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SEO/BirdLife’s model will be extended to other regions in Europe. On 2 December 2021, the LIFE OlivaresVivos+ project, whose main objective is to expand Olivares Vivos, an olive-growing model that promotes agricultural methods that protect the environment, was presented at IOC headquarters in Madrid.
Jaime Lillo, deputy executive director (pictured), brought, on behalf of IOC executive director Abdellatif Ghedira, the intergovernmental body’s welcome greeting to participants at the project presentation event.
The first part of the project, LIFE Olivares Vivos, took place between the end of 2015 and May 2021. The model was found to restore biodiversity and increase profits by reducing input costs – growers spent on average 22% less on fertilisers and phytosanitary products. Restoring the flora and fauna of these living olive groves also adds value to the oils produced, which are indicated by the Olivares Vivos label and certification scheme.
Life Olivares Vivos + starts this year and will run until 2026. The goal is to replicate this model in the main olive-growing regions of Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal. This stage of the project will also show how biodiversity behaves in the long term and under climate change, as olive groves will be studied in the driest regions. The project will also be extended to other crops.
Further information on the event and the project will be published in issue 169 of the 2021 year-end IOC newsletter, available on this website also.
