The Minister of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, Elena Espinosa, today chaired the Sectoral Conference on the Environment, which was attended by the Councillors of the Autonomous Communities, having agreed on the distribution of 66,075,900 euros for the development of programmes for the protection and improvement of the natural environment and to subsidise actions in the surroundings of the National Parks.

Within the framework of the Sectoral Conference, the actions carried out during 2007 for the prevention and fight against forest fires and the distribution of the operation consisting of aerial means and extinguishing equipment for the summer campaign of 2008 have also been analysed.

On the other hand, the national conservation strategies of the Iberian lynx and the ferruginous macaw have been presented, as well as the Action Plan for the captive breeding of the Iberian lynx and the ex situ conservation program of the European mink in Spain. These documents have been provided to the Autonomous Communities, so that their guidelines serve as a basis for the implementation of specific plans for the protection of these endangered species.