The Secretary of State for the Environment, Pablo Saavedra, has visited the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) of the Manzanares River Basin, in Madrid, on the occasion of the celebration of the fourth edition of the European Day of the Natura 2000 Network. The Secretary of State has assured that “Spain is the country that has included the largest area in the Natura 2000 Network, with around 220,000 km2, which represents more than 18% of the total area that makes up the network throughout the EU”. Of the Natura 2000 Network, created 20 years ago as a cornerstone for the conservation of biodiversity in the European Union, Saavedra wanted to highlight that “it is, in addition to a system of protected nature reserves, a set of human activities compatible with conservation”.

Regarding the implementation of the Natura 2000 Network in Spain, he recalled that “it has allowed us to go from approximately 10% of the protected land area, according to figures of national legislation, to 27%, and in the marine environment, this increase is even greater, going from less than 1% to more than 8%“.

Among the future challenges of the Natura 2000 Network, in addition to achieving its effective conservation and transmitting the environmental knowledge it brings us, is “to make people who live in places included in the Network feel proud of it and also enjoy the benefits it brings”.

This edition of the European Day is the last to be held within the framework of the Life+ Activa Red Natura 2000 project, coordinated by SEO/BirdLife, from which the initiative emerged. From next year the baton of the celebration will be passed on to the European Commission, creator and safeguarding of the Natura 2000 Network throughout Europe, and to the public.