The Minister of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, Rosa Aguilar, will visit the Tablas de Daimiel National Park, one of Spain’s emblematic wetlands, on 2 February.

This week, the international community celebrates the 40th anniversary of the signing, on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar, of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat, which entered into force in 1975. It is, without a doubt, the most important international treaty on wetland conservation, ratified by 160 countries, and protecting 1,912 wetlands around the planet. Since its creation, the Ramsar Convention has encouraged progress in the conservation and rational use of these ecosystems, through local, national and international cooperation actions, in order to maintain their sustainable use. Spain has been a party to the Convention since 1982 and has been a very active member.

In this sense, the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs (MARM) and the Biodiversity Foundation (FB) have planned various events throughout this week to highlight the importance of wetlands and the need for their conservation and restoration.

On the afternoon of 2 February, the MARM will host an event – chaired by the Secretary of State for Climate Change, Teresa Ribera – for the presentation of the recent inclusion of five new wetlands in the Ramsar List approved on 7 January by the Council of Ministers. During the event, the representative of the Junta de Andalucía and the Minister of the Environment will be presented with the formal certificates of the inclusion in the Ramsar List of the five Andalusian wetlands that took place in 2009.

Also, at this event, fragments of a documentary video on “Spanish Wetlands” will be screened, which has been co-produced by the Biodiversity Foundation, with the collaboration of the CAMON Space of Caja Mediterráneo, and which has been broadcast in its entirety, this Monday, January 31, in the RTVE program “La Aventura del Saber”, on La 2 (accessible in www.rtve.es – “RTVE a la carta”).

“Spanish Wetlands” is an audiovisual that, in an entertaining way and with scientific rigour, narrates the journey of a black-winged stilt and, through that journey, the dynamics of five important Iberian wetlands, such as: the Doñana National Park, the Aiguamolls de l’Empordà Natural Park, the Ebro Delta Natural Park, the Cabo de Gata Salt Flats (included in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park) and the Albufera Natural Park.

On the other hand, from 2 to 5 February, the Spanish Wetlands Centre (CEHUM) will carry out several actions in Gandía and Valencia, promoted by the Biodiversity Foundation:

• 2 February: volunteer days (Gandía), cleaning of a wetland with schoolchildren in Gandía.
• 3 February: screening of the documentary “Spanish Wetlands”, in the Paraninfo of the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
• 4 February: Scientific bird ringing campaign in the Marjales de la Safor.
• 5 February: painting competition for schoolchildren at the CEHUM (Gandía) with the motif “Los Ullals de la Marjal de Gandía”

IN 2011, “GET WET FOR THE WETLANDS”

CEHUM coordinates the environmental volunteering tasks “Get wet for the Wetlands”, an awareness campaign that integrates a set of actions developed by social organizations and environmental entities in different Spanish wetlands throughout 2011.

For February 2 and 3, for example, in the Salamanca wetlands “Laguna del Cristo” and “Laguna de San Marcos”, the local action group ADRISS, has organized guided tours by students from local schools, as well as volunteers from the province. Dates: February 2 (Laguna San Marcos) and February 3 (Laguna del Cristo). In Girona, meanwhile, local volunteers trained by the Natura Foundation will carry out, tomorrow, a guided tour for children from nearby schools to discover the Estany de Sils.

To get closer to the Nava de Pedraza and the Boada Lagoon (Palencia), the Global Nature Foundation proposes guided tours, construction of amphibian shelters, talks-colloquium (which will take place on February 2) and an awards ceremony for the drawing, repopulation and acoustic concert contest (on February 5).

In the provinces of Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Toledo, the La Mancha Húmeda Naturalist Association, for its part, is preparing numerous activities, which will take place between February 2 and 5, in the lagoons of the La Mancha Húmeda Biosphere Reserve. Finally, in the province of A Coruña, ADEGA-Proxecto Ríos, will launch, also on the 2nd, a day of elimination of invasive exotic flora in the Lagoons of Xuño and Muro.

Finally, it should be noted that, at the beginning of January, CEHUM, together with the Doñana Biological Station, launched the first edition of the Award for Research Projects in Wetlands, awards aimed at recognizing the efforts made by the scientific community in improving the knowledge and conservation of Spanish wetlands, as well as promoting research on issues related to wetlands. The deadline for submitting candidacies is open until May 20.