Forest and Biodiversity Rehabilitation in Cornelio

The purpose of this appendix is to explain the derivation and assumptions giving rise to the above costings.

Legal and land acquisition

• Establishment/Maintenance of “Not for Profit” Company: This refers to the basic costs involved in the registration and maintenance of a “Company Limited by Guarantee”, registered in Ireland, A company limited by guarantee is the normal way in which an NGOs acquires a legal personality in Ireland and Europe. The articles of association of the company do not permit the distribution of profits to the members of the company and the NGO can thus be eligible for charitable status. The use of an Irish company (limited by guarantee) is considered by the promoter to be the fastest and most convenient way to quickly establish the NGO.
• Legal Costs / retention company formation: This refers to the legal costs of registration of the company and drafting of articles of association. The company will be registered in Ireland for convenience and to reduce costs but, as an EU Company has full rights to operate and own assets in Spain.
• Establishment and maintenance of charitable status: This refers to the legal costs and charges involved in obtaining and maintaining charitable status for the company/NGO. This includes costs involved in ensuring that the norms of a charitable organization are properly established and maintained.
• Land and building purchase: This refers to the basic cost of the farm and farmhouse and buildings consisting of Cortijo Cornelio, excluding legal costs and taxes. The price is based on the current market value of the property and has been verified by two estate agents.
• Purchase of fixtures, furniture and fittings: This refers to the cost of ALL fixtures and fittings and furniture in Cortijo Cornelio.
• Legal Costs land purchase / IVA (tax on property) purchase: This refers to the cost of conveyance of Cortijo Cornelio to the NGO Company, including the cost of a lawyer, notary and payment of tax on the property purchase.
• Bookkeeper, accountant and auditor: This cost includes the cost of a bookkeeper to maintain accounts, present quarterly and annual VAT, social security and income tax returns. It also includes the cost of preparation, audit and presentation of annual tax returns.
• Insurance / Public liability land and farm house accommodation / training center: This refers to the insurance premium for general risks to the farm and farmhouse to include public liability, and the use of the property for public training and accommodation.

Fundraising

• Multimedia productions (video, website): This refers to the creation of multimedia, website and social media required to assist in fundraising for the project.
• Fundraising charges to crowd funding organizations – 5% on €2850000. Crowd funding organizations charge a commission of between 3% and 9% to collect funding for a promoter’s project. 5% is set here as a typical charge.

Environmental evaluation and audits

• Initial environmental evaluation and report – 4 weeks – 12 man weeks for 3 biologists/ecologists plus travel and board. This cost refers to the ground study work and preparation of a report describing the current state of the land of Cortijo Cornelio BEFORE tree planting by a team of biologists including botanists, entomologists and ornithologists.
• Audit and report – 4 man weeks 2 biologists plus travel and board: This cost refers to the ground study work and preparation of a report describing the state of the land of Cortijo Cornelio after planting. It focuses on biodiversity changes and the success of the planting process and growth rates.

Infrastructure

• Access roads – upgrade existing: This cost refers to the costs involved in upgrading the existing private roads on the farm of Cortijo Cornelio to ensure they are passable.
• New access roads: This cost refers to the opening of new access roads for the purposes of planting at Cortijo Cornelio. Many of these access roads already exist and need to be maintained. Two areas need new access roads. These roads are made by JCB and are temporary. After 3 or 4 years they no longer need maintenance and can be abandoned.
• Planting preparation: This cost refers to the work required in land preparation for planting. This includes the use of a tracked tractor and strimmer/shredder to temporarily reduce weed cover in areas to be planted – this takes place after flowering and helps spread wild seed but also makes it possible to carry out planting of trees.
• Planting protection (rabbits and wild boar incl. electric fencing). One of the risks of planting in the area is damage to young sapling primarily by rabbits and wild boar. Rabbits will eat the growing centres from trees and wild boar will uproot young trees if they detect moist soil from irrigation. These problems can be avoided by the installation of an electric fence around recently planted areas. These fences provide protection by giving a non-fatal electric shock to animals trying to enter the planting zone. The fence is erected temporarily and removed after 3 years. It is powered by solar generated electricity and a battery. This cost refers to the cost of purchase and installation of these electric fences.
• Upgrade rainwater harvesting system pumps, tanks, buildings. This cost refers to the work required to upgrade the existing rainwater harvesting system. This involves the installation of new (faster) pumps, building maintenance of collector houses. tanks and filters.
• Upgrade rainwater storage system This refers to the extension of water capacity of the existing 105,000 litre rainwater tank by 50% and the construction of another tank of 105,000 litre tank by Illurco, Granada.
• Install main irrigation line 2km of 32mm and valves /associated building work. This cost refers to the laying of a 32mm water pipe for a distance of approximately 2 km from the main irrigation storage tanks and pump to the most distant planting zones, west and south of Cortijo Cornelio. The pipe is installed in a trench in the middle of the main access roads opened by a JCB-type excavator. It includes the installation of regular 20mm tapings for each irrigation/planting zone.
• Zone irrigation installation: This cost refers to the installation of 20 to 9 mm connection and valves for each planting zone, provision of the 9mm irrigation pipe and drip irrigation heads for each planting zone in preparation for planting.
• Architectural services and building license costs (6%). This cost refers to the charges involved in obtaining local licences to carry out building works to convert existing building for new purposes. For example, the conversion of the Bodega as a training room or the existing factory as accommodation requires building works and therefore a license from the local Ayuntamiento costing approximately 3% of total building costs. It also requires the participation of an architect which attracts an additional cost of approximately 3%.
• Accommodation upgrades (building/plumbing/furnishing) Accommodation upgrades incl. training room, accommodation (building/plumbing/furnishing): This cost refers to the physical building works (labour and materials) required to covert several buildings to accommodate trainees and biologists on site, including a training room. It also includes furnishing these areas to a good standard.
• IT Systems – Accounting / MIS. This cost refers to the implantation of an automated accounting and MIS to handle the following data:
  • Day to day accounting of the project and on-going operations, VAT, tax returns, social security returns
  • Cash flow analysis
  • Donation accounting
  • Cost control
  • Plant database for progress and planting loss monitoring.
• IT Systems – Website, domain and hosting lease, development, maintenance. This cost refers to the leasing costs of a domain and website host, to the design and development of a website for the project and it on-going maintenance. The website will deliver information on project progress and costs as part of the policy of project transparency.

