The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has launched participatory processes to prepare and approve the management plans for nine Sites of Community Importance (SCI), five Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPAs) that partially or totally overlap in surface with these spaces, as well as the Marine Protected Area of the Mediterranean Cetacean Migration Corridor.
The vulnerability and importance of the natural values present in these 15 areas makes it necessary to establish certain management measures, so that the human activities carried out are compatible with the maintenance, or, where appropriate, the restoration of a favourable conservation status. These measures are articulated through management plans, which will be prepared and approved in collaboration with the General Secretariat of Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA). In total, 10 management plans will be drawn up, which will include measures for the 15 protected areas, in a participatory and coordinated manner with the social agents and sectors involved, which will be based on the best available scientific knowledge. This action is one of the milestones planned in the LIFE INTEMARES project, coordinated by the MITECO Biodiversity Foundation. It has the collaboration of WWF Spain in the design and coordination of this action and, in addition, part of the results obtained in the previous LIFE+INDEMARES project, in which 10 SCIs and 39 SPAs were declared, totalling more than 7.3 million hectares.
PRIOR PUBLIC CONSULTATION
Through the opening of a prior public consultation, the opinion of the agents and sectors involved will be obtained. This first consultation includes the SCI Western submarine canyon system of the Gulf of Lion; SCI and SPA Banco de Galicia; SCI South of Almería – Seco de los Olivos and SPA Bahía de Almería; SCI and SPA Alborán Marine Area; SCI Menorca Channel and the Marine Protected Area of the Mediterranean Cetacean Migration Corridor.
Soon, the second public consultation will begin for the rest of the areas corresponding to the SCI Eastern and southern Lanzarote-Fuerteventura marine area and SPA Lanzarote islets marine area; the SCI and SPA Banco de la Concepción; the SCI Gulf of Cadiz mud volcanoes; and the SCI Aviles Submarine Canyons System.
The participatory processes have the collaboration of driving groups, made up of administrations and relevant entities in each case and whose function is to accompany and enrich the planning and development of each of them. Different actions are planned for participation, such as interviews, face-to-face workshops, public information period, as well as a social participation committee that will be held to evaluate and close the results.
These marine spaces are home to habitats and species of community interest that have made them worthy of protection.
EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF PROTECTED AREAS
These processes are aligned with the Governance Strategy for the marine areas of the Natura 2000 Network and the Guide to participatory processes, tools developed in the LIFE INTEMARES project, which advances towards the objective of achieving effective management of the marine areas of the Natura 2000 Network, with active participation and research as basic tools.
The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge coordinates the project. The ministry itself, through the Directorate-General for Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification and the Directorate-General for the Coast and the Sea; the Regional Government of Andalusia, through the Ministry of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy, as well as the Environment and Water Agency; the Spanish Institute of Oceanography; AZTI; the University of Alicante; the Polytechnic University of Valencia; the Spanish Fisheries Confederation, SEO/BirdLife and WWF Spain. It is supported by the LIFE Program of the European Union.
