The director of the Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, Ana Leiva, inaugurated today the 1st Meeting of the Empleaverde Network, which is being held at the CaixaForum Madrid.

More than 120 people are participating in this event, representatives of the 80 entities that work on projects co-financed by the European Union. Projects that promote employment and good environmental practices throughout the Spanish territory.

At this meeting, representatives of invited non-governmental organisations, trade unions, professionals and administrations exchange experiences and evaluate the opportunities offered by the development of a new model of economic growth. In the four sessions planned – natural heritage and biodiversity, rural development, climate change and the marine environment – attendees will seek answers to questions about which are the strategic sectors that boost the creation of jobs and companies in the theme in which each project is framed, as well as about their contribution to the creation of jobs and companies in the environmental sector.

The Biodiversity Foundation, as the managing body of the European Social Fund (ESF), serves as a bridge between employment policy and environmental policy with a double challenge: that the protection and sustainable use of natural resources are the basis for better jobs and more competitive companies, while workers and companies become key actors in the improvement of their environment and in the sustainability of development.

The total amount invested in the territory is 26.3 million euros for projects. Projects that address ecological agriculture and livestock, energy saving and efficiency, renewable energies, rural development, new ventures, sustainable forest management and management of natural spaces, agri-food industry, fishing, aquaculture and waste management.

Nearly 130 organizations, institutions and companies participate, as collaborating partners, in the execution of the 80 initiatives that are on the table for discussion today. In this context, more than 28,500 workers are being trained, a task that effectively contributes to the creation or conversion of some 850 companies or economic activities in the environmental sector.

In line with the Sustainable Economy Law on which the Government of Spain is working, the Biodiversity Foundation supports initiatives that contribute to laying the foundations for a new model focused on innovation, knowledge and energy sustainability; that is, a path of growth that prevents the deterioration of our natural heritage.