On September 11, the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment opened its proposal for a project for the management of the Natura 2000 Network in the marine environment to a process of contributions, a procedure whose objective was to turn it into a participatory initiative from its very inception, in addition to improving the project itself.

The general objective is the innovative and demonstrative management of the Natura 2000 Network in the marine environment under the competence of the General State Administration, which will be made up of 98 spaces. These include Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPAs) and Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) in different stages of approval, which represent more than 7% of the national marine area. Likewise, the proposal aims to respond to the objectives and measures provided for in the Priority Action Framework (MAP) in the Natura 2000 Network through the complementary use of different Structural Funds.

Throughout this period, more than 40 contributions have been received from research centres, universities, conservation organisations, fishermen’s guilds and companies that have completed or improved aspects contemplated in the project prepared or have submitted new actions not previously included and aimed at the monitoring and conservation of endangered species, the use of new technologies for governance and monitoring or the implementation of different types of studies, among others.

Over the next few weeks, the Biodiversity Foundation and the project partners will carry out a detailed evaluation of the proposals received and will proceed, where appropriate, to incorporate the concept note into the final proposal, which will be sent to the European Commission before 10 October for assessment within the framework of the LIFE 2014 Call and which, it will also be publicly available on the Foundation’s website.

Likewise, more than 20 letters of support for the project have been received from various organizations, which represent a fundamental impulse and illustrate the importance of the proposal at the national level and the spirit of collaboration of the different sectors in its execution. Letters of support can continue to be sent until October 6, a model of which can be found here.