The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, joins today the celebration of the International Day for Biological Diversity, which this year focuses on how biodiversity is vital for sustainable development.
 
The Foundation coordinates and supports various projects aimed at maintaining our natural capital. In the field of marine and coastal biodiversity, the LIFE+ Indemares project has made it possible to increase the surface area of the Natura 2000 Network in the marine area in Spain by 73,000 km2, ensuring that more than 8% of our seas are protected. For its part, the ENPI-ECOSAFIMED project promotes the conservation of ecosystems and sustainable artisanal fishing in the Mediterranean basin.
 
In terms of terrestrial biodiversity, the Biodiversity Foundation works to protect ecosystems and the species that inhabit them through its own projects such as LIFE+ Desmania, aimed at the recovery of the Iberian desman and its habitat in Castilla y León and Extremadura, or the LIFE+ Cantabrian Capercaillie, whose goal is to halt the decline of the populations of this species and improve the conservation of its habitat.
 
In addition, through its call for grants, the Biodiversity Foundation collaborates in the fight for the conservation of 14 other species, such as the bearded vulture, the Cantabrian bear, the lesser shrike, the goatherd vole, the dusky anteater, the otter, the kite, the emberiza bird schoeniclus lusitanica, the Bonelli’s eagle, the Atlantic sturgeon, the black vulture, the Moorish tortoise, the migratory fish of the Ebro River or the perennial plant rumex rupestris, an endangered species.
 
In terms of climate change and the improvement of environmental quality, the Biodiversity Foundation is also committed to mitigating CO2 emissions, reducing the carbon footprint and energy efficiency. In this area, it supports projects such as the AdapteCCa Platform, for the exchange and consultation of information on adaptation to climate change, or the Global Change Monitoring Network in the Network of National Parks.
 
Another area in which the Biodiversity Foundation places special interest is dedicated to the green economy, in which it works to support entrepreneurship and employment in the environmental sector through the Empleaverde Programme and the Emprendeverde Network.
 
Through the latter, which already has more than 7,000 members, the Biodiversity Foundation supports new businesses compatible with sustainable development, an objective that has also led it to launch projects such as the Spanish Business and Biodiversity Initiative (IEEB), whose objective is to promote, together with the business sector, economic development compatible with the conservation of biodiversity.