2019 ANNUAL REPORT Emys Foundation

Emys Foundation is a non-profit organisation dedicated to conserving , especially wetlands and the european pond terrapin (Emys orbicularis).

The organisation works from an integrative perspective, where the challenge is to involve the owners, managers and users of the territory in the sustainable management and long term conservation of the values of the natural heritage. It does all this through volunteering, land stewardship, research, conservation, and environmental education and outreach.

We work holistically in wetlands, open spaces, agriculture and forestry in order to conserve nature and promote management that improves biodiversity. We carry out population monitoring of species of interest to determine their conservation status and the state of their habitat. We apply this in the natural spaces we are responsible for, where, together with property owners and managers, we promote management in favor of biodiversity.

Finally, we encourage the adoption of this practice and knowledge in wider society, through environmental education and dissemination, so that citizens may become aware of the value of nature ​​and the individual responsibility we have in conserving it.

Research and conservation

CONSERVATION STATUS OF THE EUROPEAN POND TERRAPIN

In 2019, the sampling effort has been increased in order to detect new habitats for the european pond terrapin, and also because we have sampled an area that we haven’t studied before: the natural area of the Lake of Sils. This year, we have found about twenty different species over two campaigns, one in the spring and the other in the fall. Because of this effort, we have seen a significant increase in the number of terrapins caught this year. A total of 340 european pond terrapins have been caught, including 8 hatchlings born this year. Of these 340, 309 were adults (148 females and 161 males) and only 19 juveniles, which together with the hatchlings represent 8% of the total number of terrapins counted. This ow youth rate warns of a generally ageing population, although evidence of recruitment is good news for the maintenance of the population. Of all the turtles caught, 166 were marked for the first time (equivalent to 50%), a fairly stable rate in recent years which illustrates the large population size of this species in the plana La . Many of the new catches were made in the Sils area, where we had not sampled before. A total of 126 specimens were counted in this area, thus standing out as one of the main settlement of the specie.

With the inclusion of Sils in the european pond terrapin monitoring program, together with the settlements of and Riudarenes, we obtain a more exhaustive control of the metapopulation of the species in the Plana de la Selva. The knowledge obtained from this monitoring allows us to preserve key habitats for the species in the territory, as well as maintain corridors that ensure connectivity between different settlements.

350 Annual number300 of catches since 1987, showing recaptured specimens in orange (previously marked)250 and new catches in yellow (turtles not counted until the date of capture)200 150 100 50 350 0 300 2000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1996 1997 1998 1999 250 200 Recaptures Noves captures 150 100 50 0 2000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1996 1997 1998 1999

Recaptures Noves captures Juvenils Neonats Distribution of sex and age among the 6% 2% caught specimens

Mascles 48%

Femelles 44% Juvenils Neonats 6% 2%

Mascles 48%

Femelles 44% MANAGEMENT

ACTIONS AND PROJECTS OF CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT

NATURAL CORRIDOR CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH PROJECT FOR THE CONNECTIVITY OF THE EUROPEAN POND TERRAPIN IN THE PLANA DE LA SELVA This project has allowed us to carry out management of some farms in land stewardship where we can find ponds with european pond terrapin, monitor turtles and amphibians, and carry out educational activities and raise awareness about the value of wetlands and its biodiversity.

RECOVERY PROJECT OF THE PONDS OF MAS VERN With this project, two ponds on the Mas Vern (in Riudarenes) have been cleaned and recovered, where historically there were european pond terrapin settlements, and which were in a very poor state of conservation.

RIERA DE CALDES RESTORATION PROJECT This project has led to the creation of a new pond for Emys hatchlings near the Santa Maria stream, where there is a very important settlement of european pond terrapin. Actions have also been taken to recover a meadow and riparian vegetation, removing two dense cores of American cane and a small nucleus of acacias, and planting native trees in their place.

START OF THE RIBERSIDE VEGETATION RESTORATION PROJECT IN THE SILS CANAL This project has been launched, which seeks to recover the riparian vegetation by the Sils canal through controlling the American cane and replanting shrubs, trees using Cocoons, and the incorporation of bioengineering techniques.

STUDY OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT OF LES PLANES D’HOSTOLES Within the program of the Planes d’Hostoles IBI’s appropriation we have carried out a diagnosis of the natural environment. This has allowed us to identify the natural spaces of greater interest in the municipality, and to develop an action plan for its conservation for years to come.

