Environmental volunteering is a form of free, organized and supportive participation of citizens, which aims to reduce the negative impact of human beings on the environment and to value natural heritage. It includes the implementation of actions to protect and recover the biodiversity of the different habitats; the conservation and improvement of water, rivers and other elements of the water environment; and environmental education and awareness.
Environmental volunteering is considered as an instrument to transmit to citizens, social groups and entities a feeling of shared responsibility over the natural environment, so that people are made aware of their ability to intervene in the resolution of environmental challenges.
In this context, and to promote social participation in the restoration of the environment, the Cantabrian CH, through the General Directorate of Water, has included within the Strategic Plan of Subsidies of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge for the period 2022-2024, the realization of a Program of Volunteering of rivers in order to involve society in the conservation and recovery of the river environment through volunteer activities.
The funding for the implementation of the actions subject to this line of aid amounts to € 150,000.
Private non-profit entities that meet the requirements established in the call may be beneficiaries of the grants.
This support line will be aimed at the development of voluntary action projects carried out in the territorial and competence area of the Cantabrian CH within the hydraulic public domain and the servitude area.
The actions must necessarily include activities of:
- Diagnosis and evaluation.
- Information and awareness
- Conservation and improvement of the state of the Cantabrian rivers
- Restoration of heritage and public use
The maximum amount of the grant will be 100% of the eligible expenses, up to a maximum of € 20,000 per beneficiary. The projects submitted will be incompatible with the concurrent obtaining of other grants or aid for the same purpose.
The actions financed must be completed, as a deadline, on November 30, 2023.
On March 21, the call was published in the National Database of Subsidies and will enter into force the day after its publication in the BOE. Thereafter, the interested parties will have 30 days to submit their applications to the program.