We have signed a collaboration agreement with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) to develop actions aimed at protecting and increasing biodiversity and mitigating and adapting to climate change among Spanish local governments.

From the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition, we promote these actions in line with the Just Transition Strategy, promoted by the Government of Spain, for solidarity support, ensuring that people and territories can take advantage of the opportunities of this transition, with no one left behind.

The recent “Global Biodiversity Assessment” report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) shows how the traditional knowledge of local communities contributes directly to biodiversity conservation. Hence the importance of municipalities in terms of nature protection and adaptation to climate change, since it is from the field of local policies where, due to proximity to the citizen, consumption patterns can be modified in the first place, promote a decarbonised economy or protect and preserve local ecosystems.

Thanks to this agreement, both parties will collaborate, for example, in the development of actions aimed at informing and training municipal political and technical representatives in the field of land stewardship, in order to promote the extension of this figure of protection among local entities (town councils, provincial councils, town councils and island councils). The role of these entities in terms of stewardship is fundamental, either as owners, as custodial entities, favoring the establishment of agreements and actions in the municipality, or generating legislation and regulations that favor this conservation tool and environmental governance.

In addition, this collaboration will provide better communication through the exchange of experiences and initiatives, which will result in an improvement of the projects carried out by both entities. On the other hand, we will work together in terms of training, through the holding of meetings and the support of professionals from both institutions. Finally, the agreement includes the promotion of mutual participation in seminars, conferences, meetings, summits, congresses and other events, taking into account their respective fields of expertise.