STUDY OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT OF SANT HILARI In Sant Hilari we have also carried out a diagnosis of the natural environment, with the corresponding action program, also within the municipal IBI’s appropriation for the conservation of the natural environment.

OTHER CONSULTANCY ACTIVITIES Two projects for the restoration and conservation of the natural environment have been created for the Diputació de , one for the regulation of the attendance of people in the gorgues of Sant Privat d’en Bas, and another for the maintenance of the Estany de Sils’ lagoon. LAND STEWARDSHIP

AGRICULTURAL STEWARDSHIP

In 2019, we have been giving continuous advice to producers in land stewardship within the framework of el Rebost de Can Moragues Pantry project (Carasso Foundation), which began in 2017. We currently have Maria Riera (vegetable garden, Palafolls), Julià Masó (vegetable garden and extensive, ), Pere Armengol (extensive, Riudarenes), Ecopollastre (chicken, Riudarenes) and Albert Horta (hazelnut, ), and also two or three more producers are planned to join soon. This year, about five visits per producer in land stewardship have been made, where producers have received help to regenerate soil and solve problems with pests. Several High Natural Value actions have been implemented on the producers’ farms, such as giving away 90 aromatic plants and a nest of solitary bees for four of these producers, thanks to the participation of the ha-bee-tat project, run by the Abejas Silvestres association.

A recent addition to the land stewarship producers with whom we have agreements is:

Albert Horta, hazelnut producer from Brunyola. Albert owns several acres of black hazelnut and has turned organic one of his acres with our help. Right now we have started a plan to regenerate the soil and add shrubby vegetation to promote biological pest control and prevent soil erosion.

WETLANDS STEWARDSHIP

Wetlands stewardship has allowed the recovery of two very important ponds for the european pond terrapin population, and the creation of a new pond to promote breeding areas near the town of Caldes de Malavella. In addition, various actions have been carried out to maintain the space, as well as the annual censuses of european pond terrapin and amphibians. EDUCATION

DATA ON ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ACTIVITIES

The organisation has an environmental education activities offer aimed at schools, from kindergarten to high school. The offer consists of 10 diverse activities. For the 2019/20 courses, we have incorporated new activities on interesting subjects that often are overlooked, such as: The sources of Salitja through a basket; The world to farmers; The Forgotten Grains and The Sun, a source for recharging batteries. Apart from these, we also offer some customized activities for those schools or groups that ask us to do so.

In 2019, 1,312 students aged between 3 and 14 took part in the workshops, with a total of 52 workshops. Some of the centers that have participated in our activities have been able to enjoy the financial support of the Mar al Cims project of the Diputació de Girona.

DATA ON ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ACTIVITIES

The Emys Foundation carries out various activities to publicise its work and the main problems that affect the biodiversity of the spaces it guards. These actions have directly reached a total of 1,435 people.

• Volunteers, Scouts, Recreation Groups and citizens in general at Fundació Emys (378 participants) • Volunteers and outreach days within the environmental education project “Promotion of environmental education and awareness in favor of the preservation of wetlands with turtles of ” (375 participants) • Activities “El Rebost de Can Moragues, a door to new agriculture” (224 attendees) • Nature Conservation Work Camp in La Plana de la Selva (23 participants, 4 monitors) • “Lake of Sils” International Labor Camp (24 participants, 3 monitors) • Summer environmental house “Journey to the center of the Earth” (114 attendees) • Winter and Easter environmental camp (19 attendees) • The XXXII Nature Drawing Competition of the Festa Major de Riudarenes with 40 participants between 3 and 12 years old. • Sant Ponç festivity in Riudarenes on 11 and 12 May, walk (25) and seed pump workshop (26) • The Turtle Fest with various workshops and environmental talks with 187 participants. SCHOOL OF NATURALISTS

• Pilot tests of School of Naturalists within the environmental education project “Promotion of environmental education and awareness in favor of the preservation of wetlands with turtles of Catalonia” (95 participants, 36 sessions conducted) • School of Naturalists course 2019/20 1st term, in the municipalities of Sils and Riudarenes (11 participants) • Family activity School of Naturalists · Monitoring of micromammals in the Sils Lakes (24 participants)

DAta on organic farming training

• Organic Horticulture Training Days · 377 students • Organic horticulture course (68 hours - 19 registered)

resifarms project

In September 2019 we started what is our first European project, RESIFARMS, an Erasmus + KA204 together with the entities XCN, CEN LR (France), COMITATO (Italy), ADEPT (Romania) and CSOP (Czech Republic) . This project, lasting two and a half years, help farmers and agricultural technicians to use the non-productive areas of their farms (ponds, forests, meadows, etc.) to promote agricultural production by focusing on pest controls, pollination, erosion reduction, water filtration, while conserving and enhancing biodiversity. The objectives are to create a quick guide to know how to act in these spaces, make informative videos and face-to-face training for farmers and agricultural technicians. food waste

