The Ministry of Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands has published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC) the call for subsidies for actions in Biosphere Reserves of the Canary Islands, endowed with more than 5.5 million euros corresponding to the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
The regional minister responsible for the Area, José Antonio Valbuena, explained that this amount "will be used to promote sustainable actions in the environment, promoting green employment and entrepreneurship linked to new activities that respect the environment in the Reserves belonging to the Canary Islands Network of Biosphere Reserves." "The objective is that these actions focus on developing, demonstrating, promoting and presenting harmonious relationships between human beings and their environment, exemplifying a new way of relating citizens to nature," he adds.
The bases contemplate a wide list of possible beneficiaries, from the management bodies of the Reserves and local administrations themselves, to associations, universities, through companies and freelancers. The deadline to submit applications will be between July 8 and September 8, 2022 through the electronic office of the Public Administration of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands.
It is important to mention that applications may refer to projects started from January 1, 2021 and, in any case, it will be necessary that the actions subject to financing have been initiated and are executed in more than 50% of the planned investment before December 31, 2023, and that they are fully completed before November 30, 2025.
In addition, the eligible object must meet the specific requirements applicable to the Next Generation EU funds and detailed in the bases and applicable regulations. The call is governed by the competitive concurrence regime.
Five groups of action
The subsidized actions through this new call for aid are divided into five groups, with the aim of facilitating the identification of projects by interested people and entities.
The first of the groups has to do with the conservation and management of biodiversity and natural resources. This section includes actions for the conservation of habitats and species, restoration of ecosystems, elimination and control of invasive alien species, improvement of connectivity, among others. The following section has to do with governance in Biosphere Reserves, that is, training and capacity building initiatives for citizens, promoting land stewardship agreements or the development of strategic plans, among other actions.
The third section is related to sustainable development, focusing on proposals for the promotion of good business practices, promotion of entrepreneurship, support for the production, promotion and marketing of local products or the promotion of the digitization of populations.
The following group addresses support for tourism sustainability, improvement of cultural heritage and landscape. All actions to improve tourism planning, public use infrastructure or accessibility, as well as the creation of ecotourism experiences, the conservation of cultural heritage or landscape recovery will be included.
Finally, the last section has to do with support measures for agroecological and sustainable forest management of natural resources and enhancement of traditional knowledge, promoting resource efficiency and a low-carbon economy. It includes actions that promote the conservation of local varieties, organic farming, the circular economy, the use of clean energy or sustainable mobility.
