The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment, Isabel García Tejerina, today highlighted the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 Network in its 25 years of life to protect the habitats of endemic species in our country and throughout the European Union.
In her speech at the finalization ceremony of the Natura 2000 Network Active Project, an initiative that has been coordinated by the NGO SEO/Birdlife and has had the EFE Agency as a partner, the minister has highlighted both the Natura 2000 Network and the Habitats Directive.
Both, he pointed out, have helped to unify biodiversity conservation policies in the territory of all the States of the Union, which are now governed by the same rules to conserve the most precious nature of the European continent, “and they have done so with the perfect understanding that the development-conservation binomial is inseparable”, he remarked.
Isabel García Tejerina underlined “the effectiveness” of the Natura 2000 Network in Spain, because “we are the richest country in biodiversity in the entire European Union”. Thus, despite the fact that Spain only represents 12% of the surface area of the European Union, it is home to about 19% of the total area protected by the Natura 2000 Network.
VARIETY OF NATURAL HABITATS IN SPAIN
“In addition, Spain is one of the EU countries that has the greatest variety of natural habitats of community interest and with almost 40% of species of wild flora and fauna included in the Habitats Directive,” added the minister.
In the 25 years since its implementation, Spain has gone from protecting 10% of its land surface to the current 27%. And in the marine environment, this increase is even greater: from less than 1% of the waters under Spanish jurisdiction to more than 8%.
In the minister’s opinion, “this firm commitment of our country to the protection of its biodiversity through the Network has allowed the creation of 1,467 Sites of Community Importance (SCI) and 643 Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPAs), two figures that are a reason for special satisfaction for this Government”.
THE SPANISH NETWORK, PRACTICALLY COMPLETE
The construction of the Natura 2000 Network “requires a permanent effort from the competent administrations, but also from civil society organisations that, like SEO, have the conservation of Spanish biodiversity as their primary objective”, said the minister. “Thanks to the intense joint work, the task is well advanced: the Spanish Network is practically complete, in the absence of the additions that we can propose in the marine environment, and three out of four spaces of the Network already have an approved management plan,” he said.
García Tejerina pointed out that, although the dynamics of improving biodiversity are slow, “we can affirm that nature directives are being effective, a message that should encourage us to persevere”.
In his opinion, one of the areas that should be most emphasized is public knowledge of the Natura Network: “Civil society must be aware of the existence of the Network and the benefits derived from it. Only if citizens know and value this immense natural heritage, will we be able to ensure that the Natura Network fully achieves its objectives”, he said.
ACTIVE NATURA 2000 NETWORK PROJECT
In this sense, he has positively valued initiatives such as the Natura 2000 Network Active Project, “which has reached millions of Spaniards and has highlighted the value of our biodiversity through the documentary series of TVE 2, the news on the website of the Efe Agency or the campaign of the European Day of the Natura 2000 Network”.
In addition, he pointed out that this project “is also a good example of collaboration between a wide variety of actors: non-governmental organisations, public administrations at different levels, and companies, such as Red Eléctrica Española, as well as the Ministry, which has been present throughout the various phases of the project, co-financing it with 500,000 euros and participating in various committees, follow-up events and meetings”.
