The Biodiversity Foundation is launching the Environmental Volunteering Programme, which this year once again has the collaboration of Decathlon Spain.

The Biodiversity Foundation launches the 2017 Environmental Volunteering Programme, which this year once again has the collaboration of Decathlon Spain. The initiative was born in 2012 as a program ‘Beaches, rivers, volunteering and land stewardship’, to involve citizens in the conservation of the environment through volunteer activities.

In 2014, Decathlon Spain joined forces to promote pilot volunteering experiences with land stewardship entities. Following the success of the actions promoted, in the following years the Biodiversity Foundation and Decathlon renewed their collaboration, increasing their reach and their positive impact on the territory and biodiversity. Thus, since then, every year an environmental volunteering day has been organized with simultaneous actions in various places. In the last edition it was organized in September, when 42 land stewardship entities carried out 93 actions that had the participation of 5,000 volunteers.

For this edition, land stewardship entities that want to participate in the program must focus on the cleaning of beaches and rivers, tree plantations, control of invasive species, recovery of outdoor sports infrastructures and conservation and restoration of vegetation. They may also be actions to recover deteriorated spaces, improve the habitat of native fauna, restore ecosystems and ringing birds, among others.

Volunteering activities must be carried out, preferably, in beach areas, river basins and other areas located in protected areas defined and regulated on a basic basis in state legislation. Each entity must calculate the carbon footprint of the activity it carries out.

The deadline for submitting proposals for participation ends on June 15. The volunteer day will be held on September 24.