MAPAMA (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment) allocates more than 900,000 euros to promote projects and activities that promote biodiversity, sustainable development and the fight against climate change, within the framework of the first resolution of the 2012 call for grants of the Biodiversity Foundation.

This first resolution has had a total of 22 initiatives benefiting from these grants, of which 13 are projects for the conservation of natural heritage and biodiversity, another five focus on the fight against climate change, while the remaining four are actions for the conservation of the marine environment.

The actions benefiting from the grants, on a competitive basis, are those projects and activities that are integrated into the Lines and Programmes of Action of the Strategic Plan for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity 2011-2017.

The approved projects focus on the protection of species such as the Cantabrian brown bear, the lesser shrike, the goat vole or the marbled teal. It also includes initiatives to impact different types of ecosystems, including forests and wetlands, as well as to study the economic valuation of ecosystem services. Other initiatives that will be promoted focus on reducing emissions to fight climate change, as well as on the calculation of the carbon footprint or on actions linked to specific sectors such as residential or aquaculture.

In relation to the marine environment, projects related to the conservation of sea turtles and cetaceans such as bottlenose dolphins, as well as pilot whales, are addressed. In addition, special attention is paid to actions on the coast and in the areas of the Natura 2000 Network.