Welcome back. Since 2013, Cumberland has started projects in Spain, South Africa, Australia, and the Netherlands to understand how to 4 Returns Framework can be applied in a real life restoration initiative. Each case presents a unique set of issues. In this video, you will learn more about our approach for landscape restoration in Spain. The first and main reason to start a project in this region of Spain was the quality of the people on the ground who could drive the process. They were already active in various entrepreneurial projects, some restoration related. Second, the rain fed organic elements grown in this region presented a strong potential business case. And third, a restoration project in this region offered good opportunities for scalability. The Altiplano area of Andalusia in Southern Spain is a high altitude area with plains at 1,000 meters above sea level. It reaches high temperatures in summer, at times as hot as 40 degrees Celsius, and very cold weather in winter, often well below 0 on the coldest days. Such climate across barren plains makes for very tough conditions on par with areas at similar altitudes in countries such as Mongolia. Today, the region is home to 130,000 inhabitants, most of whom rely on agriculture, livestock, and forestry for their livelihood. Almonds and cereals are the most common types of crops grown. And the region is one of the world's largest areas of cultivation for rain fed organic almonds, with 100,000 hectares dedicated to almond growth of which 45,000 are certified organic. Land degradation is a serious problem that plagues the region. For generations, the farmers have employed unsustainable farming practices such as overgrazing, poor water management, growing mono cultures, and excessive plowing. These practices have led to soil erosion processes, nutrition depletion in soils, and substantial decrease in water quality and quantity. In the past 50 years, the pace of degradation in the area has accelerated to an alarming rate with the introduction of industrial agricultural techniques. The chemical plowing has allowed for more frequent and deep plowing, which results in heavily eroded soils. People are leaving the area in search of a better living. This leads to a depopulated countryside with a marginal economy characterized by about 40% unemployment, and high dependency on governments as subsidies for agriculture. So, like many other areas in the Mediterranean, the region suffers from severe land degradation and from rural abandonment and unemployment. The area is now one of the poorest regions of Spain despite its splendid natural parks, rich biodiversity, and cultural history. The good news is that a growing group of frontrunners is reversing this trend. Hundreds of farmers and entrepreneurs are organizing themselves to restore the degraded lands. The local community is teaming up with government, businesses, and research institutions. This joint initiative resulted in creating the AlVelAl association named after three large counties in the Andalucian provinces of Granada and Almeria. They cover 630,000 hectares of occult semi arid step up planes covered mainly with grass and very few trees. The AlVelAl association actively promotes landscape restoration initiatives, and supports business and farm development. On this picture, you see the participants of one of the first stakeholder workshops that resulted in a joint vision on how to apply the 4 returns, 3 zones, and 20 years approach to the region. This slide shows how this joint vision translates into business and restoration initiatives aiming at full returns in the three zones of the AlVelAl area. Farmers are directly involved on their own farm by introducing more sustainable agriculture practices that help build soil health. They call it regenerative farming. Some farms will be used as demonstration farms as well. You can also see a wide diversity of business cases like tourism, bee keeping, livestock, aromatic crops, and element production. Some sites in the neutral zone have been identified as potential new restoration projects. The AlVelAl Association has developed an innovative concept that offers an economic alternative to the current degrading agricultural practices in the area. This concept is called Almendrehesa. It is an integrated production system that combines almond trees and local trees with aromatic oil crops, bee-hiving, and lamb-breeding for premium quality, organic meat. The Almendrehesa concept forms a basis for a company that is called Almendrehesa as well, and that has almond production at its core. The combination of diversified crops and trees needs to improve soil quality and higher productivity. Production, processing, and marketing, of high quality almonds by the farmer's cooperative, results in added market value. So this integrated system leads to improved soil quality and higher productivity. This enhances farmer's incomes and stimulates the local economy. Many of the farmer's growing elements for the Almendrehesa have already started to diversify the crop types they grow by planting rosemary and lavender. The next step for Cumberland together with AlVelAl Association may be to establish a subsidiary of the Almendrehesa for marketing and processing of the harvest of those aromatic crops to produce aromatic oils and other derivative products. Moreover, this productive ecosystem decreases erosion, restores the water balance, enhances biodiversity, and beautifies the whole landscape. Local pride and inspiration have just been stimulated by these new activities. This is a clear example of achieving four returns simultaneously. To learn more about the project, please watch this clip about the AlVelAl association. >> [FOREIGN] [MUSIC] [FOREIGN] >> [FOREIGN] >> [FOREIGN] >> [FOREIGN] [MUSIC] >> Adjacent to the activities in our AlVelAl other landscape restoration projects have started that involve new partners. For example, Heineken Spain has implemented its water balancing strategy, and has made plans for water balancing projects for its four breweries in Spain. Heineken Spain has partnered with common land for this purpose. The first project involves the restoration of three lagoons in the wetlands of Doñana, the famous and iconic natural area near Seville, and a hotspot for biodiversity. The restoration of three lagoons will return substantial amounts of water to the watershed. It offers opportunities for unique biodiversity to develop there as well. The second project involves an agriculture innovation integrating barley production in all of growths. The aim is to improve the infiltration of rain water in soils by planting barley between the olive trees. In turn, the barley conserved as a sustainable local supply for one of Heineken's key ingredients. Partnering, and even leading in these restoration activities enables Heineken to meet the other balancing targets effectively. To create a positive impact in the supply chains. To increase the brand value for Spanish consumers. To set an example in the corporate sector for water stewardship. And to set an example for innovative stakeholder corporation. The positive results of this partnership have triggered Cumberland to stimulate restorative practices to improve the land management in other epicultural sectors like olives as well. This example has given you a better idea about rationale for corporate involvement in restoration partnership. In the next interviews with Thekla Teunis and Silvana Paniagua, they will share additional insights about the reasons for corporates to be involved in landscape restoration partnerships. If AlVelAl and the Almendrehesa takes off, it has the potential to have significant and scalable restoration impact in terms of the number of hectares of land restored. The farmers that have joined the company are motivated by the prospects of increasing the revenue generated from each hectare of cultivated land and every kilo of harvested elements. In addition to providing financial and natural returns, the Almendrehesa can add to the social and inspirational returns. The aim for the Almendrehesa is not just to be a simple trading company that buys elements from the farmers. The company's envisions to create value added jobs in marketing, sales, product design, and other functions, that provide attractive employment opportunities to the younger generations who have been migrating to cities for improved livelihoods. A shift towards sustainable agriculture will hopefully be part of the solution to reversing the trend of rural abandonment. This video has given you a better idea of the Cumberland project in Spain. I hope you enjoyed it. Our next video will be about a project in Australia. A fascinating story about setting up a company to transform the degraded wheat belt in Western Australia into a sustainable food belt. Stay tuned.
