The Nationalist Group in the Arrecife City Council has proposed the participation of the capital's Consistory in the call for subsidies from the Biodiversity Foundation F.S.P. (Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge) to promote actions aimed at the re-naturalization and resilience of cities within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. CC considers that the Arrecife Capital of the Biosphere Project could be eligible for these aids.
“It is a project that fits perfectly into the approaches of the subsidies called by the Biodiversity Foundation and for which the Ministry has allocated significant European funds to which, our group understands, Arrecife should aspire”, emphasizes the spokesperson, Echedey Eugenio.
To this end, through a motion that will be debated in the next plenary session of the Corporation, the nationalists request that the drafters of the Arrecife Capital of the Biosphere Project and the heads of the Reserve Office be urgently convened to work on the presentation of said project to this line of subsidies, adapting it in the necessary terms.
And, as Eugenio recalls, the Arrecife Capital of the Biosphere Reserve Project, in which the Island Council of Lanzarote's Reserve Office worked last term, under the direction of the architect Juan Palop, “is a city concept that proposes the transformation of Arrecife into a sustainable and resilient space”. In other words, "a project that drives a comprehensive transformation that allows the people of Arrecife to enjoy a city that respects its environment."
In this regard, it is pointed out that this project has several axes on which the concept of creating qualified free spaces that revitalize the city and promote the coexistence of residents is based, "some of which are underutilized, as is the case of the old water currents, various street crossing corners in various points of our city."
“It is a participatory and constantly evolving project that focuses on the sustainable recovery of underutilized spaces and, therefore, would fit perfectly into the State Government's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, among whose objectives is the protection and conservation of the wealth of natural assets as a sustainability asset for the territories and a fundamental element to face climate challenges, betting on decarbonization and investment in green infrastructure and nature-based solutions”, asserts Echedey Eugenio.
“It is an opportunity that Arrecife cannot miss"
The Biodiversity Foundation was created in 1998 with the aim of protecting the State's natural heritage and manages Spanish and European funds for this purpose. In this line, subsidies have recently been called that can benefit, among others, city councils of provincial capitals or municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants according to the official census provided by the INE 2020.
For more than 20 years, the Foundation has been executing its own projects, while managing calls for aid, and has allocated more than 231 million euros to support 1,900 conservation projects, thanks to which they have collaborated with more than 1,000 entities.
The maximum global allocation of the call is up to 58,000,000 euros, with the maximum amount of aid to be granted for each application being up to 4,000,000 and the minimum amount of at least 2,000,000. “It is an opportunity that Arrecife cannot miss”, emphasizes the Nationalist Group.