In 2019 we started a project with the Agència de Residus de Catalunya in which there will be dissemination on the prevention of food waste in the agricultural sector (fruit not harvested for excessively low prices, disposal of products of unconventional sizes and shapes, etc. ) and other links in the chain that have historically not been worked on enough, such as distribution or transformation. Waste cooking workshops have been held with the cooks of Sils, leaflets and educational resources for schools. GREEN ECONOMY

ORGANIC JAMS AND SAUCES

This year the Obrador de Can Moragues, due to its growth, has had to be moved to other facilities. From 2019, the productions will take place in the organic workshop of the social organisation Aprodisca, in Montblanc.

The sales of products has grown by 9.5% compared to 2018, following the stabilization of sales in Catalonia, and expanding its presence and consolidating at a national level in Andorra. We have continued to work so that a large part of the products come from farms in land stewardship and this year we have planned better to adapt production to the seasons, anticipate production needs and the possibilities of the producers. The goal is to increase the percentage of producers in land stewardship each year.

EL REBOST DE CAN MORAGUES

With the incorporation of Sergi de Meià’s cuisine, El Rebost de Can Moragues has added a new dimension of the Slow Food project, by bringing organic and local varieties with traditional recipes to the table. Gradually the project tends towards sustainability while providing continued support to local organic producers and to producers in land stewardship agreements, favoring a short-chain market and waste reduction. 40% of the vegetables sold have been from local producers, and 20% from local varieties.

DEMOSTRATIVE GARDEN

The Can Moragues demonstration organic garden, managed by workers from the Emys Foundation, the Astres Foundation and volunteers, continues to improve various structural and environmental aspects. On the one hand, improvements have been made in all the margins of aromatics and a new margin of artichokes (of the four planned) of perennial crops has been made, to add maturity to the orchard.

On the other hand, the demonstration project carried out in collaboration with the University of Barcelona, “dissemination of the positive relationship between the increase in soil organic matter, microbial biodiversity, fertility and disease resistance from carbon-rich compost in horticultural soils”,​​ has resulted in bringing the garden up to 3.6% of organic matter in just two and a half years, fixing 5.1 tons of carbon, increasing the activity and microbial diversity of the soil and reducing the incidence of soil-borne diseases. In this way, we have been able to demonstrate that the regeneration of soils with compost is fast and has numerous environmental and agronomic benefits. OUTSTANDING PROJECTS

ELABORATION OF THE MANAGEMENT PLAN OF ESTANY DE SILS

As members of the natural area Estany de Sils’ technical commission we have participated in the elaboration of a new management plan for the natural space following the Open Standards for the practice of Conservation.

The main objective of this management plan is the short, medium and long-term conservation of aquatic habitats (permanent lagoon, permanent or temporary ponds and river courses), meadows and grasslands, oaks and holm oaks, riparian forests, and the main faunal groups of the lake.

The plan sets the goals of the permanent lagoon to maintain a minimum wetland of 1 hectare and depths greater than one meter (on average), as well as to improve water quality in the coming years. With regard to its environment, the plan envisions that by 2022 different types of grassland and grassland habitats will be available, and that oaks and holm oaks will be preserved, without invasive species, among other things.

SCHOOL OF NATURALISTS COCOON DEMOSTRATIVE

LThe School of Naturalists is an extracurricular This project, led by CREAF, consists of Cocoon education offer designed for all those children technology, a to facilitate the who like nature and / or want to learn more about replanting of trees in areas degraded by fires, everything around them. The main idea is to erosion or soil alterations. bring them closer to nature, through personal connection with nature, deep, close and complex This methodology aims to increase the survival of knowledge of it and action with responsible and reforestation and plantations on dry land without appropriate decision-making to help reduce the support irrigation, while promoting biodiversity. impact of the human in the environment. Three experimental fields with holm oaks, olive To give shape to this project, apart from using trees and ash trees have been installed on the GEPEC, who started this proposal in Catalonia, farm in order to show the agricultural sector, in as a reference, we received a grant that allowed the talks that have been held during the year, the us roll out our own project and in September, and differences in survival and growth this system with the support of Grup Batallé, start offering the offers as compared to conventional plantations. proposal as an extracurricular. COMMUNICATION

During 2019, we developed and implemented the Strategic Communication Plan 2019/20 together with an Internal Communication Plan to encourage and improve communication with our internal audiences. At the same time, we have implemented a renewed internal communication protocol to improve projects’ communication and the relationship between the communication area and the area managers.

