In the 21st century, forest fires have become one of the most visible expressions of the climate crisis, threatening biodiversity, community safety, and, critically, the availability and quality of water. Each year, more than 70,000 hectares burn in Spain, and the trend is increasing: more intense heat waves, less snowy winters, and drier summers have created a scenario where fire is no longer an extraordinary event but a structural threat. In Aragón and the bordering area of Lleida, recent fires in La Litera, Ribagorza, and Moncayo have revealed the fragility of a landscape that, without active management, accumulates flammable biomass and multiplies the risk of catastrophe.
This project responds to that urgency with a transformative vision: turning fire into a trigger to regenerate the bond between water, soil, and vegetation. Under a functional and hydrologically resilient landscape approach, the proposal seeks to reduce excessive evapotranspiration through adaptive forest management, remove invasive species with high water demand, and restore native vegetation that strengthens infiltration and aquifer recharge. The installation of sediment retention barriers and green firebreak strips not only mitigates post-fire erosion but also rebuilds the territory’s ability to store water and withstand climate extremes.
The benefits are quantifiable and verifiable: it is estimated that the 500 hectares of intervention will generate 30 million m³ of Water Benefit over 15 years. This is equivalent to guaranteeing, each year, the water consumption of a city of 200,000 inhabitants. Physical traceability, through field sensors and satellite imagery, and digital traceability, through georeferenced systems and VWBA 2.0 reports, ensures that every cubic meter of water benefit can be audited and communicated. In this way, the initiative positions itself as a replicable model that goes beyond fire suppression: the goal is to rebuild water-resilient landscapes in regions where every drop counts.
The project involves regional governments, universities, conservation NGOs, companies with ESG commitments, and rural communities, ensuring collaborative governance and long-term sustainability. Its rationale lies in the fact that the abandonment of traditional practices and climate change have left vast areas vulnerable; recovering these water and ecological functions is a strategic priority both for the Ebro basin’s water security and for community well-being. In line with the Water Positive strategy, it complies with the principles of additionality, intentionality, and traceability: the benefits would not occur without the intervention, they are designed to structurally improve water resilience, and they are documented with verifiable evidence.
The challenge is clear: fires in Aragón and Lleida are not only an ecological loss but also a water and economic problem. After each event, infiltration decreases, runoff drags sediments into strategic reservoirs such as Barasona and Canelles, and water quality degrades, increasing turbidity, nutrients, and pollutants. This compromises agricultural irrigation, hydropower generation, and urban supply. The lack of forest management and the accumulation of flammable biomass have created a vicious cycle where fire repeats with greater severity, eroding soils and further weakening the territory’s ability to sustain life and production.
The opportunity lies in reversing this logic with nature-based solutions that generate immediate and long-term benefits. With remote sensing technologies, IoT sensors, and hydrological modeling, the project quantifies and validates every action: forest thinning that reduces evapotranspiration by up to 30%, revegetation with native species that improves infiltration by 60%, and retention dikes that reduce sediment loads by up to 40%. The impacts are immediate, lower fire risk, greater water availability, more stable soils, and strategic in the long term: climate resilience, water security, and reduced disaster costs.
The model is highly replicable in semi-arid and mid-mountain Mediterranean areas, where fires are recurrent. Companies in the agri-food, energy, or consumer goods sectors with sustainability commitments can lead this solution and turn it into a tangible ESG asset, with reputational, regulatory, and financial benefits. Being part of such a project is not only about reducing risks: it is about leading the transition to a new water and landscape economy, where fire ceases to be a threat and becomes a regenerative opportunity.
The proposed solution combines advanced digital technologies, forest management techniques, and ecological restoration measures to reduce risks and increase water resilience in a quantifiable way. The plan includes the use of high-resolution satellite remote sensing and artificial intelligence algorithms capable of processing time series of images to identify biomass accumulation hotspots, critical slopes, and ignition risk patterns. Based on this digital diagnosis, adaptive forest management interventions are carried out, including selective thinning with light machinery and low-impact chainsaws, in-situ shredding of residues to reduce fine fuels, and the creation of vegetation mosaics with strategic discontinuities that act as natural firebreaks.
