Joan is in love with plants. He not only knows them, but enjoys them. Seeing Joan, in the middle of a bush or in the woods, surrounded by plants, is like seeing someone who is surrounded by friends. He feels at home.
Apart from his work as a teacher, before at the University of Girona and now, by his own choice, at an Institute where he says, he can have more influence when it comes to promoting curiosity and the sense of wonder of the students, he leads the IAEDEN’s recovery project of the Prats de Dall.
He is, without a doubt, the highest authority on the Prats de Dall of Catalonia and a staunch defender of a new positioning of man with respect to nature and his environment. A much more humble, inclusive and empathic position. For him, the spaces of interaction and mutual use between species, where both man and the plant environment take their share, are the spaces that need more work and learning, since they are the spaces where the tension between the interests of one and the other are more obvious and complex. In this sense, the Prats de Dall exemplify a type of operation, which, with minimal intervention, manages to produce unique wealth and biodiversity, which benefits both the landscape and mankind.
His knowledge and experience in the identification and preservation of Prats de Dall is of vital importance to BEE BRAVE. Joan, apart from taking a census of plant species and monitoring all our actions, teaches and guides us, to make this pilot project a perfect showcase to give visibility to the importance of Prats de Dall, and of biodiversity, in the preservation of the environment.
Follow him at twitter: @joanfontgarcia
