The Biodiversity Foundation today held the award ceremony of the first edition of the LIFE+ Awards “European Capitals of Biodiversity”, to promote the initiatives of local authorities in the field of biodiversity conservation in Europe.

The Biodiversity Foundation today held the award ceremony of the first edition of the LIFE+ Awards “European Capitals of Biodiversity”, to promote the initiatives of local authorities in the field of biodiversity conservation in Europe.

The city council of the Royal Site of San Ildefonso (province of Segovia) has obtained the highest award, that of Capital of Biodiversity, for its trajectory, initiatives and projects in the field of conservation.  

Likewise, the municipalities of Vitoria Gasteiz, Somiedo (Asturias) and Quer (Guadalajara) have been in first place in their respective categories, established according to the number of inhabitants of the municipality. For their part, Barcelona and Donostia-San Sebastián have won second and third prize, respectively, in the category of cities with more than 30,000 inhabitants (see annex with a complete table of finalists by category).

At the event that took place at the Madrid headquarters of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and was chaired by the President of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, Josep Puxeu, diplomas were awarded to the 16 Spanish municipalities that were awarded.

Gijón (Asturias) and Logroño (La Rioja) have received Special Mentions for “projects in green spaces” and Córdoba (Córdoba) and Santander (Cantabria), both Mentions for projects that promote “environmental equality”. In the case of Gijón, the Jury has highlighted the 64 percent increase in green spaces (parks and gardens, cattle trails, greenways and restored areas) that has been registered in the municipality since 2000. In Cordoba, the construction (and inauguration, in 2007) of the Asomadilla Park, the second largest green space in Andalusia, has been recognized, which responded to a demand of the neighbors that lasted 25 years.

The municipalities of Puebla de Sanabria (Zamora), Valle de Mena (Burgos), Tineo (Asturias), Astillero (Cantabria), Alberuela de Tubo (Huesca) and Sojuela (La Rioja) were also distinguished.

The four categories of participation were established according to the number of inhabitants of the municipalities. Thus, category A corresponded to municipalities with less than 1,000 inhabitants; category B, to municipalities with between 1,001 and 5,000 inhabitants; category C, to municipalities with between 5,001 and 30,000 inhabitants and category D, to cities with more than 30,000 inhabitants.

The 68 candidatures submitted have been evaluated according to the measures and projects that the municipalities develop for the correct conservation of biodiversity. Special attention has been paid to: green spaces; planning instruments for the protection of biodiversity; biodiversity in agriculture, forests and inland waters, the monitoring of biodiversity indicators, as well as the organisation of the City Council and its actions related to the participation and awareness of society.

The jury was made up of Ana Leiva Díez, director of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs; Mª Antonia Pérez León, president of the Network of Local Governments + Biodiversity 2010 and president of the Provincial Council of Guadalajara; Luis Jiménez Herrero, executive director of the Sustainability Observatory in Spain; María José Tegel Bordón, national authority of the Life+ Program, and Marion Hammerl, president of the Lake Constance Foundation.

The municipality recognized as the “Capital of Biodiversity” – El Real Sitio de San Ildefonso – has been invited to participate in the “Summit of Cities for Biodiversity” to be held during the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) in Nagoya, Japan, in October 2010.