Endesa S A : 7,000 fruit trees to improve the habitat for the brown bear and promote its conservation in the catalan Pyrenees

• The planting of fruit trees is one of the actions included in Endesa's collaboration, through its Biodiversity area, with the Brown Bear Foundation, an entity with which the company has been collaborating for more than ten years.
• The planting, consisting of 17 groves distributed throughout the territory, will be part of the Endesa Forest environmental project entitled Endesa Pyrenees Forest with which it is expected to absorb in the next 30 years a total of 1,665 tons of CO2, which is equivalent to the emissions resulting from flying 1.7 times around the world.
• The brown bear in Spain is distributed between the Cantabrian Mountains (where the latest estimates give about 370 individuals) and the Pyrenees, where last year 76 individuals were counted, a figure that suggests there is sustained growth.

This morning, with the planting of the last common whitebeam in the area surrounding Quanca, in the municipality of Lladorre, Lleida, the process of planting 7,000 new fruit trees in the Catalan Pyrenees to contribute to the conservation of the brown bear can be said to be concluded. This action is part of the 'Increased biodiversity in areas populated by bears' programme developed by the Brown Bear Foundation (FOP in Spanish) with the collaboration of Endesa through its Biodiversity Conservation Plan. A program that was launched in 2016 to design a network of areas that would make it easier for the species to move and disperse throughout the Catalan Pyrenees, as a result of an increase in the supply of food and this would contribute to its conservation. These trees, organised in 17 small groves will absorb, over the next 30 years, a total of 1,665 tons of CO2, the equivalent of the emissions generated by an aeroplane flying around the world just over 1.7 times. Known as the Endesa Pyrenean Forest, it will become part of the Endesa Forest programme, a pioneering project in the energy sector with major environmental, economic and social benefits. To date, the Endesa Forest initiative has reforested with more than 50,000 new forest plants will be able to absorb a total of about 10,500 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere through six projects distributed throughout the country.

The main objective of the project is to restore brown bear habitat in areas that have lost vegetation cover. To achieve this, a network of fortification and feeding forests is being created, strategically distributed across areas with a population of bears using seedlings taken mainly from cuttings in the region of Pallars Sobirà. Wild fruit trees are a critical source of food for bears, meaning that having a habitat rich in this resource contributes to both improving the outlook for the species and to reconciling its presence with human activities by providing this source of food in its natural environment.

The planting that was completed today was undertaken in two phases: The first, last spring, when 1,200 trees (cherry and apple trees) were planted; and the second, which began last March and ended this week when 5,800 more trees were planted. These included 4,000 common whitebeams (Sorbus aria), 910 cherry trees (Prunus avium) and 800 apple trees (Malus spectabilis). The process began three years ago, when technicians from Forestal Catalana (which belongs to the Regional Government of Catalonia and with whom the FOP has a collaboration agreement) collected seeds from native varieties to later plant in their nursery in Tremp where they took care of them until they obtained seedlings ready to be planted in the ground. The plantations have been distributed in 17 different locations, generating groves, instead of occupying large tracts of land. This aim of this concept of plantations is for the improvement of the bear's habitat to have a wider impact, since it enables a greater extension of territory to be addressed. To make it even more natural the plants are distributed irregularly and a certain distance is maintained between them, and this enables them to develop voluminous crowns which will then produce more fruit in the future to provide food for the bears and other species which will promote biodiversity.

As you can see, much of the planting has taken place inside the Alto Pirineo Nature Reserve, and the rest in land adjacent to it. Part of the land is privately owned and some is also public, belonging to the Town Council of Lladorre. A land custody agreement has been signed with all of them to ensure the project's continuity.

The selection of these locations corresponds to the fact bears habitually reside there and also because the conditions for planting this variety of fruit trees is good from an ecological point of view. The plantation work was undertaken by MCR Excavacions, a local company which was selected with the aim of contributing to the promotion of employability in the region.

