The delegate of the Government in Cantabria, Eugenia Gómez de Diego, participated today in the presentation of the project ‘Torrelavega, natural connection’, an initiative that aims to recover degraded natural spaces in the municipality and create new ecosystems.
The project, financed with 2,105,263 euros by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition with European funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), will focus on the recovery of the Las Tablas Park, a degraded peri-urban area in the flooded area of the Saja Besaya River.
The actions foreseen in the project include the recovery of the biodiversity of the area, the control of invasive species, the improvement of access to the park from the city and the intervention in the ecological improvement of other urban parks.
Gómez de Diego highlighted the importance of this type of project to "fight climate change, promote a healthier city and raise awareness of a global problem through local impetus", while highlighting the benefit that this initiative will have in improving the quality of life of neighbors.
The government delegate has pointed out that the renaturalization of cities is an innovative approach that seeks to restore and reintegrate nature into urban environments. "Citizens' demands and the commitment of municipal governments to provide cities with green infrastructures based on nature-based solutions are becoming more frequent," he said.
Gómez de Diego concluded his speech by thanking the work of all the people involved in the project and ensuring that "with the work of all of us we will connect more with a natural Torrelavega and better to live and enjoy".
The event, held in Las Tablas Park, was attended by the mayor, Javier López Marcano; the first deputy mayor, José Luis Urraca; the councilor of the area, Patricia Portilla, as well as other members of the local Corporation, SERCA and SEO Birdlife.
‘Torrelavega Natural Connection’
The ‘Torrelavega Natural Connection’ project, beneficiary of the call for grants from the Biodiversity Foundation to promote the renaturalization and resilience of Spanish cities 2022, will improve the connectivity of habitats within the green ring of Torrelavega with the aim of increasing biodiversity and the resilience capacity of urban semi-natural spaces.
In addition to improving the biodiversity of existing urban green spaces, it will favor the ecological recovery of degraded spaces, as happens with Las Tablas Park (12ha), or non-vegetated, in the case of school yards, for the optimization of ecosystem services and the strengthening of the resilience of the territory against possible impacts and alterations within the context of climate change (floods, pests, proliferation of invasive species).
The recovery of green spaces of the city (Las Tablas) will allow its integration into the network of green infrastructures and will favor the connection and natural regeneration of native species in the river spaces, through the green corridors around the Saja Besaya River.
Professionals from the special employment center of the Torrelavega City Council PME‐SERCA are also expected to participate in this project, which will last until the end of 2025.