The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), through the Biodiversity Foundation and the General Directorate of Water, has launched a new call for aid worth 75 million euros aimed at the implementation of actions to restore river ecosystems and reduce the risk of flooding in urban environments.

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), through the Biodiversity Foundation and the General Directorate of Water, has launched a new call for aid worth 75 million euros aimed at the implementation of actions to restore river ecosystems and reduce the risk of flooding in urban environments. The objective of these grants, framed in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), is to finance, up to 95%, projects of local administrations for the restoration of river space, the implementation of sustainable drainage systems, the improvement of permeability and the increase of the environmental values of rivers in urban areas.

This call also includes actions to mitigate and adapt urban environments to flood risk, reducing the vulnerability of exposed elements in flood zones. All these actions must contribute to the improvement of the ecological status of the river system.

This line of aid, of between 500,000 euros and 4 million euros per project, is available to public administration entities that make up the local administration: town councils, provincial councils, island councils and councils, counties or other entities that group together several municipalities and associations of municipalities. Groups of beneficiaries and concurrence with other entities, such as scientific and non-profit entities, will also be admitted.

The deadline for submitting proposals will be extended until March 16, 2022. The selection will be made on a competitive basis, with an evaluation system that is 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 in other contexts. All projects must include plans for governance and participation, measurement and monitoring of indicators, and communication and awareness-raising.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE ECOLOGICAL STATUS OF THE SPANISH RIVER SYSTEM

This line of aid aims to contribute to the improvement of the ecological status of the Spanish river system for the achievement of milestone 77 of the RTRP, which calls for the restoration of at least 200 kilometres of riverbeds and banks and the protection of 40,000 inhabitants from the risk of flooding.

To achieve this, these grants aim to support projects integrated into long-term plans or strategies that, through Nature-based solutions, promote strategy and planning actions and direct implementation in the territory: development and updating of river renaturation strategies; flood risk reduction; reorganization of spaces that allow their environmental integration; contribute to the increase of biodiversity and its conservation; improvement of continuity or increase of river space; habitat recovery; green infrastructure generation actions for the effective reduction of flood risk; actions on existing buildings or assets in flood zones that improve their adaptation.

The call for the restoration of river ecosystems and the reduction of flood risk in urban environments is in addition to the other five approved in the last quarter of 2021: Renaturalisation and urban resilience (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 the same way, through the Biodiversity Foundation, the publication of a second edition of some of these calls is planned, such as in the field of urban renaturation and resilience (62 million) and biodiversity and science (2 million euros), among others.

You can find more information about this call and the rest of the open calls within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan 2021 at this link.