The first call for the European Day of the Natura 2000 Network took place in 2013, as part of the “Activate your true wealth. “, which was developed in Spain by SEO/BirdLife and the EFE Agency, with our support and that of the European Commission (EC) through the Life+ Programme. However, it was not until 2017 that the EC made this day official within its calendar with the name of European Day of the Natura 2000 Network.

The date was chosen on May 21 because it is the anniversary of the approval of the Habitats Directive, the European standard that created the Natura 2000 Network, and which currently includes more than 27,000 protected areas in Europe.

Spain is the EU country that contributes the largest area to the Natura 2000 Network: it currently consists of more than 1,800 sites covering more than 222,000 km2 (terrestrial and marine). Of this total extension, more than 138,000 km2 correspond to land area, which represents approximately 27.35% of the Spanish land territory, and more than 84,000 km2 to marine area (more than 8%), which places us as the third European country with the largest marine area in the Natura 2000 Network, behind the United Kingdom and France.

The Natura 2000 Network provides European citizens with services valued at €200-300 billion per year, according to the European Commission. But despite the fact that more than 80% of the Spanish population lives near one of them, only 3% know what it is and how we can take advantage of its benefits and help in its conservation. The objective of this celebration is to make this important network known, so the entire population is invited to share their experience in these spaces with the hashtag #Natura2000Day, given the current situation with COVID-19 in Europe, the celebration will take place on social networks.

From the Biodiversity Foundation we have allocated, through our calls for aid and subsidies, nearly 17 million euros to 245 projects that are developed in Natura 2000 Network spaces, of which 50 are currently in execution.

In addition, we have coordinated 5 LIFE projects developed in the Natura 2000 Network, and currently our work in these spaces continues with the integrated LIFE IP INTEMARES project.