The Minister of the Environment, Cristina Narbona, presented today at the Sectoral Conference the draft of the Law on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity, which has as its fundamental objective the survival, quality and environmental sustainability of the National Parks and the rest of the Spanish natural resources.

The text proposed by the Ministry incorporates, among other things, the modifications derived from the rulings of the Constitutional Court on the competences in matters of National Parks and establishes the conservation criteria that all protected areas must meet.

It also points out the active role of the General State Administration in monitoring, controlling and helping to meet the objectives of improving the quality and preservation of Spain’s natural heritage and biodiversity. In this sense, the Ministry of the Environment wants to promote good practices in National Parks and apply sustainable management policies in the farms and spaces that are currently owned by the Autonomous National Parks Agency.

The basic principles that inspire the law are: the maintenance of essential ecological processes and basic vital ecosystems; the preservation of genetic diversity; the orderly use of resources to ensure the sustainable use of species and ecosystems; and the preservation of the variety, uniqueness and beauty of natural ecosystems and landscape.

To achieve these objectives, it proposes the preparation of a National Strategic Plan for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity to establish and define the general criteria and standards of a basic nature that regulate the conservation, sustainable use and, where appropriate, the restoration of heritage and natural resources. The Ministry of the Environment, in collaboration with the Autonomous Communities, will be in charge of carrying out the Plan that will be approved by the Council of Ministers.