A reference document on the state of conservation of Spanish natural heritage

On December 15, the Fernando González Bernáldez Foundation – EUROPARC Spain presented in Madrid the Yearbook 2020 of the state of protected areas in Spain.

The report was prepared with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge and within the framework of the ADAPTASALUDEA project. It presents the main advances in conservation of Protected Areas carried out in Spain to date, key information on the number of protected areas in this country and its conservation and management state. It also highlights relevant information on the main opportunities and challenges they present.

The Yearbook 2020 of the State of Protected Areas in Spain is available in Spanish here.

Spain and the Natura 2000 Network

According to the Yearbook 2020, Spain is the country that contributes with most land surface to the Natura 2000 Network, with more than 27% of its land area, having more than 80% of these areas approved management plans. In addition, Spain is the country with the greatest representation of biosphere reserves in the world, with a total of 53.

If the total of existing protected areas in this country is taken into account, Spain has 36.2% of its land surface and 12.3% of its marine surface protected. This places the country in a favourable position to achieve the European conservation objectives established in the Biodiversity Strategy 2030, which proposes to achieve 30% protection of the total surface of our continent.

“Since 2019, 31 new protected natural areas have been declared in Spain”

Spain currently shelters 16 National Parks, 152 Natural Parks, 291 Natural Reserves, 359 Natural Monuments, 61 Protected Landscapes and 2 Marine Protected Areas. Additionally, 800 natural spaces are designated under different figures developed by the chartered communities of the country.

Parc natural del Montgrí, les Illes Medes i el BaixTer – Santi Perez

Challenges ahead

However, the document also emphasizes certain challenges for the conservation of the Spanish natural heritage, such as progressing towards a more effective Protected Area management in an increasingly complex context that requires reinforcing the available means to face the challenges of global change. Likewise, new emerging challenges originated by the COVID-19 pandemic have appeared, such as the visitor saturation in certain protected areas or the absence of visitors in others, which provides an opportunity to review the new needs for the management of public use. Finally, the existing need to ensure that an adaptive and efficient management of Protected Areas is implemented, which requires adequate materials, economic and human resources.

Management underway

The challenges of the future must be approached from experience and professional background. In this new edition of the Yearbook 2020, a section has been incorporated for the first time in which different experiences in Protected Areas are documented. This chapter includes a total of 13 inspiring experiences, nine initiatives that illustrate the role of Protected Areas against Climate Change and four experiences in which the benefits for human health and well-being derived from the adequate management of Protected Areas are valued.

The campaign Nuestros Espacios Protegidos

As a result of this report, the Global Nature Foundation, EUROPARC- Spain and the Ecotourism Association of Spain have launched the campaign Nuestros Espacios Protegidos –  Our Protected Spaces in order to give visibility to this milestone, raise social awareness on the importance of maintaining and caring for these areas, and promote ecotourism as a tool for conserving biodiversity and contributing to local development.

More information about the campaign available in this video:

On May 24th 12:00h CET, on the European Day of Parks 2021, EUROPARC Spain will organise a webinar in the framework of the ADAPTASALUDEA project, and in which they will present an overview on the current state of Protected Areas in Spain. Additionally, different examples of contributions to climate change adaptation, health and education will be presented. The webinar will be hosted entirely in Spanish language.

Register to the webinar

Webinar introduction

In the more than 100 years of history of Protected Areas in Europe, we have experienced crucial milestones: from the first national parks declared for their grandiosity and symbolism to the development of the Natura 2000 Network, where the majority of terrestrial and marine ecosystems are represented. In recent decades we have learned that nature conservation is essential to successfully respond to the impacts derived from climate change. We also know that Protected Areas are strategic places fin rural development policies. An appropriate management of Protected Areas not only contributes to improving the status of species and habitats, but also provides a great number of services to the society, visitors and inhabitants. The recent health crisis has made the human need and dependence on healthy spaces even more visible. The “new generation” of parks is called upon to face new global challenges that need local responses, with new approaches that enrich the progress made, with the incorporation of new generations of active, creative and committed people.

Webinar Programme

• 12:00 – 12:10: Welcome and introduction. Antonio López Lillo, Honorary President of EUROPARC-Spain.
• 12:10 – 12:30: Updates on the ADAPTASALUDEA project: Protected Areas in 2021. Marta Múgica, Carlota Martínez and Diego García. Fernando González Bernáldez Foundation, Technical Office of EUROPARC-Spain.
• 12:30 – 13.15: Table of experiences. Protected Areas: spaces for climate change adaptation, health and environmental education.
  Moderator: Javier Valenzuela, Vice President of APIA, Communications Director of the Natural Heritage Foundation. Panellists:
  • Conchi Fagundo. Public use and ECST Technician at the Garajonay National Park, La Gomera, Canary Islands, Spain.
  • Cati Carrillo. Socioeconomic dynamization and ECST responsible at the Regional Park of Sierra Espuña, Murcia region, Spain.
  • Silvia Raya. Environmental educator of the Marjal de Pego-Oliva Natural Park, Valencia autonomous región, Spain.
• 13:15 – 13:45: Q&A / Discussion
• 13:45: closing remarks – Rafael Mata, President of EUROPARC Spain.

On March 23rd 2021, the European Court of Auditors presented to the European Parliament its conclusions on the special report Nr 26/2020 “Marine environment: EU protection is wide but not deep”.

This report reflects that, despite of some progress has been made by European member states over the last decade in the protection of the marine environment, the results as of today are far away from the expected.

Presentation of the report by the Court of Auditors

At the beginning of the session, João Figueiredo, Member of the European Court of Auditors, explained the three main aspects analysed for the production of the report “Marine environment: EU protection is wide but not deep”: the policy framework, the use of funds and the progress done, to continue with the main conclusions reached.

