On June 29th the LIFE Wood forFuture project received the visit of the Director General of Forestry Policy and Biodiversity of the Junta de Andalucía, Juan Ramón Pérez Valenzuela. Accompanied by the President of the Andalusian Forestry Association (AFA), Gabriel A. Gutiérrez Tejada, the Director General saw first hand the progress of the adaptation works of the first warehouse of the San Isidro Sugar Factory, where the Structural Wood Research Unit of Andalusia (UIMA) of the University of Granada will start operating in September 2023.

The visit was also attended by Victoria Carreras, President of the Association of Owners of Marjal Poplar and the spinoff Iberolam Timber and Technology and the Director of IFAPA-Granada, María Ángeles Álvarez, as well as the Mayor of Santa Fe, Juan Cobos, for the interest of this town to promote the cultivation of poplar and its industry.

Guided by Dr. Francisco Rescalvo, a member of UIMA, the Director General and the accompanying persons learned first-hand about UIMA’s infrastructure plan, as well as the projects it is developing, including LIFE Wood forFuture. UIMA aims to be a reference center in Andalusia to launch an industrial ecosystem of structural wood using an Andalusian resource, within the framework of the Wood Quality Plan and the Plan Crece de la Industria de la Madera y Mueble de la Junta de Andalucía (Wood and Furniture Industry Growth Plan of the Andalusian Government).

Mr. Pérez-Valenzuela stressed the importance of UIMA in enhancing the value of Andalusian wood, thus promoting its use and the sustainable management of forests and poplar groves, preventing their abandonment and making them more resistant to fires and forest fires, and promoting employment and development in areas with a high level of depopulation.

The Director General offered all possible support from his Directorate General, both to UIMA and to the industry derived from the LIFE Wood forFuture project as the driving force behind this new industrial wood ecosystem.