At the same time, revegetation will be applied with native species of low water consumption, selected from edaphoclimatic studies, using drone-assisted seeding techniques and hydrogel-based biodegradable support irrigation to maximize survival rates in the first two years. For erosion and runoff control, sediment retention dikes with gabions, stone barriers, and coconut fiber biomats will be built, complemented by green firebreak strips with fast-growing herbaceous and shrub species. These measures are integrated with field instrumentation, soil moisture sensors, lysimeters, and weather stations, that allow hydrological models to be calibrated and operations adjusted in real time.
This combination of technical and technological solutions was selected for its ability to demonstrably improve water balances, reduce fuel loads, and restore key ecosystem services. It is expected to recover more than 2 million m³/year of infiltrated flow, reduce turbidity in reservoirs by 35% through sediment control, and minimize operational risks associated with recurring fires, soil loss, and water quality degradation.
The implementation approach is phased and adaptive, organized into stages with defined timelines, measurement instruments, and a continuous monitoring and control plan.
Phase 1 – Diagnosis (0-6 months): Baseline data collection will be carried out using soil moisture sensors, soil physicochemical analyses, high-resolution satellite imagery, and hydrological modeling with specialized software. Initial parameters such as natural infiltration (m³/ha/year), accumulated biomass (t/ha), vegetation cover (%), and water turbidity (NTU) will be measured. This diagnosis will establish reference thresholds.
Phase 2 – Execution (6-36 months): This phase will include silvicultural treatments (thinning and removal of fine biomass), installation of retention dikes, stone barriers, and gabions, and revegetation with native low-water-demand species. Photogrammetry drones, IoT sensors, and weather stations will be used to measure operational variables such as revegetated surface (ha), biomass reduction (t/ha), improved infiltration (m³/ha/year), and sediment reduction (t/year). Digital systems will transmit real-time data to a central platform.
Phase 3 – Validation and Monitoring (36-60 months): Results will be validated through KPIs: effective infiltration, reduction in turbidity in reservoirs (%), increase in vegetation cover, decrease in fire risk (measured as reduced flammable biomass), and climate resilience (comparison of soil moisture in dry periods). The monitoring plan includes semi-annual water and soil sampling, quarterly drone flights, and annual VWBA reports audited externally.
Control and Maintenance Plan: A preventive and predictive maintenance protocol will be implemented for green infrastructure (dikes, barriers, green firebreaks), with annual inspections of structural condition and hydraulic functionality. The system will include automatic alerts to detect drops in infiltration, accelerated erosion, or mortality in revegetation. All data will be digitally traceable and auditable by third parties.
This framework guarantees not only correct execution but also continuous project improvement, with transparency and external validation at each stage.
This project proposes the comprehensive restoration of 500 hectares of forests and landscapes affected by fires in Aragón and Lleida, structured into technical phases with precise objectives, defined timelines, and an exhaustive monitoring plan. The intervention integrates nature-based solutions, adaptive forest management, revegetation with native low-water-demand species, erosion control with dikes and barriers, and advanced digitalization through IoT sensors, satellite imagery, and hydrological modeling. Its central goal is to reduce evapotranspiration by 30%, increase effective infiltration by more than 2 million m³/year, improve water quality in strategic reservoirs such as Barasona and Canelles, and structurally decrease fire risk by reducing flammable biomass.
The expected results are quantifiable and verifiable: 30 million m³ of accumulated Water Benefit in 15 years, a 35% reduction in reservoir water turbidity, an increase of up to 60% in local infiltration, and a substantial improvement in biodiversity through habitat restoration and removal of invasive species. The technical plan includes measurement instruments such as soil moisture sensors, lysimeters for water balance, weather stations to record climatic variables, and remote monitoring with drones and satellites that validate changes in vegetation cover and fire risk in real time. This is complemented by a digital traceability system that records each intervention and connects the data with external audits under the VWBA 2.0 methodology.
Strategically, the project is integrated into the Water Positive roadmap, contributing additionality (the benefits would not occur without this intervention), intentionality (actions designed to improve water resilience), and traceability (benefits documented with verifiable evidence). Commercially, it offers companies and institutions the opportunity to strengthen ESG commitments, reduce regulatory risks, enhance reputation, and position themselves as leaders in the transition to climate-adapted and resilient landscapes. Its replicability potential in Mediterranean and semi-arid regions makes it a reference model against the climate crisis, water insecurity, and increasing forest fires, with bold, innovative, and technically verifiable solutions.
