2, and yet here we are debating a flawed theory that CO2 which has only 1 of the dreaded CARBON atoms and 2 oxygen atoms, and speaking of Oxygen, it behaves the same regardless of any other attaching elements, you mention Venus, and yet you don't correlate the CO2 on it, verses the CO2 on Mars, verses temperatures, your repeating the nonsense you have been taught to fear, and it's pathetic, why?, because you, like soooo many other dooms day dwellers don't ever bother to check with the scientists who disagree, and show why they do, but here is a question, if climate change is real, why no sea level rises?, why would the Obamas by an ocean front house on Martha's Vinyard?, why are banks still loaning money for buildings?, why is Government still insuring coastal waterfront houses?,
Is Bill Gates going to keep his Billion dollar Yacht parked?, will John Kerry sell 4 of his 5 houses?, will he sell his private jet?Jet?, will any of these elite climate pushers stop flying all over the earth demanding YOU, and I do with less, while they fly in their private jets to these gatherings?, why are David Attenborough, David Suzuki, Neil degrasse Tyson, AL Gore, Sean Penn and others who have absolutely NO climatological background or education selling the climate lie, and not real scientists?, because it ISNT settled, and why does America have to shut down, and India and China get to keep growing?, and don't have to begin CO2 reductions till 2035?, you're indoctrinated, not educated, the Club of Rome invented climate change, to redistribute America's wealth, to those already flying all over the globe demanding everyone else do with less.......you better start asking questions, instead of simply nodding your head in agreement, the earth is heated by the sun, man's total contribution to global CO2 is according to the EPA, is 3.75% - 4.00% of all CO2, you mention CO2 being buried and now coming out, you realize that all dying organic matter produces CO2, and that 97% of CO2 comes from earth itself?, the solar activity currently is driving heat waves, some Temps set higher records, others lower, like Snow in Saudi Arabia, and all other events, keep in mind History didn't begin the day you were born, and look at Temps in 1936.....there weren't many Airplanes, SUVs, Trucks and busses...
@@peterzimmerman1114 I'm 72, I haven't missed a dam thing, I've lived in Oklahoma most of my life, it's home to the National Severe Storms lab in Norman, Oklahoma, we hold the highest wind speed ever measured in a tornado, and EF5 that was several miles wide, @318mph, we have both cloud to ground, and ground to cloud Lightening, we have some of the most violent storms on earth.....it's been this way as far back as I remember, to the age of 5, watching two tornados on the ground from the same storm, less than a half mile from each other,.....do yourself a favor, stop listening to the doom and gloom, and live your life out of fear, Tornadoes have occurred in every State, it's nothing out of the ordinary, it's the sun, 93million miles away, that can change earth's Temps 100 degrees in a matter of hours....
@@peterzimmerman1114 fill a jar with CO2 see if it changes Temps, Water Vapor, clouds have MUCH more effects than a Gas with 3 atoms, 2 of which are Oxygen....
I was feeling really down due to all the bad things happening in the world, this has really cheered me up and I have subscribed. I am almost 50 and wondering what can I do for the planet,,,,,just me on my own, how can I help! I feel inspired by your video, thank you so much
You can help in many ways! In your own garden, writing to your council, watching our videos, join our mailing for more info!
@@LeafofLifeWorld I will join your mailing list, thank you
You need to stop listening to the news and social media because all they do is show you the bad stuff. The reality is that things are not that bad.
Jo Jo ,
I'm the same....wondering what I can do to be more productive in my life to help the Planet.
This video is very inspiring and I am wondering if I should move to Spain to help in this type of regeneration programme but not sure how to go about it.
I long for the Sunshine to boost my mood and energy alongside seeing greenery, colourful plants, trees and vegetation growing again from nothing....maybe I could come alive again from having a purpose in an area that suits my soul. 🤗
Your getting closer to 20,000 !
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Good work! Thank you for sharing!
🙏
just arrived in Barcelona, loved your video!! - one suggestion tho, if you could dedicate a portion to tell us how we can help here locally, either by action or donations, that would be fantastic!
Yes all the help the better, please contacts us through our links
I loved the video! It was informative and I learned a lot about what diversity in plantlike the dune region can have. The title however seems rather unfitting to me because it makes me think that deserts in general are the main topic, when dunes are more the focus of the video.
Underrated channel. This channel is great!
Thanks 😊
Very good explanations and pictures.
North Spain looks like Ireland, the South like the movie "The good, the bad and the ugly".
Only a tiny place in Murcia and Almeria look like that.
Hola, yo vivo en Almería, donde esta el único desierto de Europa, el de TABERNAS, donde se han grabado multitud de películas del oeste, es un encanto de lugar👍
Wow awesome video stumbled on by change thank you so interesting.
Great video, I loved it! I recommend you to look at the dunes in Guardamar del Segura, in Alicante, as well, it's a very interesting place :D
Llevo toda mi vida oyendo que España se va a convertir en un desierto y seguimos esperando.
Thank you for this video and for your work towards restoring biodiversity on planet earth . 🙏
Ty 🙏 more biodiversity !!!
Oh thank you for your video.