Planting

• Consulting forester / environmental engineer. This refers to the charges in contracting a temporary consulting forester to supervise the planting and initial irrigation. The person contracted should also be qualified as an environmental engineer. The involvement of this person will initially be high and will decrease with subsequent planting phases.
• Pinus pinea / halipensis stock 250,000 (for the entire project over a period of 6 years), small. This cost refers to the purchase of the bulk of the planting stock which is 2 to 3 year old trees. The mix of species is defined elsewhere in this document
• Pinus pinea / halipensis stock 50,000 (for the entire project over a period of 6 years), large. This cost refers to the purchase of older trees to be planted during each planting phase on the South and Westerly side of each planting zone. These more established trees will provide shade to the younger, smaller trees. The mix of species is defined elsewhere in this document.
• Encina (Holm Oak) and Cork Oak stock 100,000 (for the entire project over a period of 6 years) small. This cost refers to purchase of oak saplings (2 to 3 years old).
• Labour /Tractor-auger for initial Planting / Strimming. This refers to the labour and machine contract costs in planting. The plantings holes are first drilled using a tracked tractor and auger. Tree saplings are then manually planted and this is labour intensive and requires care. Each tree-planting is then manually back-filled with soil. Areas to be planted may need to be manually strimmed in advance of planting and planted zones will require the temporary installation of electric fences to protect the saplings for the first 2 to 3 years.
• Final irrigation installation last metre to tree: After planting the final irrigation installation is extended to the planted zone, 9 mm irrigation pipe is laid to each sapling and a drip irrigator is inserted for each tree. This irrigation is removed after the trees are established (3 to 4 years).
• Auger attachment for tractor planting – purchase: This refers to the capital cost of buying an auger attachment and PTO connection for an auger to be attached to a tracked tractor.

Maintenance and operational costs

• Road maintenance: The access roads need to be maintained for the first 5 years after planting to provide access for maintenance work and inspection. This road maintenance involves the use of a JCB or similar leveling and clearing these dirt tracks every 3 years, requiring 4 days per year.
• Irrigation – rainwater harvesting maintenance. The rainwater harvesting buildings, pipe work, pumps and storage tanks require regular maintenance to ensure that they perform correctly. This cost refers to the maintenance labour and material of this infrastructure.
• Building maintenance: All buildings on site require routine annual maintenance. This cost refers to the maintenance labour and material of these buildings.
• Energy costs (electricity provided by Fenie Energia 100% renewable): This cost refers to the energy costs in running Cortijo Cornelio (mainly electricity).
• Communication costs, telephone, internet, mobile: This cost refers to all communication infrastructure used in Cortijo Cornelio including fixed line telephone, internet connection and mobile phone.
• Travel costs – local and onsite incl. insurance and fuel: This cost refers to travel costs involved in the project including on-site travel for planting, collection of stock and business travel involved in the project and includes vehicle insurance and fuel.
• Property taxes: This cost refers to the property taxes paid to the local authority for the Cortijo and land.
• Bank charges: This refers to the routine bank charges for the maintenance of bank accounts for the NGO managing the project.
• Transport, tax and vehicle lease: This refers to those leasing costs involved in a single 4×4 vehicle lease, and local vehicle taxes for use in this project.
• Water costs (by tanker) 100 tonnes per year if required: This is the contingent cost of buying water, transported by tanker lorry to Cortijo Cornelio in the event of there being insufficient rain to maintain initial irrigation systems. Each tanker carries approximately 10 tonnes of water which would be pumped into the storage tank(s). This risk declines after 4 years as trees become established.

Labour Costs (operational)

• Management costs: This refers to the cost of professional project management which is centred on a project manager responsible for project planning, risk management, maintenance management, MIS and day to day operations. This will be the CEO of the not for profit company for the first 5 years.
• Labour costs (strimming, weeding, replanting as required), irrigation excluding main planting: This cost refers to the work required in upkeep of the young saplings in their early years. They require some basic weeding and replacement of losses, the maintenance of irrigation and strimming of large weeds as required to allow the saplings to become established. It also includes the operation of daily irrigation during the summer months.
• Secretarial costs (part time): This refers to the costs of employing secretarial labour in the administration of the NGO that runs the project.
• Labour costs (cleaning, building and site maintenance): This cost refers to the routine labour costs of cleaning, and site maintenance, and gardening.
• Social insurance costs (20% of labour costs): This refers to the costs of social security payments on all labour costs.
• Directors / Company Secretary fees and expenses including travel: This cost refers to the travel and accommodation expenses incurred by directors of the NGO in meeting and directing the project and the payment of director’s fees.

Training Preparation

• Course content design and development: This cost is based on the initial labour required to design and develop training courses in reforestation, rainwater harvesting planting methodology and forestry maintenance.
• Multi-media production (videos, slideshow etc.). Training sessions will use multi-media to deliver training material. This material will need to be prepared during the training development and this cost reflects the time and labour required to produce this multi-media material.