- More than 1,000 people have been involved in 27 workshops within the framework of the LIFE INTEMARES and MSP-OR projects
- They are developed in the fields of research, conservation, management and governance
- They allow socio-economic sectors and civil society to be involved in order to make uses and activities compatible with the conservation of the natural values of the marine environment
The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has promoted various participatory processes, within the framework of different marine projects, with the aim of achieving the participation of socio-economic sectors and citizens in the conservation of marine protected areas. The sectors involved include professional fishing; aquaculture; recreational and leisure activities; maritime transport; the scientific community; conservation organisations, as well as the different public administrations and managers of protected areas. The processes currently open have involved more than 1,000 people in 27 workshops and two sectoral meetings. Specifically, these processes are carried out within the framework of the LIFE INTEMARES project – co-financed by the LIFE Programme of the European Union, coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of MITECO and in which the ministry itself participates as a partner through the Directorate-General for Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification – as well as within the framework of the MSP-OR project. Promoting maritime spatial planning in outermost regions, of which MITECO is a partner, through the General Directorate of the Coast and the Sea, CEDEX and the Biodiversity Foundation.
PARTICIPATORY PROCESSES IN LIFE INTEMARES
Participation is, together with science, one of the two basic pillars on which the LIFE INTEMARES project is based to develop a broad programme of actions aimed at contributing to the effective management of marine protected areas. With this philosophy, since its inception in 2017, it has had the direct involvement of more than 16,000 people from 1,200 entities in the different events and processes, some of which are currently in progress. Among the open participatory processes, the preparation of management plans for 15 marine protected areas stands out, of which 14 belong to the Natura 2000 Network, which are added to the Marine Protected Area of the Mediterranean Cetacean Migration Corridor. In total, 10 participatory processes are being carried out in which more than 550 participants have been involved through motor groups, which promote the design and development of the processes, and the holding of 11 workshops and two sectoral meetings. These processes began in May 2023. These marine areas are home to habitats and species of community interest that have made them worthy of protection, such as the SCI Western submarine canyon systems in the Gulf of Lion, SCI and SPA Banco de Galicia, SCI South of Almeria – Seco de los Olivos and SPA Bay of Almeria, SCI Alboran Marine Area and SPA Marine Area of the island of Alborán, SCI Menorca Channel, SCI Marine Area of the East and South of Lanzarote-Fuerteventura and SPA Marine Area of the Islets of Lanzarote, SCI and SPA Banco de la Concepción, SCI Mud volcanoes of the Gulf of Cadiz and SCI Avilés Submarine Canyon System. Participation is also a key element in various demonstration experiences developed by MITECO within the framework of LIFE INTEMARES. Along these lines, a risk analysis of climate change and the design of adaptation measures are being carried out in five marine protected areas of the Natura 2000 Network in the Balearic Islands, Galicia, the Canary Islands and Andalusia, in collaboration with the Spanish Office for Climate Change of MITECO. These five processes have involved the holding of seven workshops in which 131 participants have been involved. A demonstration experience is also developed that integrates a participatory process to improve the conservation of the shag (Gulosus aristotelis), an endangered bird that breeds off the Spanish coast. This initiative has involved the holding of four workshops with 126 participants from key sectors, in collaboration with the autonomous communities of Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria. In the field of governance, MITECO has promoted a demonstrative experience in the marine protected area of the Marina Alta, in collaboration with the Generalitat Valenciana and WWF Spain, which has had the participation of 63 people in two workshops. In addition, it offers support to other existing and consolidated participation spaces of regional competence, such as the Maritime Co-management Taula of the Natura 2000 Coastal Marine Protected Area of the Baix Empordà Coast, in collaboration with the Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Formentera Marine Stewardship Board for five areas of the Natura 2000 Network, in collaboration with the Government of the Balearic Islands. In addition to these actions still in development, MITECO previously concluded eight other participatory processes.
These are the preparation of the Master Plan of the Network of Marine Protected Areas (RAMPE); common guidelines for the conservation of marine phanerogams; the management plans for protected areas off the coast of the Valencian Community; the updating of the management plan of El Cachucho and extension of its boundaries and the updating of the management plans of the 24 SACs of the Canary Islands marine demarcation. He has also participated in the governance strategy for the marine areas of the Natura 2000 Network, the analysis of adequacy and proposal for the expansion of the marine Natura 2000 Network and the preparation of the Training Strategy, in coordination with WWF Spain.
PARTICIPATORY PROCESSES IN MARITIME PLANNING PLANS
Administrative coordination and social participation are also key elements in the maritime spatial planning process, whereby competent authorities analyse and organize human activities in marine areas in order to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives. In this sense, the Spanish participation in the international MSP-OR project, Promoting maritime spatial planning in outermost regions (2021-2024) promotes the adoption of European Parliament Directive 2014/89/EU in the Canary Islands Marine Demarcation, contributing to promoting governance through marine spatial planning. In the three workshops organized by MITECO in the Canary Islands within the framework of this project, 179 participants have been involved.
OTHER FORMS OF PARTICIPATION
In addition to participatory processes, MITECO promotes other actions through which the involvement of key sectors and citizens in the conservation of marine protected areas is sought through training and awareness-raising. In this line, it promotes the Marine Natura 2000 Network Training Plan aimed at public administrations competent in the management of this European network of protected areas and other users, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP), financed by the European Union’s NextGeneration funds. Based on the training strategy developed at LIFE INTEMARES, the plan has reached nearly 1,600 people to date through 44 training sessions, which have been aimed at managers and other users including legislators, judges and prosecutors, as well as groups linked to the field of education, tourism and conservation. to whom the services provided by ecosystems are made known and skills and competencies are reinforced. Finally, the INTEMARES project itself offers other spaces for participation for citizens. One of them is the alliance with the Sea Observers platform, coordinated by three institutes of the Spanish National Research Council – ICM, CEAB and IMEDEA-, which has become the benchmark marine citizen science programme in Spain. This community is currently made up of more than 6,000 citizens, 110 members of the scientific community and about 520 entities. Other initiatives are developed in the field of volunteering that MITECO carries out together with different regional administrations and conservation organizations, such as the pilot project for the monitoring of species and habitats of the Natura 2000 Network in Andalusia, in collaboration with the Junta de Andalucía and Hombre y Territorio, in which nearly 300 volunteers have been involved.
