The LIFE Marbled Teal project, coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, has launched a land stewardship programme with the aim of achieving the commitment of owners, both in the private and public sectors, in the conservation of wetlands and this species in a critical situation. With this initiative we seek to achieve at least 15 new land stewardship agreements in areas of the Natura 2000 Network, which would add up to more than 150 hectares. The work that this program will develop focuses on all the vital areas for the species, both in those areas that are part of the project in the Valencian Community, Region of Murcia and Andalusia, as well as in wetlands in other regions of Spain occupied by the species.

The potential of land stewardship

The Biodiversity Foundation, the Association of Naturalists of the Southeast (ANSE) and SEO/BirdLife have designed the bases of this program. Based on their experience, they propose potential and priority areas of action to establish custody agreements, as well as the types of properties and properties likely to support them. The program also exposes the basic principles of land stewardship and compiles successful cases for the conservation of wetlands and the species that inhabit them based on this figure of protection in our country. This study also analyzes different parameters in order to assess the potential of land stewardship in areas of interest to the marbled teal. Finally, it proposes a series of actions to be carried out in the guarded areas, including actions to improve the habitat, reduce hunting pressure and disseminate the LIFE Marbled Teal project.

The LIFE Cerceta Pardilla project

The LIFE Marbled Teal aims to improve the conservation status of 3,000 hectares of wetlands to reverse the risk of extinction of the most endangered duck in Europe, in a critical situation in Spain. For this reason, it has undertaken a series of actions to strengthen the status of its populations in the natural environment, improve the state of wetlands and scientific knowledge of the species.

The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge itself participates as partners in the project, through the Segura Hydrographic Confederation and Tragsatec; the Regional Government of Andalusia, through the Ministry of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy and the Environment and Water Agency; the Generalitat Valenciana; the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, through the Ministry of the Environment, Mar Menor, Universities and Research, as well as the organizations Spanish Ornithological Society/BirdLife International and Association of Naturalists of the Southeast. It is supported by the LIFE Program of the European Union and the Directorate General for Water.