Every April 22, International Mother Earth Day is commemorated, a date proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly to recognize the planet and its ecosystems as the common home of humanity. This day also seeks to raise awareness of the urgent need to change towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly development model.

This 2025, the event is celebrated in the context of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a global initiative that seeks to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems, both terrestrial and aquatic, around the world.

Humanity is facing what the United Nations defines as a triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. The ocean is filled with plastics, soils lose fertility, the air we breathe becomes polluted and extreme phenomena such as heat, forest fires or floods affect more and more people.

Faced with this situation, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reminds us that each person can actively contribute to change, through actions as concrete as revitalizing damaged ecosystems, raising their voices against climate change, reducing the use of plastics, promoting cleaner air or planting trees responsibly.

The data reinforce the urgency of action: every year 10 million hectares of forest are lost, more than a million animal and plant species are in danger of extinction and 99% of the world’s population breathes air that is unsafe for health. In addition, it is estimated that there are more than 2,000 million hectares of degraded land that need to be restored. However, restoring ecosystems is also a great opportunity: not only is biodiversity protected and climate change is combated, but it also improves human health, boosts food security and strengthens the local economy.

The UN insists on the need to move towards an economy in harmony with nature, which works for both people and the planet. Restoration is not only an environmental objective, but also a social and economic commitment.

COMMITMENT FROM ACTION: RESEARCH, RESTORATION AND GREEN EMPLOYMENT

In this regard, the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP), financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, has launched 11 calls for aid with a total endowment of 498.5 million euros. Two of these calls for grants, totalling 4.5 million euros, focus on supporting research projects on biodiversity and the generation of key information to improve decision-making in the conservation of ecosystems.

One of the beneficiary projects of this call is MEDCONECTA, coordinated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN-MED), with a total budget of almost 416,000 euros. The initiative is being developed in Andalusia, the Region of Murcia and the Valencian Community, and its objective is to outline a network of green corridors that strengthen the green infrastructure of the southeast of the peninsula.

Another of the Biodiversity Foundation’s lines of work within the framework of the RTRP is the call for grants for large transformative projects aimed at initiatives that promote the bioeconomy, ecological transition and capacity building in rural areas, also contributing to the demographic challenge, gender equality and the generation of green employment. This call, also published in 2021, had a total budget of 20 million euros, with grants of up to 2 million per project. Subsequently, another focused on the forest bioeconomy was published, endowed with 77 million euros.

Within this framework, for example, the RURALtXA! project, coordinated by the University of Coruña, is being developed, with a total budget of 1.65 million euros. Its objective is to promote extensive livestock farming as a traditional activity linked to the conservation of habitats of high ecological value, positioning it as a driver of development within the rural bioeconomy. The project operates in six provinces in northern Spain – Álava, A Coruña, Bizkaia, Guipúzcoa, Lugo and Pontevedra – promoting sustainable production models that strengthen the local economy and contribute to the maintenance of biodiversity.

Also in this call is the BioTramuntana project, coordinated by the Mediterranean Wildlife Foundation, with a total budget of more than 900,000 euros. This initiative seeks to promote the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources and biodiversity in the north of the Serra de Tramuntana, in Mallorca, through the development of tools, infrastructures and interrelations that generate a transformative environmental and social impact in this space declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

In the marine field, the LIFE INTEMARES project, coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation and supported by the European Union’s LIFE Programme, represents the largest marine conservation initiative in Europe. Its objective is to ensure effective and integrated management of the marine protected areas of the Natura 2000 Network, through a combination of scientific research, habitat restoration and active participation of the sectors involved.

Along the same lines, the LIFE ECOREST project seeks to restore nearly 30,000 hectares of deep marine habitats along the coast of Girona and Barcelona. Coordinated by the ICM-CSIC, and in which the Foundation participates as a partner, it promotes the recovery of structuring species such as gorgonians, corals or sponges, also promoting participatory fisheries management and the transfer of results to other areas of the Mediterranean.

Also under the umbrella of the LIFE programme, the Foundation coordinates the LIFE Marbled Teal project, which acts on more than 3,000 hectares of wetlands in Andalusia, the Valencian Community and the Region of Murcia. The initiative aims to reverse the risk of extinction of the marbled teal, the most endangered duck in Europe, through habitat restoration actions, threat mitigation, population reinforcement with captive breeding and awareness campaigns.

Through these projects, the role of the LIFE programme as a key instrument for ecological restoration and the protection of ecosystems fundamental in the fight against biodiversity loss and climate change is reinforced.

In addition, initiatives such as Empleaverde and the Emprendeverde Network play a key role in the just ecological transition. The Empleaverde Programme, co-financed by the European Social Fund Plus, promotes training and support to improve employability in sectors linked to the environment, promoting green employment and social innovation.

For its part, the Emprendeverde Network supports the creation and consolidation of entrepreneurial projects focused on ecological restoration, the circular economy and nature-based solutions, facilitating the development of sustainable business models with a positive impact.

Protecting our planet is a shared responsibility. On this International Mother Earth Day, the United Nations is calling on all sectors of society to join the global movement for restoration. Because taking care of Mother Earth is taking care of our common future.