The Secretary of State for the Environment, Federico Ramos, and the Secretary of State for Tourism, Isabel Mª Borrego, have presented the Programme “Conservation Actions on the Coast 2013” at Malvarrosa Beach in Valencia. This programme, which the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment has launched for the second consecutive year through the Biodiversity Foundation, seeks to promote the dissemination of good environmental practices through the “Responsible Beach Bars” campaign and the “Beaches, Volunteering and Land Stewardship” initiative.
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Federico Ramos, and the Secretary of State for Tourism, Isabel Mª Borrego, have presented the Programme “Conservation Actions on the Coast 2013” at Malvarrosa Beach in Valencia. This programme, which the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment has launched for the second consecutive year through the Biodiversity Foundation, seeks to promote the dissemination of good environmental practices through the “Responsible Beach Bars” campaign and the “Beaches, Volunteering and Land Stewardship” initiative.
The “Responsible Beach Bars” campaign has two main axes: the “Decalogue of Good Environmental Practices” and the second Edition of the “Responsible Beach Bar Awards”. It is an initiative that seeks to integrate the private business sector in the implementation of the program’s objectives, joining forces for the improvement and conservation of the coastline in Spain. Last year, this campaign reached 526 beach bars adhered to the Decalogue and 55 beach bars registered in the first edition of the Awards.
On the other hand, the Marlisco Project, funded by the European Union, has included the “responsible beach bar” initiative as one of the 10 best European initiatives to conserve the coast”. This project, which has about twenty partners, works to reduce marine litter in Europe and carries out an important awareness campaign. For more information, you can consult the project website www.marlisco.eu
The 2013 edition of the “beaches, volunteering and land stewardship” programme is launched. With this plan, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment enhances the role of citizen action in the conservation of nature and landscapes, through volunteer actions with land stewardship entities, including marine and river stewardship. In the 2012 edition, more than 5,000 volunteers were mobilized on 100 Spanish beaches.
As part of the presentation of the “Campaign of Conservation Actions on the Coast 2013”, the Limne Foundation, with the collaboration of the Biodiversity Foundation, has organized an environmental volunteering day focused on the conservation and improvement of our beaches.
In this case, the action has been carried out on the Saler Beach in Valencia, in the area between the Garrofera beach and the Sidi Saler hotel. Where actions have been carried out to eliminate the plant called cat’s claw (Carpobrotus edulis), an invasive plant native to South Africa that already covers many Spanish coastal strips, making it difficult for native species to take root and entering into pollen competition. This plant has a great impact on dunes, sandbanks, rocks and coastal cliffs, so actions like this one result in an improvement of the ecosystem. They have also been able to learn about the dune regeneration projects carried out by the Valencia City Council, from the hand of the technicians of the Devesa-Albufera Service. The day concluded with an information session on Malvarrosa Beach where volunteers discussed the differences between natural beaches and urbanized beaches, proposing actions for improvement from environmental volunteering.
To see all the images of the presentation act click here.
