Newsletter #7
AlVelAl Association and Commonland Foundation sign a collaboration agreement
Cristóbal Aránega and Michiel de Man, managers of both institutions, signed last week the agreement to frame the supporting activity of Commonland to the initiative. Priority areas were defined such as Regenerative Agriculture, 4R business cases, Capacity Building, Regenerative Landscape Assessment, Tourism, etc. The agreement includes the financial lines for next months organised in 1) High impact investments for 4R businesses, 2) Soil & landscape restoration incentives and, 3) the incorporation of a new manager for AlVelAl Association.
What do bees do for us? Bees are the most important pollinators of flowering plants, providing us valuable services that are key for our environment. They pollinate plants and maintain biodiversity, besides producing one of the healthiest product we borrow from nature: their precious honey. During the last 30 years bees are suffering from habitat fragmentation, lack of food and pesticide poisoning. This means that not only ecosystems collapse, but there are huge economic losses from beekeeping market and agricultural producers. AlVelAl Association recognizes the importance of biodiversity reservoirs and organic agricultural practices such as the use of organic pesticides, intercropping practices, growing thickets or green covers.
Networking 4R, creating dreams in ‘Quitasueños Cave’ On the 1 st of July an open networking event was organized by AlVelAl, Commonland Foundation and local companies such as Enarmonia and Agrogestiona, together with Cúllar council and CADE Vélez Rubio. The objective was to enable contact, share experiences and create synergies that increase the possibilities of carrying out new business cases or even finding a new job. The group, led by the coach Txema Ventura, discussed the 4 Returns business cases that the Altiplano area offers resulting in more than 20 entrepreneurship opportunities. The coordinator of the program ‘Lanzadera de empleo’ Andrés Romero also participated in the meeting encouraging people to explore the local environment before and during our entrepreneurial activity because the opportunities for synergies are more than what we think. The participants agreed on the importance of a solid professional network in the development of any rural area. At the end everybody enjoyed a local organic snack and live music!
AlVelAl profiles, David Guerrero David grew up in the rural Altiplano, supporting his family from his childhood. Later, after completing highschool, he decided to enrol in Industrial Technical Engineering in Málaga and never stop working during his studies. But at the end of 2007 he returned to Cúllar and in 2010 began his own company together with his wife, Loly Masegosa. This was the beginning of Intratec, whose aim is to bring technical services to organic farmers. Nowadays David is the director of Enarmonia Consultancy and specialist in Hydrological Design, improving water catchment systems all over the region. David is deeply convinced on spending his life on improving the future of his region. On his own words ‘it is extremely sad that I have hardly received any share of my grandparent’s culture and their way of living, what makes me think how in extinction is the truly essence of rural towns’. His mission now is to help people to re-connect with harmony of living in a rural environment, valuing the cultural heritage of the region. He is an active and inspirational member of the AlVelAl movement from the very beginning and he is grateful to Commonland Foundation for taking on the challenge of bringing people that share a vision together, beyond borders and administrative limits.
