The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has hosted the presentation of the Red Book of the Birds of Spain, published by SEO/Birdlife with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation, within the framework of its calls for grants.

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has hosted the presentation of the Red Book of the Birds of Spain, published by SEO/Birdlife with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation, within the framework of its calls for grants. The book reflects the state of the avifauna of our country and shows that it needs greater protection. Thus, the publication stresses that adequate management plans and the adaptation of the Spanish Catalogue of Endangered Species and the different regional catalogues are necessary.

The text is an update of the Red Book of the Birds of Spain published in 2004 and allows for an assessment based on internationally recognised scientific criteria on the conservation status of Spanish bird species, whether breeding or wintering.

The presentation ceremony, held in Madrid, wasinaugurated by the Director General of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification of MITECO, Jorge Marquínez, who was accompanied by the Deputy Director of Biodiversity and Climate Change of the Biodiversity Foundation, Ignacio Torres and Asunción Ruiz, Executive Director of SEO/BirdLife.

From the data collected in the publication, it can be seen that more than 50% of the bird species assessed in Spain have conservation problems and 90 of them are within the IUCN threatened species categories. Specifically, 56% of the birds assessed have conservation problems, either due to a confirmed threat status or due to a lack of knowledge about them, while 25% (90 species) are threatened and included in categories of risk of extinction (Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable).

In addition, of the 22 species included in the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species as Endangered, only seven of them have a Conservation Strategy approved as indicated by legislation.

The text helps to determine which birds are the ones with the most worrying conservation status so that the Administrations can adapt their cataloguing regulations and establish priorities for action that guarantee the conservation of these species, by also offering a global vision of the main threats they suffer. These threats are climate change, pollution, alteration of ecosystems and intensive agricultural practices.