Ana Leiva, director of the Biodiversity Foundation, stressed the importance of addressing climate change and the loss of biodiversity as economic and social challenges, beyond their environmental dimension.

Ana Leiva, director of the Biodiversity Foundation, stressed the importance of addressing climate change and the loss of biodiversity as economic and social challenges, beyond their environmental dimension.

He did so during the debate “Environmental challenges of Spanish society… Looking at 2020”, on the second day of the tenth edition of the National Congress on the Environment (CONAMA), inaugurated on Monday, November 22 at the Campo de las Naciones Municipal Conference Centre, in Madrid.

Manuel Vidal, from the Institutional Relations area of Tragsa; Luis del Olmo, general director of the Foundation for Environmental Research and Development (Fida); Margarita Nájera, manager of the Playa de Palma Consortium; Cristina García-Orcoyen, director of the Entorno Foundation, and Theo Oberhuber, coordinator of Ecologists in Action.

The major environmental problems that are currently being faced require urgent strategies with medium-term objectives. The success of achieving the goals set by the European Union for 2020 requires the participation of all the social agents involved. That is why this debate has been raised, in which representatives of the competent Administrations and the business, academic and social world have contributed their points of view.

In her speech, Ana Leiva stressed the unavoidable environmental challenges to which society must respond in the 2020 horizon, especially those related to issues related to the impact of climate change on ecosystems and the availability of water resources; biodiversity loss; soil erosion and the presence of invasive species. All of them point to the need to preserve a sufficient natural capital base to preserve the functionality of ecosystems, which provide us with irreplaceable services on which our economy, health and well-being depend.

Ana Leiva stated that, although the initial perspective given to these problems is based on an ecological perspective, the most important thing is that society understands that when we talk about climate change and biodiversity loss we are referring to important economic and social challenges.
“It is necessary,” said the director of the Biodiversity Foundation, “to maintain a base of natural capital to sustain the functionality of ecosystems that provide food, clean water, breathable air, raw materials, and that are the vital basis of the system that guarantees the health of human beings and an adequate model of well-being.” It is, by the way, a capital that is being reduced at an unprecedented rate and, in his view, this is the most pressing environmental problem in the medium term.

The solution, Leiva pointed out, is to complete the transition towards a social and sustainable economy, which recognises the value and scarcity of natural assets and takes advantage of their necessary conservation as a lever for innovation and job creation. The three fundamental axes to take on this challenge are the development of a framework that encourages innovation and the creation of “green” jobs, the effective application of new formulas of public-private collaboration and the awareness and involvement of citizens to achieve profound and large-scale changes.

The tenth edition of the National Congress on the Environment (Conama 10) will continue to take place throughout this week at the Municipal Conference Center in Madrid, until November 26. You can follow everything related to the match on www.conama10.es.