The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), in collaboration with the Directorate-General for Water, has resolved the call for grants for the restoration of river ecosystems and the reduction of flood risk in urban environments, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP), financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.

The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), in collaboration with the Directorate General for Water, has resolved the call for grants for the restoration of river ecosystems and the reduction of flood risk in urban environments, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP), financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.

After evaluating the 230 applications submitted, 37 projects have been selected that will be financed up to 95% (up to 4 million euros per project) thanks to the 75 million with which the call is endowed.

The 37 selected projects are spread across all the autonomous communities: 6 in Andalusia, 3 in Aragon, 1 in Asturias, 1 in the Balearic Islands, 1 in the Canary Islands, 1 in Cantabria, 1 in Castilla-La Mancha, 1 in Castilla y León, 5 in Catalonia, 2 in the Community of Madrid, 5 in the Valencian Community, 1 in Extremadura, 3 in Galicia, 1 in La Rioja, 1 in Navarra, 2 in the Basque Country and 2 in the Region of Murcia.

The projects are led by local entities and other public administrations such as provincial councils and consortia, as well as non-profit entities and organizations. The selection has been made on a competitive basis, with an evaluation system based on the technical quality of the proposals, their positive environmental and social impact and on strategic criteria, such as their permanence over time and their replicability.

The proposed actions focus on the recovery of groves and riparian forests, increase of river space, setback of motes, recovery of old channel branches, renaturalization of the river bed and plains in urban areas for flood lamination, elimination of transversal barriers, permeabilization of obstacles, control of invasive exotic species, stabilization of banks with bioengineering techniques, removal of concrete and breakwaters, among others.
In all cases, these are nature-based solutions that, in addition to restoring and increasing the biodiversity and environmental values of rivers, contribute significantly to reducing flood risks in their urban sections.

Special emphasis has also been placed on the governance of the projects, which must guarantee the participation of those social, professional and scientific agents involved in the field of action, as well as on the incorporation of the gender perspective to guarantee the balanced participation of women and men at all levels: from decision-making to work teams. In addition, the projects are responsible for raising awareness among the population about the importance of river restoration as a tool to reduce the impact of floods and for transferring the knowledge acquired to other municipalities with similar problems, so that the benefits of each initiative are multiplied.

CALLS FOR GRANTS WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE RTRP

The objective of this line of aid is to contribute to the improvement of the ecological state of the Spanish river, to collaborate in the achievement of milestone 77 of the RTRP, which includes the restoration of at least 200 kilometers of riverbeds and banks and the protection of 40,000 inhabitants of Spanish towns from flood risk.

With the resolution of this call, the Biodiversity Foundation now manages 163.15 million euros in aid within the framework of the RTRP, corresponding to 2021, which completes urban renaturation and resilience projects (58 million euros); biodiversity and science (2.5 million); bioeconomy and ecological transition (20 million); stranding and rescue of marine species (4.25 million) and support for CITES centres (4 million). In this way, a total of 107 projects to promote the ecological transition, transformative and lasting over time, have been launched thanks to the NextGenerationEU funds for the protection and improvement of biodiversity.

Given the extraordinary reception of the calls published by the Biodiversity Foundation within the framework of the RTRP in 2021, a second edition of the line of grants for the promotion of research in the field of biodiversity management has already been published, endowed with 2 million euros and whose deadline for submitting applications is open until 13 October. Also Two new calls are expected to be published before the end of the year to finance up to 95% of urban renaturation and resilience projects (62 million euros) and to promote the bioeconomy, specifically focused on forest landscapes (72 million euros).