On the one hand, among the conclusions at policy level, he stressed the difficulties found by member state to apply the EU policy framework and the insufficient use made of the existing legal provisions to coordinate environmental and fisheries policies.

On the other hand, Mr. Figuereido pointed that Marine Protected Areas currently offer little protection to halt marine biodiversity loss, the unsuccessful efforts made to meet the targets set in the Common Fisheries Policy for 2020 and the low amount of EU funds that are used for direct conservation measures, which is currently around the 6% of the total funds.

To end with, he stressed the differences found on the uneven progress made in the conservation of marine ecosystems in the Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea, being the latter in a worse conservation scenario, where the fish stocks are overall fished twice over the calculate sustainable levels or its Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY).

After a brief presentation, the floor was given then to the Members of the European Parlament (MEPs) who, presented their perspectives on the matter.

Contributions from the Commission and perspectives from the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)

The first contribution came from the hand of the European Commission. Veronica Manfredi, Director for Quality of Life (Air, Water & Industrial Emissions) of the Directorate General for the Environment (DG ENV) reiterated the commitment to keep working on the protection of the marine environment and stressed that a lot has been achieved in previous years, allowing to improve our knowledge on marine resources. She noted that the Court of Auditors report has focused on fisheries but that further efforts to tackle negative impacts from invasive species, agriculture, pollution and other sources should be increased. As she spoke,

Only a very holistic approach will enable to tackle the problem – Veronica Manfredi, DG ENV.

This vision on the uneven distribution of efforts, the lack of an integrated approach and the tendency of the different EU Directorates to work independently, leading to a silos approach, was widely shared by other MEPs during the session.

In this line, MEP Pierre Karleskind, Chair of the Fisheries Committee, discussed about the existing question marks on pressures different from fisheries, such as pollution and climate change. As an example, he commented reduction of fishing fleat on the Atlantic cod in order to protect the stock and how this single measure did not ensure its recovery, as it depends on other factors such as climate change that were not properly addressed.

Likewise, MEP Catherine Chabaud, European Parliament Intergroup on Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas, supported the need of coordination between different departments and brought to the table the necessity of an integrated approach, giving references to Pascal Lamy, former Director-General of the World Trade Organization and EU Trade Commissioner, for his use of the term hydrosphere to integrate land´s fresh water and ocean´s water in a single concept. She also made a call to the European Union to support this same approach and to consider oceans as a common good on which we are all individually and collectively responsible.

And to add to this matter, MEP Grace O´Sullivan, Committee on Fisheries, highlighted the existing separation between fisheries management and climate change. Furthermore, he stressed that fishing quotas are set above the MSY  and that there is not sufficient enforcement present to apply the legislation, calling the European Union to urgently act to establish an effective control system for fisheries.

Continuing on the fisheries perspective, MEP Aurelie Beigneux, Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, commented on the lack of opportunities that local and traditional fisheries have, as 99% of fishing resources are exploited by big commercial ships, and called the commission to take action to protect the former.

Regarding financial support, MEP Marian-Jean Marinescu, Committee on Budgetary Control, commented that EU funding supports marine protection through different instruments but none is specific for marine environment.

Additional comments on this regard were made by MEP Corina Crețu, Committee on Budgetary Control who pointed that the majority of funds concentrate on commercial fishing whereas other sectors are left aside.

Also on this matter, Mrs. Valérie Tankink, head of Unit in the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) of the European Commission, highlighted the current efforts being made by DG ENVI and DG MARE to coordinate their work, and the advances being done for programming the funds together with member states in the different sea basins.

Other important mentions that arose during the session were the ongoing review of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which will be open to public consultation soon, and the progress being made in the implementation of the Biodiversity Strategy 2030 to set nature restoration targets, both commented by Ms. Manfredi.

The EUROPARC perspective

The debate underlined same points that are very important for Marine Protected Areas, such as the need of tackling the marine environmental issues and biodiversity lost through  holistic approach, embracing land and sea as a whole. This holistic approach also must be reflected in a greater coherence between policy and actions and between different actors and authorities at all levels.

On the other hand, our success in achieving the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 targets on time, especially those referring to the expansion of the protected surface and effective management of MPAs, will rely on increasing the amount of dedicated human resources and funds to achieve the good control and effectiveness needed

In many cases, MPAs can be efficient even when certain fisheries and tourism are allowed within their boundaries. Reaching an effective management implies, among other factors, the implementation of an effective zoning scheme the implementation of enforcement measures and the establishment of partnership with business and local fishermen, being the later a critical point. For all of these actions, specific funds are needed.

Additional information

You can find other news about the report “Marine environment: EU protection is wide but not deep” or download the full report here.

The recording of the event is available here https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/cont-envi_20210323-1345-COMMITTEE-CONT-ENVI_vd

It was with great sadness that EUROPARC learned of the death of Joke Kersten from the Netherlands. Joke lived a life of service, politically as a government minister and laterally as a mayor, but served too, the national parks community in the Netherlands as president of Meinweg National Park and the National Parks Association.

She brought her wisdom, humour and good grace to all her work which was more than apparent in her enthusiastic participation in EUROPARC activities, serving as the president of the then newly founded Low Countries Section.

She will be sorely missed by all in EUROPARC, but her legacy and commitment to the Dutch protected Areas and to their connection in Europe, will continue through all who she inspired.

She will be laid to rest tomorrow in her beloved Limburg, at the all too young age of 76. If you wish to send you condolences and memories please do so through the email uitvaartkersten@gmail.com

EUROPARC send our deepest condolences to her family and all colleagues.