The Secretary General for Territory and Biodiversity of the Ministry of the Environment and president of the Spanish MaB Committee, Antonio Serrano, yesterday presented to the Congress of Spanish Biosphere Reserves the Action Plan that the Ministry of the Environment has drawn up for these natural spaces.

The document presented by the Ministry of the Environment includes the lines of action for the period 2007-2008. Among the purposes for this period is to formalize the MaB Program and the objectives of the Biosphere Reserves and the creation in the Ministry of the Environment of the Secretariat that will be in charge of developing the purposes pursued by the MaB Program, the Spanish Biosphere Reserves, the IberoMaB Network (which groups the reserves of Ibero-America) and EuroMaB (which integrates the European reserves).

The Ministry will establish, charged to its budget allocations, a call for R+D+i for the period 2007-2008 aimed at these natural areas. It will also promote the conclusion of agreements or consortia with Autonomous Communities, local administrations and non-profit institutions for the development of specific actions in those Biosphere Reserves that come close to meeting the objectives of the MaB Programme.

In addition, the Ministry of the Environment will enable a specific line of intervention to facilitate the development of the actions that the Congress that closed today has proposed in the different reserves, and especially for those referring to the creation of an intercommunication system for the Network of Biosphere Reserves and the creation of an Award for Good Practices in these natural spaces. a Catalogue of Good Practices and instruments for improving transparency, information, training and public participation in reserves. On the other hand, the Biodiversity Foundation will promote a specific call aimed at facilitating the fulfilment of the objectives of the MaB Programme.