The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA), through the Biodiversity Foundation, has increased in the last year the grants granted to R+D+i projects in environmental matters, as part of the commitment to the work carried out by Spanish universities.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA), through the Biodiversity Foundation, has increased in the last year the grants granted to R+D+i projects in environmental matters, as part of the commitment to the work carried out by Spanish universities.

Thus, the MAGRAMA allocated 382,178 euros to initiatives promoted by universities through the 2013 call for grants for the implementation of activities related to biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development, which represents an increase of more than 50% compared to the previous year, where the contribution was 172,936 euros.

Spanish universities are a benchmark in research, technological development and innovation in the field of the environment and contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, the protection of natural heritage, the improvement of environmental quality and the fight against climate change.

In recent years, the number of initiatives whose beneficiaries are universities has also increased. While five projects benefited in 2012, in 2013 this figure increased to eleven.

The type of projects co-financed through the calls for grants is diverse. Universities have allocated resources to the study of threatened birds, the ecology of tuna, the effect of climate change on ecosystems, the contribution of wetlands as carbon sinks, the economic impact on the productive uses of water and the measurement of marine PH and atmospheric CO2, among other topics.

Since 2011, the MAGRAMA has contributed 1,011,928 euros to the initiatives promoted by the universities within the framework of successive calls for grants to carry out activities in the field of biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development.

Among the instruments to support scientific knowledge, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, through the Biodiversity Foundation, has also signed some twenty collaboration agreements with various Spanish universities. These agreements have contributed to the development of training courses, seminars and scientific congresses on environmental matters.