• Its integration into the Natura 2000 Network is expected to reach an additional protected area of more than 9.3 million hectares • The proposal will allow Spain to exceed the protection of 20% of marine waters subject to national jurisdiction
On Monday, April 24, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) began the hearing and public consultation process for the approval of the draft Order approving the proposal for the inclusion of six marine protected areas in the list of sites of community importance of the Natura 2000 Network and declaring two areas of special protection for birds in Spanish marine waters. This consultation, which will run until 19 May, provides for the protection of different areas through their integration into the Natura 2000 Network, with the following name: Alicante Canyons and Ibiza Channel marine area in the Mediterranean marine region, Seamounts in the southwest of the Canary Islands and Seamounts in the northeast of the Canary Islands in the Macaronesian marine region and Jaizkibel-Capbretón marine area. Western Galician-Cantabrian migratory corridor and Western Strait in the Atlantic marine region. These areas add up to an additional area of more than 9.3 million hectares, and would represent an increase of 8.7% in marine protected area. This proposal for new marine protected areas gives continuity to the commitment announced by the Vice-President of the Government, Teresa Ribera, on 8 June 2022, on the occasion of World Oceans Day, to protect 25% of the marine area under jurisdiction by 2025, as an intermediate step towards achieving the objectives set for 2030 in the Global Biodiversity Framework. approved at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, as well as in the State Strategic Plan for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity to 2030, approved by Royal Decree 1057/2022, of 27 December. The identification of these places has a double origin. On the one hand, and within the framework of the LIFE INTEMARES project, a scientific proposal has been drawn up for the adaptation of the marine Natura 2000 Network in Spain, based on the conclusions of the European Commission’s marine biogeographic seminar held in Malta in 2016, in order to assess the adequacy of the proposed Sites of Community Importance in the Atlantic. the Mediterranean and Macaronesia, and which provided evidence that Spain still needs to carry out a process of identification and declaration of marine areas that will improve the protection of species of community interest and the coherence and connectivity of the network itself. This adaptation proposal has made it possible to identify 104 areas of high ecological value, 71 for their importance for marine species and habitats and 33 for their interest for seabirds. On this scientific basis, MITECO has identified a set of sites that can be protected, taking into account ecological and socio-economic criteria. As a result, a series of spaces have been prioritised for their assessment and, where appropriate, incorporation into the Natura 2000 Network. Likewise, this regulation also extends to the coastline the marine SPA “ES0000513 Baix Llobregat Marine Area” in front of the municipality of Ca l’Arana, thus contributing to a better protection of this important marine area, and to comply with the obligations established by European nature directives in the SPA ES0000146 Delta del Llobregat.
