**7. Final considerations**

The Atlantic portion of Spain is one of the most biodiverse areas of the entire Atlantic biogeographical region and even of the entire European Union, since it includes a significant proportion of the whole variety of habitat types in the European Atlantic region. This has motivated Spain to be one of the countries that has bet more strongly on the Natura 2000 network, mainly through the SCI/SAC and SPA delimited in the Atlantic region.

The importance of the housed biodiversity values and the territorial representativeness of the Natura 2000 network have favored the establishment of a profuse and large set of Biosphere Reserves in the Spanish Atlantic region, which constitute territories that develop initiatives for the biodiversity conservation, the sustainable development, and the improvement of knowledge and capacities of the population.

The situation generated in the Spanish Atlantic region has allowed the development and implementation of LIFE projects for the conservation and restoration of habitats and populations of species of interest for conservation. Consequently, the Spanish Atlantic region has become a reference area when launching new strategies, functioning as a living laboratory to develop and test new experiences of biodiversity conservation, promotion of sustainable development, and logistical support for research, monitoring, education, and information exchange.
