The Secretary of State for the Environment, Pablo Saavedra, presided over the presentation in Madrid of the first documentary series for television on the Natura 2000 Network, produced within the framework of the project “Life+ Activate your authentic wealth Natura 2000 Network”, which has the support of the Biodiversity Foundation and the Ministry of Agriculture itself. Food and Environment. The series deals with life in areas protected in Spain by the Natura 2000 Network and aims to disseminate and recognize these protected areas in Spain in order to contribute to their conservation.

The project, which ends in 2017, is coordinated by SEO/Birdlife and has the EFE agency as a partner. It has an overall budget of 2.15 million euros, of which 1.07 million come from the European Union. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment is a co-financier of the project with an investment of €500,000, €120,000 of which comes from the Biodiversity Foundation.  

During the presentation of the documentary series, Pablo Saavedra stressed that “the Natura 2000 Network is the most ambitious nature conservation project in the European Union. It is our main tool to address the challenge of reducing the loss of biological diversity in our territory.” The Secretary of State for the Environment was accompanied by Humberto Delgado, Director of Natural Capital of the European Commission, and Asunción Ruiz, Executive Director of SEO/BirdfLife, among others.

The Natura 2000 Network in Spain is currently made up of 1,467 Sites of Community Importance and 644 Special Protection Areas for Birds. Together, they comprise a total area of more than 220,000 km2. Of this area, more than 138,000 km2 correspond to land area, which represents more than 27% of Spanish territory, and about 85,000 km2 to marine surface.

Precisely in the marine field and thanks to the LIFE+ INDEMARES project coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, 39 new Special Protection Areas for Spanish seabirds and 10 Sites of Community Importance have been declared, which has meant the protection of 8% of our seas.