Within the framework of the LIFE 2016 Call for Projects, the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, is coordinating a proposal whose general objective is to ensure that the Spanish population of marbled teal is no longer considered “Endangered”, promoting and promoting the necessary actions to eliminate the risk it faces and generating a more favourable conservation status.

The project aims to implement coordinated actions in 7 of the 13 critical places for the species, which in turn involve 83% of the existing breeding pairs, according to the Conservation Strategy. Work will be carried out on Andalusia, Valencia, Murcia and the Balearic Islands, to recover the population of the species and reverse its negative trend through actions that include the promotion of sustainable management of wetlands through the acquisition of land; the correction and minimization of the causes of unnatural mortality; the promotion of ex situ conservation; the promotion of land stewardship agreements, better knowledge of the species applied to management; support for the dissemination, communication and awareness of the conservation of this species and the promotion of international cooperation in this area.

Given the relevance of the proposal, and with the aim of ensuring that social participation is evident from the very gestation of the project, the Foundation and the project partners (the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia, Valencia, Murcia and the Balearic Islands, SEO/Birdlife and ANSE) have considered submitting the proposal to a process of third-party contributions, with the aim of collecting the greatest number of actions of interest to reverse the negative dynamics of the species through adequate management of it and its habitat. This participation process will be open until July 12, 2016.

In this way, interested parties can make suggestions, contributions or corrections to the project, for which the concept note of the project is made available to the public, which includes the general context, objectives, planned actions and expected results. Those entities or individuals who are interested in making suggestions have the following documents at their disposal:

• Concept note of the proposal: includes the background, basic data of the LIFE call, objectives, etc., as well as a summary of each of the planned actions.
• General Input Form: Through this form, any input to the overall context of the project (objectives, expected results, etc.) can be made. Only one form can be submitted.
• Form for contributions to actions: through this form, any contribution to the actions planned by the project drafting team can be made. You can submit as many forms as actions you wish to comment on.
• Form for the inclusion of new actions: through this form, proposals for new actions not contemplated by the project drafting team and that they consider of interest for the management of the species and its habitat can be submitted. You can submit as many forms as you wish to contribute.
• Letter of support template: this is the standard model to support the project in the case of entities directly involved in the species’ range.

The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment would like to thank you in advance for your participation in this process of improving an initiative of great importance for the conservation and sustainable use of the marbled teal.

Note: the intellectual property of the aforementioned documents corresponds to the Biodiversity Foundation and may not be used for any use without the express authorisation of the Foundation itself.