The Board of Trustees of the Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, chaired by the Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Water and President of the Biodiversity Foundation, Josep Puxeu, held a meeting today within the framework of the IUCN World Conservation Congress.

At this meeting, it was approved to allocate 31 million euros for the conservation of natural heritage and to promote the sustainable development of rural areas. The five new strategic lines on which the institution’s activity will be based were also presented, as well as the action plan for 2009. Likewise, in order to offer a more transversal and, therefore, integrated vision of the various projects promoted by the Biodiversity Foundation, five strategic lines have been established. These are: the conservation of natural heritage and biodiversity; sustainable development of rural areas; the fight against climate change; the conservation of the marine environment; and international cooperation.

Within the action plan for 2009, it is worth highlighting the significant allocation of 30 programmes. Of these, three will have a strong impact on job creation: the Empleaverde Programme, with an endowment of 4.7 million euros, financed by the European Social Fund; the environmental training project for workers in sectors in crisis, endowed with 300,000 euros; or the Oxygen Project, for professional training and environmental training in Centers, with an endowment of more than 700,000 euros.

Looking ahead to next year, the Biodiversity Foundation will participate in more than 200 projects in collaboration with different groups: public administrations, the business sector, universities, associations and foundations, trade unions and NGOs.

On the other hand, within the conservation of the marine environment, the Biodiversity Foundation will collaborate in the LIFE + Project for the Inventory and Designation of the Natura 2000 Network in Spain (INDEMARES). This programme, which has a duration of five years, is one of the projects that has received the most funding in the history of LIFE from the European Commission.

An important aspect that is intended to be developed during 2009 is the full development of the Foundation’s advisory and participatory bodies, as well as three knowledge platforms in relation to priority issues: biodiversity, land stewardship and sustainable rural development. These platforms will serve as a basic tool to enrich the Foundation’s activities with people and institutions representative of the environmental sector and will directly and indirectly involve 500 professionals.

With regard to international cooperation, collaboration with Africa will be intensified and the budget allocated to that continent will be doubled. Advocacy is sought in countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal and Cape Verde, where projects focused on top priority basic needs such as biodiversity, water and sanitation or sustainable production of agriculture and livestock, forest resource management and fisheries and aquaculture will be supported.

Finally, with the aim of speeding up the procedures and as a novelty for 2009, the grants announced by the Biodiversity Foundation for the development of environmental projects will have an open and permanent selection and management procedure. Likewise, and with the same objective, a documentary register will be created so that entities do not have to repeatedly submit the documentation.