The Biodiversity Foundation has published this new call to promote projects that contribute to the development of urban green infrastructure to increase the health and well-being of citizens.
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The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has published a new call for grants to promote actions aimed at the naturalisation and resilience of Spanish cities within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR).
The 62 million euros will be used to finance the best-selected initiatives, with between 2 and 4 million euros per project. The beneficiaries of the aid may be municipalities in provincial capitals, autonomous cities and municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, which in turn may be grouped with other entities and neighbouring municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants, except for the 18 that were selected in the first call for proposals.
These grants aim to promote activities that contribute to urban naturalisation, improving ecological connectivity, increasing biodiversity and generating nature-based solutions to address key challenges for Spanish cities such as adapting to climate change, improving environmental quality and promoting green infrastructure and connectivity of green and blue spaces to increase biodiversity, improve their conservation, adapt to climate change, improve environmental quality and create healthy spaces.
In short, and in line with the objectives of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, the aim is to lay solid foundations to promote a new urban development model aimed at improving people’s quality of life and the resilience of cities in the face of climate change.
A commitment to nature-based solutions
The deadline for applications is 22 December 2022. Initiatives that promote nature-based solutions and promote the presence of natural elements in cities are eligible for support. In the case of clusters, they must have a maximum of four participating entities.
Projects will be selected on a competitive basis, following an administrative and technical evaluation process based on strict quality criteria. In compliance with the terms and conditions of the call, only projects that meet the required technical and strategic criteria will be considered, among which the following should be highlighted: correctness in their design and in their technical and economic planning; integration into a public strategy; appropriateness to the problem to be solved; effective contribution to ecological connectivity, to the conservation of urban biodiversity and to action against climate change; generation of environmental and social co-benefits; organisation and capacities of the potential beneficiary or group proposed; consistent social support; transformative character; transferability to other scales and geographical areas; durability of results and definitive resolution of the problem faced.
The call for proposals is expected to be resolved by the end of the first half of 2023. All selected projects must be completed by 31 December 2025 at the latest.
Almost 200 million euros were earmarked for naturalisation and urban resilience
The Biodiversity Foundation already manages 195 million euros in grants for projects aimed at naturalising cities and restoring river ecosystems in urban environments. Currently, the PRTR grants financed with NextGenerationEU funds have enabled the implementation of 55 projects in both areas (18 selected in the call for the naturalisation of cities for 2021 and 37 in the call for the restoration of river ecosystems and flood risk mitigation, also for 2021).
Both calls have been extremely well received, with 99 and 230 applications submitted, requesting 346 and 495 million euros respectively. These figures demonstrate the high level of interest of Spanish cities in integrating biodiversity into their urban planning models and the firm commitment of local administrations to an ecological and just transition.