The Biodiversity Foundation has today coordinated the second meeting of the panel of experts of the bloc dedicated to coastal and marine ecosystems within the framework of the LIFE+ project “Priority Action Framework for the Natura 2000 Network in Spain”.

The Biodiversity Foundation today coordinated the second meeting of the panel of experts of the block dedicated to coastal and marine ecosystems within the framework of the project LIFE+ “Priority Action Framework for the Natura 2000 Network in Spain”.

This initiative, which is carried out by the Biodiversity Foundation and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, aims to improve the financing and management capacity of the Natura 2000 Network in Spain through the preparation and implementation of a Priority Action Framework (MAP) for the financing of the management measures carried out in the sites included in this network. as established in Article 8 of the Habitats Directive.

The MAP identifies the strategic conservation priorities of Natura 2000 in Spain, the specific actions needed to achieve them and their potential sources of co-financing, charged to the various Community funds and through innovative financing mechanisms.

Within this framework, experts from public administrations, research centres, universities and entities related to the marine environment have addressed today at the headquarters of the Biodiversity Foundation the various financing possibilities, as well as the priorities and strategic lines defined in the Framework for Priority Action in the field of marine and coastal ecosystems.

This meeting complemented the meeting held within the framework of the public participation workshop that took place on 3 December 2013 with the participation of more than 120 experts in financing and agricultural, forestry, river, coastal and marine ecosystems. Divided into six working groups, the experts discussed and reviewed the main contents of the MAP.

The conclusions gathered at the meetings held, together with the analysis that is being carried out of the possible financial mechanisms, will seek to improve the MAP strategic document and give content to the first guidelines for the fulfilment of the strategic conservation objectives and priorities for Natura 2000 in Spain in the period 2014-2020.