The rector of the University of Granada, Pilar Aranda, has been named Ambassador of Honor of the poplar trees by the Marjal Producers Association.

The deputy of Employment, Ana Muñoz, has highlighted the role of this agroforestry crop in the socioeconomic development of the province.

About twenty professors, researchers and experts in different areas of knowledge have met this morning at the Carmen de la Victoria of the University of Granada to claim the environmental and cultural values of poplar groves, an agroforestry crop deeply rooted in the province that lives a hopeful stage with the boost to sustainable construction with poplar wood by the European project LIFE Wood for Future/Madera para el Futuro.

Beyond the social and economic profitability that the development of an industry of structural products for sustainable building can bring to Granada, the participants in the seminar have highlighted the environmental benefits of poplar groves, which, although they are artificial tree areas -with a life cycle of between ten and fifteen years between planting and felling-, behave in many respects as riparian forests.

Thus, several researchers have highlighted that poplar trees are a refuge for biodiversity, especially for insects, birds, amphibians and micro-mammals, refresh the environment in summer, retain the soil and improve its composition, and constitute an effective ‘green filter’ that, at no cost, purifies heavy metals and other pollutants contained in urban and agricultural wastewater used for irrigation. In the Vega de Granada, for example, their capacity to recharge the aquifer with clean water, where it is stored as a public reserve for times of drought, and to capture large quantities of CO2 and polluting particles from the atmosphere, has been proven.

Asimismo, se han destacado otros beneficios que aportan las choperas, menos tangibles pero de un enorme valor, como espacios de disfrute, paseo y contemplación para una población que las siente como parte indisociable de su memoria íntima, familiar y social. Algunos investigadores han subrayado que las alamedas son fuente de salud y bienestar y otros, su pertenencia al patrimonio industrial de Granada a través de los secaderos de tabaco que salpican la Vega. Se ha destacado su atractivo para la creación artística: están en los poemas de Góngora, Machado, Juan Ramón Jiménez y, por supuesto, Federico García Lorca, que creció entre los “chopos musicales” de Valderrubio, pero también en manifestaciones contemporáneas como la instalación sonora ‘Populus’, que el compositor José López Montes estrenará esta tarde en el Aljibe del Rey.

The rector, Pilar Aranda, has assured that “poplar trees are something atavistic linked to the province of Granada; they are part of the landscape of our life. If we add to this the fact that they are a crop that generates economic profitability in a sustainable way, with minimum water consumption, they have an extraordinary value”. Aranda stressed the importance of researchers working for their recovery through the LIFE Wood for Future project moving to the San Isidro sugar mill, whose rehabilitation and enhancement are a firm commitment of the University for the revitalization of the Vega and its connection with the city.

The deputy for Employment and Sustainable Development, Ana Muñoz, has insisted on the importance of continuing to work so that “poplar trees, so important in the territory, are useful for the socio-economic development of the province”. “If we manage to turn them into a useful material for the construction sector, we will have contributed to create a green and circular economy approach, essential elements to face the global emergency represented by climate change”, said Ana Muñoz, who recalled that the objectives are “to generate employment, create new opportunities, boost quality of life, respect our land and take care of our population”.

 

The coordinator of LIFE Wood for Future, Antolino Gallego, thanked the support of both institutions and announced that the book-catalog of the exhibition, a careful edition sponsored by the Diputación that includes the photographs participating in the I Concurso de Fotografía Choperas de Granada, is part of an encyclopedia. The following volumes will be dedicated to management, forestry and associations; the laricio pine as a wood that will accompany the poplar in the manufacture of structural elements for sustainable construction; and construction and architecture in wood.

The rector, ambassador of honor

Prior to the seminar, the rector held a meeting with the Marjal Chopo Producers’ Association, which has named her Honorary Ambassador of the Poplar Poplars of Granada. Her support to the project for the recovery of this crop has resulted in the signing of an agreement with the Ministry of Development of the Andalusian Regional Government for the development of laminated beams and other structural products made of poplar wood and its use in the construction of public housing, or in the promotion of the installation of the ‘spin off’ promoted by LIFE Wood for Future in the San Isidro Sugar Factory.

The rector has signed in the Book of Ambassadors of the Poplar, which collects the 25 arguments for the defense of poplar groves in Granada, presented at the seminar by Patricia Gomez, manager of the Confederation of Organizations of Foresters of Spain.

The conference was sponsored by the Diputación de Granada, the Cívitas-UGR Chair of Sustainability, the City Council of Vegas del Genil and the University of Granada and organized with the collaboration of the Association of Producers Marjal Chopo, Save the Vega-Vega Educa, the Forestry Association of Andalusia AFA-Profor, the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training and Fisheries (Ifapa) of the Junta de Andalucía, the AguaGranada Foundation and the Geopark of Granada.

Photo exhibition and sound installation

As part of the seminar, the exhibition space of the AguaGranada Foundation hosts from today the exhibition ‘Choperas de Granada’, which brings together a selection of 26 photographs of the 194 that participated in the contest organized by the LIFE Wood for Future project, the Association of Producers Marjal Chopo and the University of Granada. The photographs are accompanied by the sound installation ‘Populus (100 minutes of stereo audio in cycle)’, created for the occasion by José López Montes, composer and professor at the Royal Conservatory of Music Victoria Eugenia of Granada, and the work ‘Aurum. Un paseo por los secaderos de la Vega’, an edition with text, photographs and artistic intervention created by Consuelo Vallejo, professor of Painting at the UGR.