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Recognizing the real threats of climate change, the Spanish council of ministers has just approved a reforestation project this Friday to plant 45 million trees in the next four years in the Spanish peninsula and in the Baleares Islands, which have been suffering from frequent forest fires due to desertification, costing the government major economic loss.
This announcement came a day after it was reported in Reuters that the Spanish people are one of the least informed among its European neighbors on the negative effects of global warming. Elena Espinosa, minister for the Environment also announced the creation of a Research Institute for Climate Change in Zaragoza Spain, the same location where the International Expo 2008 for Water was held this year, discussing the challenges of water and sustainable development.
Green Jobs
Spain is bracing itself for a recession in the third and fourth quarter of this year. While unemployment in Spain is increasing, the Spanish government´s move for reforestation can be beneficial for the environment and may help boost the green job sector. In other countries, the green job market has been seen as a growing force in the face of the slowing industrial economy. In the UK, for example, the green collar jobs seems unfazed even in the face of looming economic crisis in the country. Canada, on the other hand, will also be investing in the creation of jobs in the green sector to alleviate the Canadian job crisis in the manufacturing industry, heavily affected by outsourcing jobs overseas.
The Spanish government´s reforestation program project is expected to create 3,000 jobs for the Spanish people in the rural areas and may jumpstart more green business. The objective of the project is to eradicate desertification and capture at least 3.6 million tons of carbon dioxide to curb climate change.
Green jobs could also prevent future disasters, man-made or natural, like the Prestige Oil Spill that destroyed 250 miles of coastline and marine life in Galicia, Spain in 2002. The Prestige oil spill has cost the Spanish government 2.8 billion dollars for clean-up and consequently also destroyed the local fishing industry.