He SPA management plan must protect biodiversity. Ecologists in Action, SEO/BirdLife and WWF Spain believe that the agreement between the government of Castilla-La Mancha and agricultural organizations jeopardizes the protection of these areas and the European funds allocated to them.
Ecologists in Action, SEO/BirdLife and WWF Spain have written to the Minister of Sustainable Development of Castilla-La Mancha, Mercedes Gómez, to express the enormous inconvenience caused by the announcement of a new text of the SPA management plan (Special Protection Areas for Birds) of steppe environments in Castilla La Mancha that give more space to agricultural uses that are incompatible with the conservation objectives.
Environmental organizations believe that the impact of increasing timber quotas by 80% compared to what was already set in the previous plan means yet another twist on the SPAs, seriously endangering their conservation status.
It is worth remembering that the transformation into woody plants has the effect of radically changing the habitat that steppe birds need for their survival. These are herbaceous plants on dry land, for the maintenance of which tens of millions of euros are invested in clear support. for sustainable agriculture.
SPA management plan without consensus
They also criticize that the signing of an agreement with agricultural organizations was concluded and communicated, which, among other things, took for granted the participation of environmental organizations in a monitoring committee, which opened the door to a further increase in the new woody crop areas.
With agreements such as those announced without the necessary consensus, the problem is that the wrong message continues to be conveyed, because as long as the recognition of environmental values is not seen and promoted as an opportunity to improve the viability of agricultural activities, it will be very difficult to change the evolution of the decline of both species and agriculture in these areas.
For this reason, and in view of the news published, Ecologistas en Acción, SEO/BirdLife and WWF Spain have been forced to publicly express their disagreement with the SPA management plan on the conditions that the ministry has agreed with the agricultural organizations. And they are waiting for a new phase of the dialogue and its final content to decide on participation in the Monitoring Commission.