The director of the Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, Ana Leiva, has signed collaboration agreements today in Cuenca with the president of the General Foundation for the Environment of Castilla-La Mancha, José Luis Martínez, the president of the Association of Producers of Organic Pistachio in La Mancha, Fernando García-Abad de Marcos, and with the manager of the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Castilla-La Mancha, José Luis Rojas, to develop projects that promote employment and good environmental practices in that region, within the framework of the Empleaverde Program. The secretary general of the Government sub-delegation, Pedro Rodríguez, also participated in this event.

The Biodiversity Foundation, as the managing body of the European Social Fund (ESF), allocates 2,045,613 euros to promote job creation and the improvement of the environment in Castilla-La Mancha. This investment will be used to develop the projects “The cultivation of organic pistachio in Castilla-La Mancha” of the Association of Organic Pistachio Producers of La Mancha, “Sustainable rural employment in Castilla-La Mancha” of the General Foundation for the Environment of Castilla-La Mancha and “Coopera en verde” of the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Castilla-La Mancha.

It will also allow the implementation of eighteen other initiatives in the agricultural, forestry, energy, environmental management and sustainable tourism sectors. These include the FSC project aimed at forest management; “Run@Forma-Emprende” by the Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente Foundation; “Green Employment Pathways” by the Spanish Railways Foundation; the Ecologists in Action project to promote agroecological production, and that of the Technical Association for Waste Management, Urban Cleaning and the Environment (ATEGRUS) aimed at the sustainable management and valuation of waste.

In addition, the projects of the Federation of Spanish Footwear Industries (FICE) and the Conde Valle de Salazar Foundation will focus on issues of eco-innovation, sustainable mobility and energy rehabilitation of buildings respectively.