We spoke with Eduardo Rojas Briales, professor at ETSEAMN since 2001 and member of the University Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (ITACA).
- Good morning, first of all we would like to get to know you better so we ask you to introduce yourself to your colleagues, who is Eduardo Rojas?
A person to whomis passionate about the multidimensionality of his professionnetworking, enriching debate and exchange, researching, reading, reflecting and learning, as well asto get to know new places and cultures.
- You have recently been appointed member of the CIHEAM Advisory Committee, what tasks will you develop?
Like other agricultural organizations, CIHEAM has had a clear projection in the agricultural and food sector, but much less in the forestry sector. FortunatelyThe double conviction has been reached that forestry is a strategic element of the rural world, especially in the most disadvantaged areas such as the mountains, and that both rural land uses need each other and complement each other, as evidenced by the very Mediterranean silvo-pastoral systems (pastures, montados).
Forestry management is a profession characterized by a very broad special and temporal dimension, unusual in today’s world, and therefore requires the integration of many disciplines such as geography and history.
- What is the role of forestry engineering in society?
Basic knowledge is the foundation, but by itself it does not allow societies to advance. It has been the applied sciences that are based on one or more basic disciplines that have taken mankind to its highest levels of development. The Romans, transformed Greek philosophy into the Law that still today allows Humanity not to be a jungle. Their complete domination of the Mediterranean and the high standard of living was based on different incipient engineering skills capable of enhancing mathematics, physics, chemistry or biology. The same happened during the Hispanic colonial period as recent publications are showing.
Forestry/mountain engineering is responsible for less productive areas that are not used for cities, infrastructure or agriculture. by valuing them to ensure their persistence over time and permanent provision of strategic biomaterials, high quality food and vital environmental services such as climate change mitigation, soil and hydrological cycle protection, biodiversity or landscape.Forest management increases forest resilience, restores historically degraded forests and optimizes their protective function.. Finally, the biomaterials it provides are strategic for the bioeconomy and the fight against climate change as they have a negligible carbon footprint due to their renewable origin.
In short,it is a profession that is characterized by a very broad special and temporal dimension, unusual in today’s world, and therefore requires the integration of many disciplines such as geography and history. Its founding paradigm defined by Carlowitz in 1713, the principle of Nachhaltigkeit/durabilité, was a decisive source of inspiration for the modern principle of sustainability adopted at the Rio Summit in 1992 and is the only activity with proven and long-standing experience in its application.
If we do not want fires to become mega-fires, we must act first by increasing the resilience of forests, reducing the fuel load available to burn and having a sufficient access network for management and extinction..
- Complete the sentence: “forest fires are extinguished in winter…”
Obviously they are extinguished as soon as they occur. What this oft-quoted phrase, originally from a veteran forester, is trying to express is thatif we do not want mega-fires to break out There are no material means to deal with them, until weather conditions allow it, action must be taken to increase the resilience of forests by reducing the fuel load available for burning.r, both horizontally and vertically, in addition to having a network of accesses sufficient for management and extinguishing.
- Currently, what is your biggest challenge at the professional level?
To combine the multiplicity of tasks and to be able to enjoy them without collapsing.The biggest challenge is undoubtedly to lead the PEFC International alliance and increasingly align its aspiration and representativeness with its capabilities and visibility.
Educating to understand the common elements by filtering out the noise of the anecdotal is a complex challenge..
In a sector coming from the “deep rural areas” as Santiago Marraco, the first President of Aragon and a forestry engineer, masterfully baptized it, it is difficult to understand that the challenges of other primary sectors or other distant countries are 90% very similar and shared.Educating to understand the common elements by filtering out the noise of the anecdotal is a complex challenge.. And learn to communicate as efficiently as possible to get the message across, necessarily nuanced, positive and complex and therefore more difficult.
- If you had to describe yourself in a tweet (maximum 320 characters), how would you define yourself?
A person with intellectual concerns, passionate about knowing the past, to explain the present and design the future, creative and forward-looking,pragmatic and ambitious in terms of objectives at the same time and who enjoys dealing with people who haveThe company, however modest it may be, has something to contribute, aware of its origins and at the same time a citizen of the world.
- Going into a more personal and relaxed side, what motto or phrase inspires you?
“Most of our time is wasted by not thinking through to the end.”. Alfred Herrhausen, President of Deutsche Bank, Advisor to Helmut Kohl and last victim of the Baader-Meinhoff terrorist gang.
- Will Elon Musk kill Twitter or will the opposite happen?
Or Twitter with him. I don’t know.
- If Twitter disappears, will you switch to Mastodon?
The dThe growth of social networks is unstoppable and one or more alternatives will immediately emerge.
- Pizza, with or without pineapple?
Thepizza in Italy,especially in the South,and with Mediterranean ingredients in which pineapple does not fit. I have lived more than 5 years in Italy and they are very strict about eating things.
- In winter, socks to sleep in?
Not ever, with agood Nordic heats up immediately.
- Vacations, sea or mountain?
Both, as a pisces I love the sea.swimming, the breeze and fish and seafood. I prepare maritime phenol as an aperitif with its special marine aroma.The mountain is also special, because of the perspective, the rewarding effort to crown it, its color changes.and shape throughout the day and angle, its authenticity, … In fact,there is no landscape more impressive than the mountain when it meets the sea.(Serra de Tramuntana, Norwegian Fjords, New Zealand, …).
- Finally, coffee, black or with milk?
In the morning with milk and muesli, after lunch cut up.But not if we pay attention to the WHO, which insists on the health risk if we abuse it.I learned it when I was UN Commissioner-General for the Milan World Expo in 2015 dedicated to food.