The Biodiversity Foundation has participated, in Pola de Gordón (León), in a conference where the results of the project “LIFE+ Defragmentation of habitats for the brown bear in the Cantabrian Mountains”, which began in 2013, and ends in December 2016, have been announced. The project, coordinated by the Brown Bear Foundation, has had the support of the Biodiversity Foundation, which has contributed nearly €40,000, and almost €2 million since 2003 to ensure the long-term viability of the Cantabrian brown bear population.

The director of the Biodiversity Foundation, Sonia Castañeda, attended this conference, in which she stressed that “the brown bear is part of protected natural environments, historically it has been part of the Cantabrian Mountains and the Pyrenees and constitutes a valuable sample of biodiversity in Spain. The Biodiversity Foundation has been supporting the Brown Bear Foundation for years to improve the conservation of this endangered species, its habitat and the cultural environment in which it develops”.

The general objective of the project “LIFE+ Defragmentation of habitats for the brown bear in the Cantabrian Mountains” has been to ensure the long-term viability of the Cantabrian brown bear population, defragmenting the Cantabrian interpopulation corridor on its southern slope and consolidating the genetic and demographic exchange between the two subpopulations. The objectives set coincide with the provisions of the Strategy for the conservation of the Cantabrian brown bear in Spain.

Throughout these years, a favourable social climate has been established and has contributed to the elimination of risks and social awareness of the importance of the presence of bears in the interpopulation corridor. The social work has been completed, thanks to this project, with a direct intervention on the habitat to contribute to the consolidation of favourable habitat corridors in this corridor.

In total, 82,202 trees have been planted in 223 groves, 28 hectares of habitats of community interest or bear interest have been restored and 13 land stewardship agreements have been signed with landowners and 12 collaboration agreements with city councils, universities and companies.