The Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Miguel Arias Cañete, today signed a collaboration protocol with 13 Autonomous Communities to strengthen and promote actions for the conservation of the bearded vulture. The signing ceremony, which was also attended by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Federico Ramos, took place before the start of the Sectoral Conference on the Environment.

The Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Miguel Arias Cañete, today signed a collaboration protocol with 13 Autonomous Communities to strengthen and promote actions for the conservation of the bearded vulture. The signing ceremony, which was also attended by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Federico Ramos, took place before the start of the Sectoral Conference on the Environment.

The Autonomous Communities that have signed the agreement have been: Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, Andalusia, Asturias, Cantabria, La Rioja, Murcia, Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, Navarra, Madrid and Castilla y León.

Through this agreement, the signatories express their willingness to promote actions that contribute to strengthening the collaboration and application of the different conservation initiatives of this species. The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is listed as an ‘endangered species’ in the Spanish Catalogue of Endangered Species and is included in Annex I of the Birds Directive.

With about 130 breeding pairs, Spain is the European country with the largest population of bearded vultures, which inhabit the Pyrenean Massif, in Aragon, Catalonia and Navarre.

This population is subject to various factors that could condition, in the short and medium term, its survival. Despite its continued growth in recent decades, its relatively small population size, its restricted distribution area and the difficulty of the species to colonize new territories make it a vulnerable population.

In view of this situation, the protocol signed today highlights the need to strengthen the conservation programmes that have been successfully implemented and to strengthen collaboration with the French State, within the framework of the Strategy for the conservation of biodiversity in the Pyrenees.

Reintroduction of the species

Among the proposed actions, the application, collaboration and mutual support of the different programmes and initiatives for the conservation of the bearded vulture existing in the Pyrenean Cordillera will be strengthened, under the guiding framework of the Strategy for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture in Spain and the Captive Breeding Programme, launched in 2000 and 2001. respectively.

The National Strategy for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture in Spain also includes the recolonization of the Bearded Vulture’s historical range if necessary through reintroductions or population reinforcement.

This is the line of the project to reintroduce the species in the Picos de Europa, where it became extinct in the mid-twentieth century. With a budget of 1.5 million euros, this Life project is co-financed by 1,061,936 euros from the European Commission. The MAGRAMA, for its part, contributes 154,000 euros through the Autonomous National Parks Agency and the Biodiversity Foundation.

Seventy years after its disappearance, two specimens of this species have settled on the Asturian slope of the National Park.

Within the framework of this strategy, the project to reintroduce the bearded vulture in the Natural Park of Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas (Jaén) is also being developed, an area in which there has been no reproduction since the 80s of the last century.

In addition to reinforcing these initiatives, the signed protocol proposes other measures for the conservation of the bearded vulture. In the shortest possible time, it is planned to carry out a global project for the reintroduction of the bearded vulture in the medium and long term in the massifs where it became extinct and in which it is possible to consider its recovery.

Likewise, the conservation of the biodiversity of the Spanish mountain ranges is promoted through the protection and recovery of the bearded vulture, as a symbolic species of these mountain massifs and a factor in the enhancement of a territory and the creation of opportunities for rural development. Traditional livestock practices in the Spanish mountain ranges are also supported, compatible with the conservation of the bearded vulture.