The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations agency to ensure international cooperation in meteorological matters, and the international meteorological community celebrate Meteorological Day today with the slogan: “Weather, climate and the air we breathe”. This day commemorates the entry into force, in 1950, of the Convention by which the Organization was established. Subsequently, in 1951, WMO was designated a specialized agency of the United Nations system.

On the occasion of this celebration, the Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, highlights its collaboration in the field of climate change with the development of the project “Monitoring of Global Change in National Parks”.

This project aims to develop a system of evaluation and monitoring of the ecosystems present in Spanish national parks, based on the information obtained from the collection of data in situ. This work is being carried out in the Sierra Nevada, Picos de Europa and Cabrera National Parks.

The main objective of this pioneering initiative is to collect climate, air and water quality data in these National Parks, along with the monitoring of the transformation caused by global change in the ecosystems in all of them. The information collected constitutes an open database for use by the national and international scientific community through the Internet, as research material for projects related to global change that are currently being carried out or that may be developed in these protected natural areas.

Among other actions, this project includes the installation of eighteen meteorological stations (including an oceanographic buoy) with a data recorder computer that will transmit the data obtained via GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) or via satellite. Eight of these stations will be located in the Sierra Nevada National Park; eight in the Picos de Europa National Park and two in the Cabrera National Park (one terrestrial and the oceanographic buoy).

The initiative contemplates the evaluation and monitoring of both climate and biological indicators. The advice of the Spanish Office for Climate Change (OECC) and the State Meteorological Agency has made it possible to define the common basic instrumentation that all the stations of the project must have to measure the climatic parameters. Since April 2008, the project has been coordinated by the National Parks Autonomous Agency.

In order to implement this action, in 2005 the Biodiversity Foundation signed collaboration agreements with the universities located in the areas of influence of the parks, such as the University of Granada, the University of Oviedo, as well as with the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, IMEDEA, in which the University of the Balearic Islands and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) participate. These entities provided scientific support and advice for the development of the project and for the conduct of various studies related to global change. Likewise, the Complutense University of Madrid has carried out the scientific coordination of the studies carried out to date and a preliminary study for the determination of the parameters and indicators for measuring global change in the National Parks.

In addition, this project is sponsored by Ferrovial Agromán, which is contributing €1.5 million to promote knowledge about Global Change in National Parks.

The amount contributed by Ferrovial includes an amount for the preventive and corrective maintenance of the weather stations and the oceanographic buoy currently installed. Likewise, if so decided by the Monitoring Committee of the Agreement, these funds may also be used for the location of new facilities.

Other planned actions are the holding of events and presentations, exhibitions in Interpretation Centres, awareness campaigns, grants for research projects linked to the project, writing reports on the knowledge generated or any other action that is deemed necessary and is included among the objectives of the project.