We have also launched a press section in our website, where we have created a press report with the most relevant information about the organisation and a press clipping where you can find all the media appearances in the form of news or articles about the Emys Foundation. press appearances

media appearances OUTSTANDING CCMA 5 Restauren la llacuna permanent de l’estany de Sils per recuperar l’espai i la seva biodiversitat Fundació Emys i Can Moragues, de la terra a la taula DIARI DE GIRONA 3 El cocoon, una eina pensada per millorar l’eficàcia de les reforestacions EL PUNT AVUI 4 Comencen les obres per recuperar l’espai natural de l’estany de Sils SER CATALUNYA 1 Pla per preservar l’Estany de Sils LA SELVA 360 2 Sant Hilari i la Fundació Emys signen un conveni per preservar el medi natural EL GERIÓ 1 Compatibilitzant la protecció dels estanys de Sils i l’ús públic MÓN PLANETA 1 Un pla preveu compatibilitzar conservació, ús i pro- tecció davant d’inundacions a l’Estany de Sils TV 1 Limnos participa en un projecte sobre la tortuga d’estany de la Fundació Emys REVISTA BAIX EMPORDÀ 1 El compostatge ric en carboni: una solució que cuida l’horta i la natura economic balance

Pressupost 2019: 476.021,46

5%

35%

45%

15%

Subvencions públiques Contractes públics Contractes privats Donacions privades

Destí del pressupost PER ÀREA DE treball

10%

29% 14%

25% 22%

Conservació Eduació Economia Verda Gestió sostenible Estructura PATRONAGE

ENRIC LLEBOT glòria armengol JOSEP SERRAT MARIA TRIAS PRESIDENT TRESORERA SECRETARI VOCAL

mireia dilmé santi massot laura seras jordi gironès vocal vocal vocal VOCAL

T’agraïm Jordi que ens ajudessis a que tot això hagi sigut possible! WORK TEAM

MARC VILAHUR MONTSE CASALPRIM PAU SUNYER ANDER ACHOtegui direcció EDUCACIÓ I VOLUNTARIAT CONSERVACIÓ GESTIÓ SOSTENIBLE

IVETTE CASADEVALL GENÍS ROVIRA ONA FONT ALBERT CARNÉ COMUNICACIÓ EDUCACIÓ EDUCACIÓ CONSERVACIÓ OCCASIONAL WORKERS AND collaborators

Pau Torra, Nil Verdú, Montse Moya, Anna Freixas, Bernat Martí, Carina Masferrer, Manel Casas, Júlia Ayats, Cristina Vila, Guillem Domingo, Mariona Ribas, Miguel Ángel Fuentes, Jordi Puig, Bárbara López, Borja Camí, Killian Sampol i Marco Sangiorgio, Hamza El Kabouri volunteers and internships

Laia Baró, Laia Rodríguez, Núria Castells, Alba Valentí, Martí Ayats, Mateu Jaume, Pau Martí, Joan Mas, Pol Valentí, Trucs AEiG Roca Guillera, Sergi Hosta, Marc Gironès, Martí Gubianes, Mar Alonso, Juan Alfonso, Família Munill Font, Mireia Mena, Fiona Corminas, Víctor García, Francesc Vidal, Carolina Muñoz, Santiago Poch, Adrià Molina i Vicenç Roman. partners and acknowledgements

Josep Mas Carós S.L. Groupe Atlantic Limnos AEiG Roca Guillera Concep-T AEiG Montpalau Fundació Astres AEiG Pare Claret Ajuntament de Riudarenes AEiG Vista Alegre Ajuntament de Maçanet de la Selva AEiG Sant Nicolau Ajuntament de AEiG Sant Narcís Ajuntament de Vilobí d’Onyar AEiG Les Gavarres Ajuntament de AEiG Joan Pons Ajuntament de Les Planes d’Hostoles AEiG Pinya de Rosa Ajuntament de Sant Hilari Sacalm AEiG Sant Cugat Dalia Dome AE Can Baró Càrnica Batallé S.A. Idaria Tècnic Industrial 2011 SLU sponsors partnerships and memberships

THANK YOU!

www.fundacioemys.org

@fundacioemys 972164957