The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has presented the first six-year Report on the state of Natural Heritage and Biodiversity in Spain.

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has presented the first six-year report on the state of Natural Heritage and Biodiversity in Spain. This report, coordinated by the Directorate-General for Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification, analyses trends in natural heritage and biodiversity taking 2009 as the base year, the date of implementation of the Spanish Inventory of Natural Heritage and Biodiversity (IEPNB), and makes an assessment of the results achieved by the main policies adopted in this area.

The document has been prepared mainly based on the information available, as of December 31, 2020, in the Nature Data Bank, identified as the Integrated Information System of the Spanish Inventory of Natural Heritage and Biodiversity. In addition, as this report coincides with the publication in 2019 of the six-year reports of the European Habitats and Birds Directives, for the period 2013-2018, the analysis of the state and evolution of habitats and species of community interest shown in them is incorporated.

The preparation of this report has also served to reflect on the need to strengthen the integration of the information available in different management centres, as well as the inclusion of new themes, which allow for an integrated assessment of the different components of natural heritage, as well as their pressures and threats, so that the IEPNB can adapt to the new challenges that arise. such as those linked to the European Green Deal and the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.

KNOWLEDGE AND PROTECTED AREAS
The main results obtained are the significant improvement in the knowledge of natural heritage and biodiversity during the last six years. Spain has a unique natural capital and one of the highest levels of biodiversity at European level, which is reflected in its great variety of habitats – 56% of the types identified in the Habitats Directive – and more than 85,000 species of animals, fungi and plants, many of which are already described in the EIDOS database of wild species of MITECO. This database has involved an enormous effort in systematization, although it has also made it possible to verify the lack of information on certain taxonomic groups, such as invertebrates, bryophytes and fungi, as well as on many marine species.

One way to conserve and protect our natural heritage and biodiversity is the declaration of protected areas, whose number and extension have increased significantly. If in the base year of 2009 the terrestrial protected area was 31% of the total and the marine protected area 1%, in 2020 they have come to account for 36.2% and 12.3% of the total, respectively. This fulfills the Aichi target of the Convention on Biological Diversity with regard to protected areas.

The report also includes the numerous conservation and restoration actions framed within the corresponding plans and strategies developed in recent years. As a result of all this, successes have been achieved in the conservation of many emblematic species, such as the Iberian imperial eagle (with only a few dozen pairs in the 70s to 520 pairs registered in 2017), the bearded vulture (from 22 pairs in 1982 to 133 in 2018, with successful reintroduction in the Picos de Europa and in the Sierra de Cazorla), the brown bear (from about 100-120 specimens in 1989 to about 310-350 in 2018) or the Iberian lynx, which at the end of 2020 exceeded the threshold of 1,100 registered specimens.

Despite the conservation efforts made , it is necessary to continue acting to reduce the pressures on biodiversity, which have also increased in the last six years. Changes in land use, overexploitation of species, the proliferation of invasive species and pollution are some of the main threats to biodiversity, which are also directly or indirectly affected by climate change.