Restoration of wetlands for indigenous species

Some 60% of wetlands and Ê natural lakes in Spain have disappeared over the past 40 years, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment, in its Strategic Plan for the Conservation and Rational Use of Wetlands. This is due, among other things, to invasion by visitors to the area and climate change.

Intensive mining in the 1980s damaged areas of the wetland and restoration efforts at the time were only partial and ineffective. This new project, however, has created new wetlands by restoring the derelict coal mines and other zones damaged by livestock activity. Indeed, the general deterioration of the mountain compromised water quality and quantity, interfering with the final reproductive stages of amphibians in the wetland, where 12 of the 29 amphibian species native to Spain live and breed. These species are considered at risk, of special interest and sensitive to any alteration of the habitat. Almost all of them feature in the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Interfering with the final reproductive stages of amphibians in the wetland, where 12 of the 29 amphibian species native to Spain live and breed

Restoration

ACCIONA Environment is also replanting around 350 indigenous tree species in the area, repairing and erecting livestock fencing and making natural sources of fresh water fit for consumption once more by fauna, thus helping the general restoration of the area to as it was in the past and thus helping revive its ethnographic heritage. Thanks to the project, new wetlands have been created, others have been recovered and the habitat of several of the species of amphibians has regenerated. The aim of colonizing nature in these areas, to help indigenous flora and fauna survive, is being well and truly accomplished.