Director of the Chair of Forests.

Professor of Human Geography at the University of Girona and director of the Observatory of the Landscape of Catalonia from its creation in 2005 until 2017.

He was awarded his PhD by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, broadening his studies at the University of Wisconsin in Madison (USA), under the teaching of the geographer Yi-Fu Tuan. He has been a visiting lecturer at several foreign universities. He is co-director of the collection of books 'Paisaje y Teoría', published by the editorial Biblioteca Nueva, and for many years has been co-publisher of the journal Geographical Analysis Document. ‘Rei Jaume I d’Urbanisme, Paisatge i Sostenibilitat’ award in 2009 and Premi d'Assaig Joan Fuster award in 2010. He is a numerary member of the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC) and of the Advisory Board for Sustainable Development (CADS) of the Government of Catalonia. In 2022, he was honoured as 'Sylvester Baxter Lecturer' by Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. His latest books are Paesaggio, territorio, società civile. Il senso of the luogo nel contemporaneo (Melfi: Libria, 2017); Yi-Fu Tuan. The arte of the geografía (Barcelona: Icaria, 2018); and L’altra món rural. Reflexions i experiències de la nova ruralitat catalana (Barcelona: Tigre de Paper, 2022, in colaboration with Rosa Cerarols).

(Photo courtesy of: Gemma Ventura)

Chairman and General Coordinator of Sèlvans. Founder and promoter of the Sèlvans programme.

A forestry engineer with a PhD from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, specialising in silvopasture.

From 1992 to 2003 he worked freelance in forest planning and management studies and projects, both for public space mountains and for private estates, with special emphasis on promoting a sustainable silviculture.

From 1993 to1999, he worked on establishing the ADF Mig Pallars technical office for forests in the Catalan Pyrenees, promoting and directing the LIFE project “Pirineu viu”, whose purpose is to demonstrate the value of the singular forest heritage of the Pyrenees.

Between 2001 and 2002, he co-directed ICRAF’s international development cooperation project. “Dissemination of sustainable agro-forestry techniques in the North of Vietnam”, and he was later involved in different initiatives to preserve relics from primeval jungles.

From 2003 to 2011, he coordinated Girona Provincial Council's Area of Environment and Territory, and he was also technical secretary of the Local Initiatives Board for the Environment Department of the Girona counties (CILMA).

Since 2007, he has promoted and coordinated the Sèlvans project to preserve forests of high natural value. After his time with Sèlvans at the Nature Foundation (2013-2017), Jaume Hidalgo became General Coordinator of the Sèlvans Association on its constitution in March 2017.

In October 2019, he was Technical Director of the III International Congress on the Forest and its Potential for Health, organised by Sèlvans.

He has directed three university extension courses (2017, 2018 and 2019) and two postgraduate course (2020-2021) on forests and health, organised by the Sèlvans Association in collaboration with the University of Girona Foundation.

Global Change and Innovation at Sèlvans.

He has a Master’s degree in International Studies and Development Cooperation. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education.

From 2006 to 2017, he worked in the Nature Foundation (“Acciónatura”), where he was responsible for “Global Change and Innovation”, developing some tasks that were later given continuity by the Sèlvans Association. Among other accomplishments, since 2005 he has taken part in the creation and deployment of the initiative to mitigate climate change CeroCO2 (www.ceroco2.org ), directed at individuals and organisations, and focused on calculating, reducing and compensating for CO2 emissions. He co-promoted “CompensaNatura" in 2011, an initiative whose purpose was to compensate land occupancy, and has since been promoted by the Sèlvans Association. In October 2019, he was coordinator of the III International Congress on the Forest and its Potential for Health, organised by Sèlvans. He has been the main speaker at numerous workshops, conferences and congresses on nature conservation, where custody of the territory always plays a central role. He has taken part in the conception and development of several campaigns to raise awareness of climatic change and biodiversity.

His present focus is particularly on finding tools for valuing forests’ ecosystem services, fund-raising, communication and internal management, and the promotion of synergies at international level.

Custody technician and SIG and therapeutic forest itinerary technician for Sèlvans.

He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Geography, Town and Country Planning and Environmental Management from the University of Girona.

He has gradually specialised in establishing synergies and understandings with the management bodies of natural spaces, local entities and forest owners. He has helped Sèlvans to promote and consolidate several forest custody projects, also in relation to implementing and operating itineraries with therapeutic functionalities in forests. He has collaborated with drafting different technical plans for forest management and improvement, making agreements to reinvest future payments for environmental services with property owners for the improvement of the agro-silvo-pastoral mosaic. He coordinated the forest open day, held in Garrotxa on 8 October 2019 within the framework of the III International Congress on the Forest and its Potential for Health.

Coordinator of the postgraduate course on “Forests and Health”, taught by Sèlvans with the collaboration of the University of Girona Foundation.

She is a biologist with master's degrees in Contemplative Psychotherapy, Civic Participation and Sustainable Development, Naturopathy and Alternative Medicine, Food and Nutrition, and Management of International Cooperation Projects.

She coordinated the Habitats-Project Rivers Association, and has headed Nature Foundation conservation projects. She is a ,consultant in conserving the natural heritage, civic participation, ecotourism and sustainability.

At present, she is responsible for public use and training at the Sèlvans therapeutic forests network, and she gives health professionals training classes on health-related matters.