The Minister of the Environment, Cristina Narbona, and the president of the FEMP, Heliodoro Gallego, have presented the Network of Local Governments + Biodiversity, whose purpose is the development of local policies for the promotion and sustainable use of biodiversity.

The Network of Local Governments+Biodiversity is an initiative arising from the collaboration agreement signed by the Ministry of the Environment, the FEMP and the Biodiversity Foundation, whose main objective is the promotion of local policies for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and the conservation of natural heritage. The Network was born, therefore, with the intention of becoming an instrument of technical support to Local Corporations, offering them tools to promote the recovery of the natural spaces and ecosystems that exist in their municipal area. All the Local Entities associated with the FEMP can join it. Currently, 25% of the Spanish territory is included in the Natura 2000 Network, to which a third of Spanish municipalities contribute an area.

The commitment of the Ministry of the Environment and the FEMP is, in the first instance, to halt the loss of biodiversity in order to progressively move towards an increase in wealth and natural heritage. The Ministry will allocate 4 million euros to the prizes awarded to good local practices for the preservation of biodiversity, through the competition provided for in the agreement signed with the FEMP.