Very nice and inspirational
Nice video! I live in Barcelona and have seen the change first hand. We recycle all of our organic waste which is taken close to Castelldefels where they maintain huge compost heaps. Now that the supermarkets are giving away the compostable bags this makes the task much easier. The project at El Prat between the airport and beach is great to see, unfortunately we are now in a battle to stop the unnecessary expansion of the airport into this nature park, for some reason the developers want to make BCN into an international hub. One big problem they have on this coast is storm damage. Barcelona doesn't have a natural beach, two winters ago a storm washed away a lot of sand leaving the building rubble base exposed, so they just replaced the sand. Now the council are building spits into the sea to try and stop this erosion. The downside is parts of El Prat are damaged instead. After the lockdown lifted, I travelled down to Estepona and took three months to sail back up the coast. The El Ejido area is a mess with all the plastic "green houses" but the local councils are at least trying to get the used plastics into the recycling system. Plus the Ebre delta, where they grow the paella rice, is having problems with the rising sea level contaminating the wet lands. It's good to see that the local and national governments are trying to control the farmers, and making Spain a more pleasant place to live in, the next issue to deal with is the intensive pig farming!
Do you nos that before romans CAME to the península Spain and Portugal were dense forests in most of the territory
The trees were probably cut and replanted many times but the intensity and level which is done i don't think we know exactly that far back. Its said that during the spanish armada times the trees were taken down for wood to build ships and to clear areas for mining
@@LeafofLifeWorld Was an huge fire,who destroy it,it comes in the old chronicles.So huge wild fire that the gold in earth had melt and get up the ground.The Romans just had to pick it up...🤫
Thank you.
Already hoping for part 2!!
Hopefully today!
I liked the video a lot. I think the rumors are true that part of the rainfall in Spain has decreased due to the disappearance of the forest layer over the centuries. I am embarking on a local reforestation project: I plant, water, and take care of all kinds of native species on a piece of land in the mountains that I own. Before taking them to the field, I germinate all kinds of seeds and acorns on my terrace, and when they are big enough, I take them to the mountain. Holm oaks, oaks, ash trees and pines are beginning to colonize my land very slowly. Subscribed.
this is so beautiful, thank you for your great work. if you would like us to feature you on leaf of life channel, then please send us an email leafoflifefilms@gmail.com
@@LeafofLifeWorld Thank you!, I will consider it for the near future!
@@vuelveverdetv241 Estás equivocado, en España, como en gran parte de Europa, el bosque no hace más que aumentar debido al abandono de la agricultura.
That's great, but did you thoroughly research the native ecology and native species before planting the trees ? I only ask because sadly many people are planting random trees without understanding that each local ecosystem is special and characteristic of the local geology and climate. Wherever possible we should let nature make the decisions and allow natural regeneration of the native species.
That was a great video. Thank you for your insight here. I hope it spurs on everyone at least to learn more, and respect what we have in front of us... just at least to be more cognisant, and nurture nature for the future survival of or kin. There is no denying that over farming and modern urban development is only going to speed up the demise of our future generations, and any other species for that matter....but Implanting the seeds of knowledge to pass on... of the facts, are the rudiments of change for our children's future, and the future of all species on this planet. You never know....some day you might have to rely on how to find food in the wild. If there still is a wild to survive in.
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I’m your brother from the western side of our beautiful peninsula, Portugal 🇵🇹. And I wish we could have the same investment in our forest. But unfortunately we’re being invaded by eucalyptus and others exotic trees and plants, destroying our fauna and helping in the fire forest destruction year after year… that’s sad and we are desperate with that. We have a lot to learn from our Spanish brothers. Os queremos mucho! 🇵🇹❤️🇪🇸
finally some positive developments! Great narration.
Thank you 🙏
Stakes should be removed from the trees in the restoration area. Often they are forgotten until the twine girdles the cambium of the trees, killing them. I hope the project succeeds and grassland restoration projects are begun elsewhere.
I've seen some been removed but some trees don't make it, the ones that do better are the wild planted trees by nature not the ones brought in
I hope this kind of replenishment of lands happens in California, too!
Me too, I hope more happens here and everywhere
@@LeafofLifeWorld I am not sure if it is the same thing, but I know that near Monterey, they have set some paths that prevent people from walk in the dunes, where ice plant and others are plants are growing, very interesting.
And as a local Barcelona citizen, I want to warn you that you can not fly your drone there, not sure how strict they are but, be careful you may get a ticket from these bored police man...its amazing I bought myself a small drone for fun, but according to the map of flying zones, is nearly impossible do it here...grrr.
@@Javier_FH you can fly drone on the beach but not in the city, but thanks for warning 😉
Great content, good job !
Thank you
Awesome, I'm a chick forest technician from Montreal! I left my career over disgust of how things work in Québec, I majored in Sylviculture and they don't want to plant it back as it was but nature proves we'll have to! Bon weekend from French Canada 🇨🇦!
I love how they changed ‘Hectares’ to ‘Hectors’ because it’s a Spanish name, I’m assuming? Hilarious. 😂
😅😄👍
Great to watch! Keep making them, its an excellent channel. FYI though, its spelled "Hectares"
Thank you!
Well done Spain !
😐😑😐
As a northern Spanish, It is so green up here, I forget how desertification is an issue
Great video, keep them coming:) Umm it's "hectare or hectares (plural)" not hector or hectors;)
Thanks 😊
Great, exceptional work being done to recapture some of the original landscape, especially for the birds and creatures that will travel to make it home.
Are there programmes where novices, children and even holiday makers can be educated( common sense methodology of course) online and social media platforms to get people engage with nare more uniformly.
Brilliany and hope to here from you.
Really hope this info helps educate people on the importance of restoration
Amazing and heartwarning to see