The Vice-President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), Teresa Ribera, has announced that Spain will protect 25% of the marine area by 2025.

The Vice-President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), Teresa Ribera, has announced that Spain will protect 25% of the marine area by 2025.

The announcement of this proposal took place during the conference “Promotion of marine conservation” organized by the Biodiversity Foundation within the framework of the LIFE INTEMARES project to commemorate World Oceans Day. The event, held at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, was attended by a large panel of experts in marine conservation at a national and international level.

The preliminary proposal put forward by MITECO, which is based on a broad scientific consensus, identifies areas of high ecological value that can be protected in order to comply with the Government’s objectives in terms of marine conservation. Currently, the marine protected area in our country accounts for just over 12% of the waters under national jurisdiction, although Spain aims to improve the conservation of the marine environment and reach 30% of the marine area protected by 2030.

This initiative will make it possible to move towards this milestone, in line with the 2020 Declaration of Climate and Environmental Emergency and the European Union Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.

This scientific approach to the adaptation of the Natura 2000 Network in Spain has been developed within the framework of the LIFE INTEMARES project, coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO). The document, which has been worked on with a pioneering methodology in Europe and a broad participation of the scientific community, identifies 104 areas of high ecological value, 71 for their importance for marine species and habitats and 33 for their interest for seabirds. It also includes 35 spaces in which it is necessary to improve knowledge.

On this basis, MITECO has drawn up a proposal for sites that can be protected taking into account ecological and socio-economic criteria. As a result, 11 areas have been prioritised for assessment and, where appropriate, incorporation into the Natura 2000 Network.

These are the areas called Seamounts of the Southwest, the extension of the Banco de la Concepción -both in the Canary Islands-, the Southwest Balearic Islands, Sponge Sea Mounts, Alicante Canyons in the Mediterranean, and a corridor of 5 Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPAs) in the north from Cabo Peñas to Costa da Morte. These areas add up to an additional area of more than 90,000 hectares and would represent an increase of more than 9% in protected area .

To this scheme should be added the seven spaces that have been scientifically studied and that are going to be declared thanks to the work of LIFE INTEMARES, which would raise the marine protected area in Spain to more than 25%. These seven areas are the seamounts of the south of Mallorca, the Tiñoso and dry Palos canyon, the Cap Bretón canyon system, banks and gorges of the Alboran Sea, the eastward extension of the current SCI Eastern and Southern Lanzarote-Fuerteventura Marine Area, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Northern Marine Area of Barcelona.

PARTICIPATION OF EXPERTS AT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

The conference has served to publicize the efforts made in marine conservation at an international and national level and to highlight the socioeconomic benefits derived.

The first part of the event focused on the protection of the high seas and was moderated by Rémi Parmentier, an expert in marine governance, and a panel of international speakers such as Peter Thomson, special envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the ocean, as well as representatives of multilateral organisations and different socio-economic sectors. among others.

The second panel addressed Spain’s objectives and commitments to promote marine protection and conservation in jurisdictional waters. To this end, it has had María Jesús Rodríguez de Sancho, Director General of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, representatives of the scientific community and conservation organizations.