As part of the VI Biodiversity Forum of the Spanish Committee of the IUCN, held at the Villa Suso Palace in Vitoria, the Countdown 2010 awards have been presented, which distinguish the most outstanding environmental initiatives developed within the Countdown 2010 Program in which Obra Social Caja Madrid and Fundación Biodiversidad collaborate.

With this delivery, the Spanish Committee of the IUCN wanted to recognize the work carried out by institutions of different sizes and character in favor of the objectives of the program, in which 37 public institutions and NGOs participated through 103 actions in the territory.

With data collected by the Committee in a database and published on the www.uicn.es website and, after analysing the outstanding actions, it has awarded the three most outstanding projects: the LIFE Indemares Project of the Biodiversity Foundation for a project in the Natura 2000 Network area on Spanish marine areas; also to the RedMontañas Association for a comprehensive sustainability plan for mountain areas; and finally, the European mink recovery programme that has been developed by the Centre for Environmental Studies (CEA) in the surroundings of the city of Vitoria.