GUARDIAN: AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE TO PROTECT BIODIVERSITY AND PEOPLE

Author: Antonio José Morales Hernández Coordinator at EcoRiba

The GUARDIAN Project (Green Urban Actions for Resilient Fire Defence of the Interface Area) falls within the III Call for Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) and was chosen, in the “Adaptation to Climate Change” section, along with other cities like Amsterdam, Manchester, Paris, Barcelona and Seville for its innovative nature with respect to its capacity to re-use treated water to contribute to reducing the risk of fires in La Vallesa and its urban-forestry interface (Anguiano et al., 2019).

La Vallesa is a green lung embedded in the Turia Natural Park made up of an Aleppo pine forest and diverse crops. It boasts iconic natural assets such as the La Vallesa reservoir, the Zona Húmeda Catalogada (ZHC – Catalogued Wet Zone) and outstanding autochthonous flora such as the albaida rosa (Antyllis lagascana), the red hot cat’s tail (Sideritis juryii) and the mountain germander (Teucrium edetanum) among others (Peña et al. 2017). In 2018, a micro-reserve for the Cartagena rock rose (Cistus heterophyllus) was created that is shared between the municipal boundaries of Paterna and Riba-roja de Túria.

Within it can be found various monumental trees of local interest, with the Plátano de Traver (Platanus hispanica), standing out as the third highest tree in the Valencian Community (Morales, García and Barberá, 2018). All this floristic heritage comes with a great faunal diversity: the great spotted woodpecker, the Bedriaga’s skink, the common kingfisher, the grey heron, the genet… And this is complemented with a rich heritage package such as remains associated with the Spanish Civil War (the Puig- Els Cara-sols Line of Defence) and the archaeological sites of la Lloma de Betxí and Valencia la Vella.

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