Project team meeting in Spain
Project team meeting of FER and FGN members took place in Spain, 24 – 28 October 2009. It was an opportunity to discuss the problems related to the project “Natura 2000 Wardens - monitoring of species and habitats disturbance”. Among them:
- evaluation of the state of nature conservation in Spain
- legislative tools for the defence and conservation of nature
- the Spanish Strategy for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity
- social setting, anti-conservation lobby
- lack of staff training and knowledge to manage private lands of Natura 2000
The examples of aggression to theoretically protected sites are so numerous, that the listing of them in this report is simply impossible. Evolving from this fact, a great part of the environmental groups’ activities, which dedicate themselves at the protection of nature share, as a common objective, the preservation of these sites from all types of aggressions. The most frequent ones of these, have, in the last years, been related to:
- transport infrastructure development of all kinds (highways, airports, railway tracks and harbours),
- the disproportionate urban expansion,
- huge tourism and leisure complexes,
- industrial and energetic projects (gas pipelines, badly located wind power parks, hydroelectric power stations, mining exploitations),
- hydraulic infrastructure (reservoirs, transfer infrastructure and the exploitation of underground water reserves)
- and also with the intensification of agrarian, fishing and hunting activities inside the protection limits.
Currently, Spain is one of European countries with the highest number of sanctions, complaints and claims related to non-fulfilment the nature conservation European regulations. Spain is responsible for 40% of European building industry. In Marbella there are 1.600 houses illegal houses in green areas.
Extremadura plans the construction of a refinery in Tierra de Barros affecting 14 Natura 2000 sites. Other plans affecting SPA or SCI are related to two thermo-solar power stations, the High Speed Train (AVE) Madrid-Extremadura,
The European Commission has filed on the Spanish State (Junta de Extremadura) for infringement of Community rules governing the approval of the tourist project "Marina Island Valdecañas" within the SPA Valdecañas reservoir. The project involves the construction of a tourist resort with golf course, port, artificial beach , 600 villas and houses in a "traditional town" as well as all external infrastructure works, such as a road with bridge and canal, power station, sewage, etc.. all in a space previously occupied by thousands of birds Water, located in the reservoir Valdecañas, designated an Area of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in 2003.
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Meeting in Educational Center of FGN (Centro De Educación Ambiental "La Dehesa" Parque Natural de Monfragüe. Torrejón el Rubio (Cáceres)). 
