ENDESA S A : and the Ministry for Ecological Transition, come together to preserve our country's dehesa landscapes

• Today they have signed a collaboration agreement to develop a national inventory on the damage caused by the 'la seca' oak decline disease in the population of holm oaks and cork oaks.
• The 'la seca' is a disease that causes the decay and death of holm oaks and cork oaks in the dehesa and hill pasture lands.

Endesa and the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge have today signed a collaboration agreement to stop the oak decline disease 'la seca' in the hills and pastures of our country. The General Director of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification at the MITERD State Secretariat, Jorge Luis Marquínez García, and José Casas Marín, General Director for Institutional Relations and Regulation, have signed the go-ahead for this project. The objective is to first carry out a national inventory, and then look for effective solutions to alleviate this disease that mainly affects the south-central part of the Iberian Peninsula.

The Agreement includes the implementation of the Inventory project in 4 phases to locate the focal points affected by la seca and access, characterise and delimit the affected areas, followed by sampling, etc. The study will be carried out by selecting the most representative affected areas based on the number of hectares populated with holm oak and cork oak, with a maximum limit of 50 foci per province.

Subsequently, the data on the foci will be recorded, with photo referencing and georeferenced-information processing, in a Geographic Information System following the guidelines from the General Directorate of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification so that they are compatible with the information systems of the Nature Data Bank.

Finally, the results obtained will be used to create a web portal that will map the location and characteristics of the outbreaks, detailing the condition of the trees on the date they were inspected.

Thanks to this agreement, a monitoring commission will be created made up of members from MITERD and Endesa, whose functions will be to supervise the actions provided for in the agreement, the analysis of the results and finally monitor the studies or investigations that may be undertaken as a result of the Inventory Project, both by MITERD and by research centres or universities.

Endesa and biodiversity

Endesa, as a responsible company, is aware of the loss of biodiversity, which is happening at an unprecedented rate. This loss of biodiversity is a direct consequence of the impact of human activities and is occurring increasingly rapidly and on a wider scale, which entails serious environmental, economic and social risks. Within its environmental commitment, the company is fully aware of these risks and of its responsibility as a leading company in the energy sector. For this reason, its principles of action include the protection and conservation of biodiversityand collaboration with the authorities, institutions and associations in the environments where it carries out its activity.

About Endesa

Endesa is the leading electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. It is also the second largest gas operator in the Spanish market. It is an integrated business operation that encompasses everything from generation to marketing, and through Endesa X it provides added value services aimed at decarbonising the energy used in homes, companies, industries and government agencies. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and as a result decisively promotes the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power Spain, the electrification of the economy and Corporate Social Responsibility. We also work in the latter area through the Endesa Foundation. We have around 10,000 employees. Endesa is part of Enel, the largest electricity group in Europe.