The Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Isabel García Tejerina, presided over the commemorative event of the centenary of the National Parks, one of the great historical milestones of environmental conservation in Spain, in Valsaín (Segovia). In his speech, García Tejerina stressed that Spain was the first country in the world to enact, in 1916, a national parks law to offer an institutional framework for the collective effort required for the conservation of these natural spaces.

García Tejerina has specified that the National Parks are the only protected areas in which the State is directly involved, providing them with basic legislation that has evolved with Spanish society, from the law of 1916 to the current one of 2014. In this context, the minister highlighted how this regulation reinforces the coordination of the Network of National Parks, which have established themselves as the most prestigious protection figure in our country. Specifically, of the almost 2,000 natural areas in Spain, 15 have been declared as national parks. The last of these was the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, declared in 2013.   

García Tejerina has detailed that the Network of National Parks covers 19 provinces of 12 Autonomous Communities, with a total area of 384,000 hectares, a space “of enormous natural wealth”, both in terms of geodiversity and biodiversity. In particular, the Network is already home to 38 of the 40 Spanish natural terrestrial and maritime systems listed in the Law. The minister commented that 10 of these Parks are UNESCO Biosphere Reserves; four are World Heritage Sites; three have received the Council of Europe’s European Diploma for Conservation and four are included in the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.
 
During the day, García Tejerina has planted a Centenary Pine, which joins 15 other specimens with which tribute is paid to all the people who have contributed to maintaining this legacy. In this sense, the minister has valued the “essential” effort of all those involved in the task of improving this “magnificent Network of National Parks, which is a benchmark for the conservation of the natural environment and a source of pride for all”.