WWF/Adena, SEO/BirdLife, Greenpeace, Ecologistas en Acción and Friends of the Earth have received with great satisfaction the passing of the law in favour of the conservation of the natural heritage and biodiversity and the rejection of almost all the amendments introduced by the Senate to favour certain hunting practices prohibited by the European Union. The environmental organizations agree in describing the new Law as a great qualitative advance with respect to the ancient Law 4/89 for the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora.
At the same time, they describes as an “epic victory” the inclusion at the last moment of an amendment that allows partridge decoy hunting, since they affirm that this regulation will be annulled by the European Court of Justice, sooner than later, for being opposite to the community law, that prohibits the hunting of birds during the reproduction, raising or heating periods.
For the NGO's the most important thing is that the Law on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity incorporates correctly to the Spanish Law the mandates of the two fundamental EU council directives for the conservation of nature, the denominated as Birds Directive and Habitats Directive, that until now underwent a bad transposition and reiterated breaches of their policies, especially with regard to the nature protected areas such as the Network Natura 2000. The areas of this network of communitarian importance, including the Zones of Special Protection for Aves (ZEPA), the Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and the Sites of Community Importance (SCI), establish themselves as the most important network of protected areas of the Spanish State, protecting them in a restrictive way of “any plan, program or project” that affect them significantly and which are not necessary for their management. This allows the continuity of the development of sustainable traditional human activities such as the extensive farming and agriculture, but it prevents the drastic changes of the use of territory, such as the industrial and city-planning projects, that are currently putting many of these protected areas at risk. Only if they existed “urgent reasons of public interest of first order” declared by Law or by a public and motivated agreement from the Cabinet or Regional Government Council, the detrimental projects for the Network Natura could be carried out and in this case adopting the necessary and compensatory measures that would be inquired to the European Commission.
In addition, the Law demands the approval of an instrument or management plan adapted to the objectives of conservation of these areas. Approximately, 24% of the Spanish territory is already integrated in the Network Natura 2000, reason why this Law will be fundamental to guarantee the conservation of the extraordinary natural heritage of Spain.
One of the most novel elements of the new Law is the creation of a Network of Protected Marine Areas. The Spanish marine environment, that was of capital importance for our country, both from the ecological and economic point of view, was at the moment orphaned of a legislative protection of this dimension. It is a substantial and modern advance, since very few European countries recognize this figure in their legislation.
Other new remarkable features of this first draft according to the environmental organizations are:
The obligation on the part of the Government, to elaborate a National Biodiversity Strategy Plan to achieve the goals set by the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted in Rio de Janeiro (1992) and by the European legislation, and to imply all the sectors in its conservation, especially the Regional Governments.
The overseas protected areas are clearly-defined and planned for the first time, as well as other protected areas derived from international treaties, such as the Ramsar wetlands or the Biosphere Reserves.
The establishment of a National Catalogue of Endangered Habitats to carry out plans of conservation and restoration of the endangered habitats and to reinforce the necessity to elaborate plans of recovery of the endangered species, establishing a three years term for the species catalogued as in danger of extinction and a five years term for the ones considered as vulnerable.
The invading exotic species receive the attention that should have one of the most important threats of the Spanish biodiversity.
The creation of the Natural Heritage and Biodiversity Fund to promote the adoption of plans and conservation measures of the Network Natura 2000 and for threatened species.
WWF/Adena, SEO/BirdLife, Greenpeace, Ecologistas en Acción and Friends of the Earth have actively participated in the discussion of the different drafts of this Law, therefore they are generally satisfied with the text finally approved and congratulate the Congress for rejecting most of the amendments introduced by the Senate, except for the one about partridge decoy hunting.
