Ramon Folch
Barcelona, 1946
Ramon Folch is a doctor of biology, socioecologist, and a pioneer in the dissemination of environmental sciences and nature management, both locally and internationally. In times of scientific isolation, through the Spanish dictatorship and transition period, he was the driving force behind several initiatives that created scientific and educational tools which have had a significant impact in various professional areas. His works include Natura, ús o abús? El llibre blanc de la gestió de la natura als Països Catalans (1976), and Història natural dels Països Catalans (1981-1992, 16 volumes).
Folch has always been a supremely active and influential communicator of environmental science. He is the technical director of the online journal Sostenible.cat, has curated major exhibitions, created television series, writes as a columnist in the daily press, and has participated in many and various television and radio programmes. He has written some thirty books and around two hundred scientific articles, and all his work has contributed decisively to raising society’s awareness of nature.
In 1994, he founded the Estudi Ramon Folch i Associats (ERF), a consultancy firm dedicated to research, environmental communication, and the sustainable management of land, energy, and urban centres. Its approach, which he personally helped to define and develop, differs essentially from the ecological because rather than aiming to solve environmental problems, it questions socio-economic issues that are expressed in an environmental way.
Folch has also been a professor of Botany at the University of Barcelona, director of environmental services for the Diputació de Barcelona and the Generalitat de Catalunya, has held various positions at UNESCO, including as a consultant in environmental management, has collaborated in numerous international technical projects in environmental and health fields, and in the foundation of DEPANA. League for the Defence of Natural Heritage (1975), among many other positions and functions.