The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge and the coastal Autonomous Communities and Cities have strengthened coordination mechanisms to move towards the priority of reaching 30% of marine protected and well-managed areas by 2030.
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, chaired a meeting that was attended by videoconference by 10 coastal Autonomous Communities and Cities with competences in the management of the marine Natura 2000 Network.
Specifically, representatives from Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community, the Region of Murcia, Andalusia, the Canary Islands and Melilla have participated in this third political meeting framed in the LIFE INTEMARES project, which is coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge and has the ministry itself as a partner. Morán was accompanied by the general director of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification, Jorge Marquínez, as well as the director of the Biodiversity Foundation, Elena Pita.
The Secretary of State for the Environment thanked the Autonomous Communities for their involvement in joint marine conservation actions and stressed the importance of inter-administrative coordination to ensure that marine protected areas in Spain “are international benchmarks for adequate, pioneering, participatory and science-based management”.
WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE GREEN RECOVERY
Morán has underlined the “strategic interest” of marine conservation for this government within the framework of green recovery. “We promote a transition towards models that prioritize the protection and restoration of nature and that also guarantee the conservation and sustainable use of resources. Also at sea, where the ecological and just transition offers great opportunities and also great challenges,” he said.
Among the goals, he stressed that Spain continues to move towards greater marine protection. In just a few years, Spain has gone from protecting less than 1% of the marine surface to more than 12% today. Thanks to this great achievement, Spain is one of the few European countries that has exceeded the coverage threshold committed to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), established at 10%.
At the moment, efforts are aimed at achieving 30% protection by 2030 through the declaration of new marine protected areas and effectively managed, as set out in the European Union’s 2030 Biodiversity Strategy and this government’s Declaration of Climate Emergency. “We must strengthen the network of marine protected areas and ensure that it is well managed, connected and ecologically representative,” Morán stressed.
Through the LIFE INTEMARES project, there is a commitment to achieve coverage of more than 15% of the marine protected area by 2023. To this end, oceanographic studies are being carried out in 9 new areas, which could be declared within the framework of the Natura 2000 Network. In addition, the level of protection of our seas is being analysed in order to draw up proposals to expand and complete this network of protected areas in Spain.
GOVERNANCE AND SCIENCE FOR MANAGEMENT
The LIFE INTEMARES project, which is at the halfway point of its implementation, is working to ensure that this increase in marine protected areas is associated with the improvement of knowledge, as well as the reinforcement of coordination and a governance structure from a participatory approach that integrates all managers, agents and users of the sea.
Since the beginning of the project, in 2017, more than 770 organizations have already been directly involved in various actions. Specifically, 10 participatory processes have been initiated to actively involve socio-economic sectors and citizens in the development of strategies and management plans that make it possible to make uses and activities compatible with the conservation of natural values in marine protected areas.
Among others, participatory processes have been promoted to update the management plans of 24 marine Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) in the Canary Islands; to draw up the management plans for the Marine Protected Area of El Cachucho and 9 areas of the Natura 2000 Network under the jurisdiction of the General State Administration off the coast of the Levant; as well as the 46 Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPAs).
Participatory processes have also been carried out for the preparation of the future master plan of the Network of Marine Protected Areas of Spain (RAMPE), which establishes the criteria for the inclusion of spaces in this network, its objectives, guidelines and programme of actions.
On the other hand, training priorities have been identified for managers and users of the marine Natura 2000 Network. So far, 16 training sessions have been given to Public Administrations on the management of the Natura 2000 Network and marine biodiversity aimed at the Civil Guard, Navy, as well as technicians from autonomous communities and the General State Administration. These training activities have had more than 2,500 participants.
In addition to highlighting the advances in marine governance, the meeting highlighted the importance of science as one of the foundations on which the effective management of marine protected areas is based.
To improve scientific knowledge in the marine environment, various actions have been carried out, including 15 oceanographic research campaigns. Among others, Cabo Tiñoso, Cap Bretón and the seamounts of Mallorca have been explored, to learn about the habitats and species present in these spaces for their possible declaration as Natura 2000 Network spaces.
To help improve the preparation of the management plans for the declared areas, a campaign has been carried out in the Columbretes Islands and the interactions with fishing activities have been analysed in four campaigns in the Menorca Channel, the Canary Islands and two of them in the canyon systems of Avilés.
SPECIES CONSERVATION
In the conservation of species, the first steps have been taken to develop and update conservation strategies and plans, such as that of porpoises or ferruginous macaws, among others, which allow measures to be adopted to reduce the degree of threat to species and habitats of Community interest contemplated in the Habitats and Birds Directives.
The LIFE INTEMARES project is coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation, of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, and the General Directorate of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification of the Ministry itself participates as partners; the Spanish Institute of Oceanography; the Spanish Fisheries Confederation; SEO/BirdLife and WWF Spain. It has the financial contribution of the LIFE program of the European Union.
