Researchers from the Universities of Granada, Polytechnic University of Valencia and the Autonomous University of Madrid have been awarded in this first edition of the awards aimed at recognising the efforts of the scientific community in improving the knowledge and conservation of Spanish wetlands.

The first edition of the Awards convened by the Spanish Wetlands Centre (CEHUM) of the Biodiversity Foundation, in collaboration with the Doñana Biological Station, aims to recognise the efforts made by the scientific community in improving the knowledge and conservation of Spanish wetlands.

The winners were:

• In ‘Final degree projects’, Cristina Serrano Muñoz, for her work “Graphic development of signage adapted to visual and accessible routes for the Nature Interpretation Centre of the Gandia marsh”. Polytechnic University of Valencia.
• In ‘Master’s Degree Final Projects/ Supervised Research Projects’, Asensio Navarro Ortega, with the work “Integrated water management in the European Union: The Community Framework Directive 2000/60/EC and its legal impact on coastal and transitional waters”. University of Granada.
• In ‘Doctoral Theses’, Carmen Fernández-Enríquez Blanco-Magadán, with the work “Limnology of the Carralogroño Lagoon (Álava): A functional model for Mediterranean saline lagoons”. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

The Jury of the “CEHUM Awards for research projects in wetlands” was made up of Guyonne Janss, head of the Research Coordination Office of the Doñana Biological Station/CSIC; Magdalena Bernués, head of the Wetlands Conservation Service of the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs; Ignacio Torres, director of the Projects Department of the Biodiversity Foundation and Mª José Viñals, director of the Spanish Wetlands Centre and professor of the Department of Cartography, Geodesy and Photogrammetry of the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

The Spanish Wetlands Centre (CEHUM), an initiative of the Biodiversity Foundation, in collaboration with the Universitat Politècnica de València, the Universitat de València and the City Council of Gandía (Valencia), continues, in this way, with the commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the signing, in February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar, of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat. which came into force in 1975.

Since its creation, the Ramsar Convention has encouraged progress in the conservation and rational use of these ecosystems, through local, national and international cooperation actions, in order to maintain their sustainable use.

The theme of the celebration in 2011 is “Forests and their contribution to water and wetlands”. CEHUM joins the global event with the launch of this first edition of the Research Awards and coordinating the environmental volunteering tasks of “Get wet for the Wetlands”, an awareness campaign that integrates a set of actions carried out by social organizations and environmental entities in different Spanish wetlands throughout the year.