Despite the fact that the effects of climate change are already evident in protected areas, and scientific knowledge about them is abundant, there are still very few initiatives aimed at addressing the challenges posed by climate change for their effective management. In this sense, the Fernando González Bernáldez Foundation, with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation, has developed the project Promoting adaptation to climate change in the management of protected areas in Spain, which aims to transfer scientific knowledge to management practice, providing useful tools that allow the incorporation of climate change adaptation criteria – both in planning tools, and in the design of conservation actions. To this end, based on a participatory process with the managers of protected areas, a manual and an online tool have been developed, in which, in addition to establishing the terminology and defining the national and international context, a procedure is proposed for management plans to contemplate climate change and adaptation options throughout the preparation process.

This procedure has been applied on a pilot basis in three case studies in which the management plan is in the process of being drafted: TeideNational Park, Sierra de Santo Domingo Protected Landscape and Urbasa and Andía SACs. In addition, in order to encourage the application of this procedure, an Award for Adaptation Actions was announced, which was awarded to the forest management project of Mount Matagalls in the Montseny Natural Park.

All materials generated by the project are available for download on http://www.redeuroparc.org/proyectos/adaptacion