The plantation work was in addition to that undertaken in 2018 and 2019 in an area extending over more than 7 hectares and where 9,150 fruit trees were planted for brown bears (raspberry trees, apple trees, cherry trees, mulberry bushes and alpine buckthorn). Those seedlings are now gaining height and diameter and are regularly checked and monitored.

Similar experiences in other locations have shown that the abundance of fruit in summer and autumn improves the movement of bears, as well as avoiding them encroaching into areas where human presence is more common.

The brown bear, in danger of extinction

The brown bear is a species considered to be vulnerable worldwide and in Spain it is in danger of extinction because of the small size of the population in general, the low genetic variability and a fragmented habitat.

The largest population can be found in the Cantabrian mountain range, distributed between the autonomous communities of Asturias, Castile-León, Cantabria and a part of Galicia. The most recent genetic estimate made in 2020 estimated the population at 370 individuals. Since the 1990s, the species has begun to recover as a result of legal protection and a number of support programmes and in the last 25 years it has grown at an average of 10% per year.

In Catalonia, in the Pyrenees, they became extinct between the late 1980s and early 1990s; those to be found there today are of Slovenian origin and are distributed mostly in the regions of Vall d'Aran and Pallars Sobirà, although they are also present in Pallars Jussà and Alta Ribagorça. The most recent census taken by the Brown Bear Cross-Border Monitoring Group in the Pyrenees (GSTOP) suggest that the population of the bear population is growing. In the latest official census, taken in 2022, a total of 76 individuals was located: 39 females and 35 males (plus two individuals of unidentified gender). Special mention should be made of 8 females with 13 cubs born during the year. This is the third highest figure recorded after 2020 and 2021 (with 9 females giving birth). It should also be noted that six different males have fathered cubs, which means that we are starting to get an important exchange of genetic information between the population's breeding individuals.

Bosque Endesa Pirineos

The 7,000 fruit trees that have been planted are just the beginning of the Bosque Endesa Pirineos project with which it is expected to absorb up to 1,665 tons of CO2 in the next thirty years.

As part of its Sustainability Plan, and its commitment to fighting against climate change, Endesa would like to make a practical contribution to the global mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and is doing so through the Bosque Endesa initiative. The project arose with the aim of reforesting and restoring land damaged by fire by planting native species which will contribute to the recovery natural assets, reducing CO₂ and boosting the local economy, and it consists of the following projects: Bosque Endesa Atalaya (Madrid); Bosque Endesa Doñana (Huelva); Bosque Endesa Teruel, Bosque Endesa Baleares and Bosque Endesa Pirineos.

The Bosque Endesa project generates a triple environmental, economic and social benefit in and around the area where it is developed, so it can be considered a benchmark in sustainability: The environmental impact of this restoration work is very positive, since it improves the brown bear habitat in the Pyrenees. These new forests are better adapted to climate change and they enable the recovery of natural assets and biodiversity and provide ecosystem services for society.

Within the economic field, it contributes to promoting the local economy, since the recovery of a forest helps to generate additional activity associated with the use of the resources and services it provides, which favours the development of companies and cooperatives whose activities include tourism, as well as sustainable forest use and management.

In the social field, the initiative's projects contribute to promoting local employment, since priority is given to unemployed people, young people, women, people over 45 years of age and those at risk of social exclusion when recruiting personnel for planting and maintenance work for the project.

About Endesa and its biodiversity conservation projects

Endesa has been firmly committed to the conservation of biodiversity since its first Environmental Policy was approved and published in 1998. This established as one of its benchmark principles "the conservation of the natural environment of its installations by adopting measures to protect the different species of fauna and flora and their habitats".

The company undertakes about 30 projects annually for the protection and conservation of biodiversity and the protection of threatened species, areas and habitats, thus increasing scientific knowledge highlighting the importance of biodiversity.

About the Brown Bear Foundation

The Brown Bear Foundation is a private organisation created in 1992 that is working in the Cantabrian Mountains and the Pyrenees on the conservation of the brown bear and its habitat, the monitoring of the bear population, research applied to management, the fight against poaching, environmental training and coexistence between human beings and bears.