The meeting will present the results of the LIFE Wood for the Future project, which concludes in September this year

Representatives of forest landowners from all autonomous communities gather today and tomorrow at Hotel Luna

Granada, May 12, 2025

The Confederation of Forest Owners’ Organizations of Spain (COSE) is holding its general assembly on May 12 and 13 in Granada. During the event, the sector will analyze the challenges of sustainable forest management in maintaining biodiversity, productivity, and the regenerative capacity of forests so they can fulfill their ecological, economic, and social functions.

The assembly is taking place at Hotel Luna in Granada and is attended by representatives of forest owners’ associations from all the autonomous communities that are part of the Confederation. The opening session will feature COSE President Francisco Carreño; the Director General for Forest Policy and Biodiversity of the Andalusian Regional Government, Juan Ramón Pérez Valenzuela; and the Regional Delegate for Sustainability and the Environment, Manuel Francisco García Delgado, along with other representatives from the Sustainable Forest Management, Planning, and Natural Environment departments.

The general assembly is held on a rotating basis, and this year Granada was chosen as the host city to mark the upcoming conclusion in September of the LIFE Wood for the Future project, a European-funded initiative led by the University of Granada (UGR) and involving COSE. The project aims to promote the recovery of poplar plantations in the province.

During the event, the results of the LIFE Wood for the Future project will be presented across the entire poplar value chain: the creation of three private nurseries with certified plants; the establishment of the Marjal producers’ association, which has over 100 members and 1,400 hectares of cultivated land; a network of more than 50 hectares of demonstration plots managed under a common plan approved by the Regional Ministry of Environment and Sustainability; measurement of CO₂ absorption in the plots and a pending approval system for carbon credit sales; and the mechanical characterization of poplar wood throughout Spain, leading to its recognition as structural timber under European regulations.

In addition, scientific measurements conducted within the framework of the European project have demonstrated the environmental benefits of poplar trees, including increased biodiversity, reduced temperatures, pollution mitigation, improved soil quality, and the recharge of aquifers with clean water.

The LIFE project has also led to the development and certification of two innovative structural products for industrialized construction (composite beams made of poplar and pine, and a hybrid wood-concrete slab), and the creation of the spin-off Iberolam Timber & Technology. This company, with nearly 70 small shareholders, is focused on manufacturing and marketing these new products.

Improving Taxation Policies

COSE’s manager, Patricia Gómez Agrela, explained that among the topics to be addressed during the meeting are tax policy proposals aimed at encouraging private forest owners not just to hold land, but to actively invest in sustainable management, forest cleaning, and silvicultural treatments. “A healthy, productive, and profitable forest is the best guarantee against land abandonment and forest fires,” she emphasized.

Another key goal of COSE is to raise public awareness—particularly in urban areas—about the importance of consuming forest products sourced from sustainably managed forests. “We want people to understand that by choosing local wood over plastic and petroleum-based products, they are helping to keep forests healthy,” Gómez Agrela added.

The meeting will also examine the regulation on the certification of permanent CO₂ removals, which will enable the quantification and registration of forest owners’ contributions to the fight against climate change through the marketing of products that sequester carbon long-term, such as structural timber elements used in low-carbon construction. In addition, the implications of the new EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) for forest owners in relation to timber marketing in the European Union will be discussed.

Updates will also be provided on Juntos por los Bosques (“Together for Forests”), a platform that brings together over one hundred entities from the forest sector, including forest owners, forest service companies, the paper, pulp, wood, and furniture industries, sawmills and carpentry workshops, professional associations, certification systems, scientific societies, and research centers.

Visit to Demonstration Poplar Plantations

As part of the meeting, on May 13 participants will visit several of the demonstration poplar plantations in Granada that took part in the joint forest management and certification plan and implemented the environmental best practices promoted by the LIFE project. Attendees will also tour the Structural Timber Research Unit (UIMA) laboratory at the University of Granada, located in the former San Isidro sugar factory.

LIFE Wood for Future/Madera para el Futuro, funded by the European Union’s LIFE Programme for Environment and Climate Action [LIFE 20 CCA/ES/001656], includes the University of Granada, the Provincial Council of Granada, the Confederation of Forest Owners’ Organizations of Spain (COSE), the University of Santiago de Compostela, and the spin-off company 3edata.