The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment launches a new edition of the program “Beaches, rivers, volunteering and land stewardship”

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, through the Biodiversity Foundation, launches a new edition of the volunteering programme “Beaches, rivers, volunteering and land stewardship”, aimed at improving and conserving the coastline and watersheds. 
 
The initiative was born in 2012 to promote the involvement of citizens in the conservation of the coastline and the areas that make up the inter-community watersheds, as well as to develop a network of volunteers for the maintenance and improvement of these spaces through different volunteer programs. Volunteer activities have focused on waste collection, reforestation and conservation of ecosystems, elimination of invasive species, monitoring of species and training and awareness days.
 
In 2015 all this work will continue, focusing efforts on enhancing the role played by citizen action in the conservation of existing ecosystems in these areas. With this objective, in this fourth edition, the participation of various initiatives promoted by private and business entities will be promoted. Thus, the Biodiversity Foundation will be able to count on the economic support and collaboration of private companies so that the custodian entities develop various activities.
 
Until 30 November, coastal conservation activities will be carried out in all the Autonomous Communities of the Spanish coast and in those regions that include inter-community river basins (Miño-Sil, Eastern and Western Cantabrian, Duero, Tagus, Guadiana, Guadalquivir, Segura, Júcar and Ebro).
 
The “Beaches, rivers, volunteering and land stewardship” programme is structured around land stewardship, an innovative tool that involves land users and public and private owners in the conservation and good use of natural, cultural and landscape values and resources. To achieve this, it promotes agreements and mechanisms for continuous collaboration between owners, custodial entities and other public and private agents.
 
CLEANING, WASTE REMOVAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS
Specifically, in the areas of action, activities related to the removal of waste and cleaning of beaches and watersheds, improvement of the landscape of urban beaches and the river ecosystem, recovery of deteriorated areas and restoration of heritage and promotion of public use in watersheds will be carried out.
 
Training, communication and environmental awareness actions will also be developed on the coast and the conservation of rivers, with an emphasis on involving citizens in the prevention of waste generation.
 
On the other hand, activities linked to the sustainable uses carried out by the hospitality establishments participating in the “Responsible Beach Bars” contest, convened by the Ministry’s Biodiversity Foundation, will be launched.
 
16,000 VOLUNTEERS AND 300 ACTIVITIES DEVELOPED
Since its launch in 2012, the programme has had the collaboration of 16,000 volunteers and 60 land stewardship entities that have participated in each edition. 300 activities have been carried out for the conservation of coasts and rivers.
 
In its beginnings, the initiative focused on promoting the involvement of citizens in coastal conservation through the development of volunteer programs on the beaches. In 2012, the “Beaches, volunteers and land stewardship” programme managed to mobilise more than 5,000 citizens on 100 beaches who carried out actions promoted by 30 land stewardship entities.
 
It was in 2013 when the initiative extended its scope of action to inter-community river basins. In 2014, the “Beaches, rivers, volunteering and land stewardship” programme joined forces with the “Clean Europe Clean” initiative, which, with the support of the European Commission, was held on 10 May to promote citizen action in the prevention and generation of waste.