The Fundación Premios Rei Jaume I, in collaboration with Vectalia, is organising activities on the UA campus and, in the afternoon, a panel discussion on biodiversity, desertification and climate change to mark Earth Day

To coincide with Earth Day on 22 April, the Vectalia Group and the Fundación Premios Rei Jaume I have organised, in collaboration with the University of Alicante, a range of activities to highlight the need to preserve the planet and protect biodiversity.

The event will open at 10.30 am at the monolith opposite the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities, with speeches by Amparo Navarro, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Alicante, and Javier Quesada, President of the Fundación Premios Rei Jaume I, Antonio Arias, Chairman of the Vectalia Group, and Vicente Martínez Mus, the Regional Minister for the Environment of the Generalitat.

Following the opening ceremony, pupils and teachers will be able to take a guided tour of the Geological Time Line, after which they will plant native trees and aromatic plants on the campus.

At 1.00 pm, the event will move to the Casa Sicilia Winery in Novelda, where there will be guided tours of the estate, the Mediterranean garden dedicated to Doña Julia will be unveiled, and the documentary “La bodega y la tierra” will be screened for the first time, highlighting the estate’s connection with the local area and its traditions.

This evening, at 6.00 pm, the Altamira Hall at the UA’s University Campus will host the scientific debate ‘Biodiversity, desertification and climate change’, moderated by journalist María Cáceres of Cadena Ser in Alicante, focusing on the environmental challenges of the 21st century. Participants will include José Luis Rubio, winner of the 1996 Rei Jaume I Prize for Environmental Protection, a Doctor of Agricultural Engineering and scientific researcher at the CSIC; Jordi Cortina, Professor of Ecology at the University of Alicante and holder of a PhD in Biology from the University of Barcelona; and Jorge Olcina, Professor of Regional Geographical Analysis at the University of Alicante, where he teaches courses on Spatial Planning, Climatology and Natural Hazards.