It is part of the activities of the second edition of the “Capital of Biodiversity” Contest, aimed at Spanish municipalities that wish to strengthen their policies for the conservation of natural heritage, open until May 31 and with land use as a priority theme.

The director of the Biodiversity Foundation, Ana Leiva, will inaugurate, on Friday, March 25, in the auditorium of the Castle of Puebla de Sanabria, Zamora, the workshop “Tools for the integration of biodiversity in municipal policies”, within the framework of the second edition in Spain of the “Capital of Biodiversity” Contest.

The municipality of Puebla de Sanabria, host of the meeting, was the winner of the second prize in category B (between 1,001 and 5,000 inhabitants) of the “Capital of Biodiversity” Contest, in its 2010 edition.

The workshop will allow participants to get closer to the initiatives for which Puebla de Sanabria received the aforementioned award: a walk along the banks of the Tera River, in order to learn about various restoration actions, a visit to the Peña La Cascada mill and the Iberian Wolf Thematic Center and, finally, a tour of the facilities of the School of Mycology.

The one in Puebla de Sanabria is the last of three workshops that were held in this 2011 edition, with the aim of facilitating the task of presenting candidacies to the “Capital of Biodiversity” contest, whose registration period is open until May 31, with the use of land as a priority theme.

In this sense, the activity provides local managers with the necessary tools to launch or intensify their efforts for the protection of biodiversity.

In addition, representatives of winning and finalist municipalities of the 2010 competition will present their projects for the conservation of biodiversity. The city council of Sojuela (La Rioja), for example, disseminates its natural heritage by issuing a postage stamp with an image of a local butterfly (Zygaena rhadamanthus), among other actions. The city council of Tineo (Asturias) fights against invasive exotic species through projects such as the American red crab, in collaboration with the El Banzao Fishermen’s Association. The town council of Allariz (Orense) has been organising the ‘Corn Festival’ since 2007, which seeks the recovery of native varieties of corn, as well as the recovery of cultivation areas and innovation in products from corn.

The workshops have served to provide detailed information on the characteristics and requirements of participation in the contest, attending in a personalized way to those who are interested in participating.

The main objective of the “Capital of Biodiversity” contest is to increase the protection of nature in Spanish municipalities, promoting initiatives that municipalities direct to the conservation of biodiversity.

HOW TO ENTER THE CONTEST

It is necessary to fill out a questionnaire with 36 questions related to the application of policies and measures for the protection of biodiversity in the municipality, the projects that the city council has carried out in this area and the indicators that measure the biodiversity of the municipality. The questionnaires will be valued out of a total of 100 points. The Biodiversity Foundation will provide, from April 4 to 8, technical help to fill in this questionnaire: (those interested can request an appointment at 91 121 09 26).

To present their candidacy, the municipalities that aspire to be “Capital of Biodiversity” have four categories, established according to their population figures. Thus, those with less than 5,000 inhabitants will be able to apply in category A; those with between 5,001 and 30,000 inhabitants, in category B; those with a population between 30,001 and 200,000 inhabitants, in category C, and municipalities with more than 200,000 inhabitants, in category D.

For each of them, three winners will be selected, which will add up to a total of twelve winners, of which only one will achieve the recognition of “Capital of Biodiversity”. In addition, two special mentions will be given to highlight those communication projects related to the protection of biological diversity and projects for the restoration of degraded areas.

The winning municipality will participate, together with the award-winning municipalities in Germany, France, Slovakia and Hungary, in a meeting in Brussels. During this event, they will have the opportunity to present their local strategies and actions to an international audience made up of representatives of municipalities, experts, politicians and the media.

Both the rules of the contest and the questionnaire can be downloaded on the contest website. The deadline for submitting the documentation is May 31, 2011, and must be sent to the FB, through the following email address capitaldelabiodiversidad@fundacion-biodiversidad.es.