The Basque capital Vitoria-Gasteiz joins 2010!
16 May 2007, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. By signing the Countdown 2010 declaration, the capital city of the Basque region today made a clear statement on the importance it attaches to biodiversity and the continuous protection of nature and natural resources in and around Vitoria-Gasteiz. The city has been ranked first among all cities in Spain as to green areas per capita. Within the declaration, the city defines a comprehensive set of commitments in order to contribute to the 2010 biodiversity target. The Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Mr. Alfonso Alonso, stressed the city’s unique biodiversity richness and explained what the city will focus on within the next year: among other activities, the Basque city will implement a research programme in order to better assess and detect the status of its ecosystems and to detect long-term trends. A new programme that aims at increasing biodiversity in the green city will be introduced and focus on the creation of a germplasm bank for plants and also, for example, on the reintroduction of the European mink in the Salburura wetlands and the conservation of native freshwater turtles. The commitments include as well the designation of a pilot area where alternative models of agricultural production will be fostered. Throughout these activities, the city aims at involving the citizens of Vitoria-Gasteiz as much as possible in order to make people aware of the problem of biodiversity loss. For this purpose, a public discussion forum and an initiative to organize voluntary work is being created.
The signing ceremony took place in presence of the representatives of the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, biodiversity experts from the city’s Environmental Studies Center and the Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre, represenatatives from the Province of Alava, and cititzens of Vitoria-Gasteiz. The event was therefore an excellent occasion to offer the Basque city a special role within the new Countdown 2010 project “Local and Regional Authorities for Biodiversity 2010”, which was highly welcomed by the Mayor Mr. Alonso. Given the big number, variety and quality of the city’s nature conservation activities, Countdown 2010 considers the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz a very good partner for making the Basque region of Spain to one of Europe’s model regions for nature conservation. In total, the project – kindly supported be the Dutch Ministry of Environment and carried out in collaboration with ICLEI and ECNC – will focus on creating a network of 5 European model regions which are very committed to nature conservation and can therefore be a inspiration and source of information for others. In the course of the project, i.a. a special Countdown 2010 website will inform in detail on what is being and can be done from the local to the regional level in order to save biodiversity by 2010.
