Urban Klima 2050 boosts organic vegetable production in the vicinity of Vitoria-Gasteiz
14/05/2021
- The Environmental Studies Centre at Victoria-Gasteiz City Council has devised a plan to improve agro-biodiversity for Basaldea, the municipal seedbed of horticultural companies.
It is a one of the pilot projects included in Urban Klima 2050 carried out by Vitoria-Gasteiz to benefit organic farming. Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council’s Environmental Studies Centre has designed a plan to improve agro-biodiversity for Basaldea, the municipal seedbed of organic horticultural companies, the seedbed of the future Aramangelu agro-ecological park. The main objective is to improve the city-countryside connection and to encourage production on the farms in the seedbank and attract new entrepreneurs.
The Basaldea improvement plan encompasses a variety of actions such as planting strips of land and meadows with flowers to encourage pollinators, and increasing and diversifying bushes and shrubs to act as biodiversity corridors and building water points that benefit the proliferation of wildlife. It is planned to prioritise and diversify some of these measures during the next three years, which is the term covered by the LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 project.
Given the current situation with global warming, it is important to remember that farming is a sector extremely vulnerable to the impact of climate change, which affects the economic activity of the primary sector and food production. Crop and livestock production systems must be capable of adapting to and mitigating climate change without compromising food safety and nutrition.
Agrobiodiversity or biological diversity associated with agriculture is a subset of general biodiversity and refers to the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms used directly or indirectly for food and farming. Experience and research have shown that agrobiodiversity is capable, among other things, of increasing productivity, food safety and economic returns, because it diversifies production and opportunities for income. It also reduces the pressure exerted by agriculture on fragile areas, particularly forests and endangered species, and helps with infestation and disease management, thus increasing resilience to climate change. In short, it reduces dependence on external products.
The Environmental Studies Centre at Victoria-Gasteiz City Council and around 20 institutions and bodies from all over the Basque Country are participating in the LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 project to roll out the KLIMA 2050 Climate Change Strategy for 2050 in the urban environment. The strategy is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while working to ensure our territory's resilience to climate change.