The “Stop Cortaderia” project in Cantabria receives a Natura 2000 Award

• The project promotes the social integration of people with disabilities while eliminating invasive alien species in five coastal areas of Cantabria.
• The six winners of the 2022 Natura 2000 Awards include projects from Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, and a cross-border cooperation project.

Nature conservation and the economic development of a region can go hand in hand. That's why the 2022 edition of the"Natura 2000 European Awards" has recognized the Spanish project "Stop Cortaderia" in the "Socioeconomic Benefits" category .

The initiative, included within the LIFE Program – which has just opened a call for projects – is led by the SEO Birdlife organization (Spanish Ornithological Society), which combines social inclusion with the management of invasive alien species.

More specifically, the goal of "Stop Cortaderia" is to eradicate pampas grass from five coastal Natura 2000 sites in Cantabria, while also addressing the difficulties people with disabilities face in entering the labor market. The project employed 22 people to remove invasive grass and replant natural vegetation, promoting skill development and social integration in addition to habitat conservation. Along with these employees, another 40 people with disabilities gained experience through volunteer activities.

Other winners

This year's Natura 2000 European Awards also recognized five other projects in the following categories:

1. Citizens' Choice Award - “ Flora—Empowering Conservation Entrepreneurs ” (Austria): The project aims to foster the long-term management of high nature value agricultural land in Natura 2000 areas in Austria by creating networks between associations, NGOs, farmers and local entrepreneurs.
2. Earth Conservation Award - “ Eleonora's Falcon Adaptation to Climate Change” (Greece): aimed at facilitating the adaptation of Eleonora's Falcon to climate change, focusing on improving its reproductive performance in seven Natura 2000 sites. Thanks to this project, the population of this species has increased by 42%.
3. Communication Award - “ Natura 2000 in Bulgaria: New Horizons ” (Bulgaria): This initiative sought to raise awareness of the Natura 2000 network in Bulgaria and used the most emblematic species and habitats of the area in its campaign to draw attention to key aspects of Natura 2000.
4. Marine Conservation Award - " Fishermen and Seabirds, Allies for the Sea " (Portugal): This project aims to mitigate the threats posed to seabirds by fishing nets and hooks. To do so, they have created a scarecrow that attaches to boats and keeps birds away from them, thus preventing them from getting caught in the nets.
5. Cross-Border Cooperation and Networking Award - “ Assess the Dark Side with the CaveLife App ” (Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland): This project developed a mobile app called “CaveLife” that allows speleologists to assess underground cave species and habitats by uploading data to a centralized database.