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Olive oil is good for your health, and for the environment!
Today, Wednesday 5 June, is World Environment Day. Since 1973, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has led the celebration of World Environment Day (WED), the biggest global platform for environmental public outreach. WED 2024 “focuses on land restoration, halting desertification and building drought resilience under the slogan ‘Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration’”. As explained by the UN, “we cannot turn back time, but we can grow forests, revive water sources, and bring back soils.” (WED, 2024)
It’s precisely in this line of thought that the olive tree plays a fundamental role in addressing climate change. The olive grove is a forest of 11 million hectares, well maintained by olive growers all over the world. Olive trees have a positive carbon balance: they remove CO2 from the atmosphere, storing it both within their structures as in the soil in a stable and permanent way. They’re therefore a key natural resource that helps combat global warming and climate change. A soil where a sustainably managed olive grove is planted is a healthy soil: it improves its physical structure, increasing its water retention capacity, and slows erosion. Moreover, olive tree genetic resources also play a crucial role in biodiversity and agricultural sustainability in the face of genetic erosion, which is why the IOC is working intensively to consolidate the international network of olive germplasm banks.
In the words of Jaime Lillo, IOC Executive Director: “The olive grove is a natural barrier against desertification and an effective tool for fighting climate change. Today on World Environment Day, we encourage you to consume olive oil: it’s good for your health, and for the environment!”
