Valdilecha
Quarry Life Award 2018

Social perception and environmental awareness

The proposal has a strong social commitment, aimed at developing actions that increase environmental and social commitment within priority lines that promote the company's linkage with municipalities adjacent to the operation. The project is proposed in the quarry of Valdilecha and its surroundings (an agricultural vocation area with crops and scraps of holm oaks, Quercus Ilex), located in the southeast of the metropolitan area of Madrid. The main objectives are i) to identify the social perception of the inhabitants of the localities near the quarry about the extractive activity and ii) to promote actions for habitat improvement and biodiversity conservation in the territory. The proposal has a clear educational and environmental awareness intention, so the participation of the inhabitants of municipalities close to the quarry is proposed. Active learning of simple restoration and habitat improvement techniques is proposed as recognition of the goods and services provided by the territory (water regulation, erosion control, biodiversity and pollination, among others). The planned actions are the restoration of vegetation cover by planting aromatic plants and fruit trees, the placement of bird nest boxes as well as bat shelters and insect hotels, highlighting their importance as dispersing agents and pollinators. All the actions proposed will be carried out with the schoolchildren of the municipalities.