**3. The Spanish network of National Parks: attempting sustainability**

NPs are 'little transformed PAs of high natural and cultural value whose conservation is priority and in the state's general interest for being representative of the Spanish natural heritage as a result of their exceptional natural values, their representative character, or the singularity of their flora, fauna or geomorphological formations' [10]. The Spanish Network of NPs is an integrated system for the protection and management of the best sample of the Spanish natural heritage. The Network consists of its conforming NPs, their regulations, human and material resources and the institutions that are necessary for its functioning. By September of 2017, the Spanish Network of NPs consisted of 15 NPs. They are scattered across the four biogeographic regions in Spain (**Table 1**) [11].

Thirteen NPs are managed by the governments of the regions in which they are located, whereas the two NPs in Castilla-La Mancha region, Cabañeros NP and Tablas de Daimiel


**Table 1.** Main characteristics of the 15 National Parks in Spain by September of 2017.

In the last two decades, the Spanish terrestrial PA network has largely been completed with plentiful national and European PA designations. Currently, Spain has 1958 'national' PAs that cover 13% of the Spanish terrestrial territory. Three NPs were the last ones to be added to the NP network: Atlantic Islands (in Galicia, in 2002), Monfragüe NP (in Extremadura, in 2007) and Sierra de Guadarrama (in Madrid, in 2013). The 15 NPs existing by the end of 2017 cover 385,000 ha. By 2016, there were also 1865 Natura 2000 sites (SPAs, SCIs and Special Areas of Conservation) which covered 27.32% of the Spanish land territory [5], largely exceeding international PA coverage targets of 17% for terrestrial ecosystems at national scale [6]. From 2010, important effort is being made to also adequately protect marine biodiversity, according to the internationally agreed marine protected area coverage target of 10% [6]. As a result, 39 new marine SPAs were designated across the Spanish Exclusive Economic Zone in 2014. Those, together with other existing marine and coastal PAs, make approximately 12% of

Though the Spanish terrestrial PA network can be considered close to completion, considerable effort must still be put in adequately managing those sites, including developing customized management plans and implementing regular surveillance and monitoring of biodiversity and other relevant conservation features consistently [8]. Also, effort should be made to ensure that an adequate representation of the Spanish natural systems established in the law on NPs of 2007 [9], especially steppe, desert and marine systems, is included in the NP network. Work is underway to designate two new NPs in Spain: Sierra de las Nieves NP in Andalusia, which would add to medium and high Mediterranean mountain ecosystem representation in the network, and Mar de las Calmas, in El Hierro, Canary Islands, which would become the first entirely marine NP. Finally, completion of the Spanish marine PA network according to the best available evidence on biodiversity and evolving international

**3. The Spanish network of National Parks: attempting sustainability**

NPs are 'little transformed PAs of high natural and cultural value whose conservation is priority and in the state's general interest for being representative of the Spanish natural heritage as a result of their exceptional natural values, their representative character, or the singularity of their flora, fauna or geomorphological formations' [10]. The Spanish Network of NPs is an integrated system for the protection and management of the best sample of the Spanish natural heritage. The Network consists of its conforming NPs, their regulations, human and material resources and the institutions that are necessary for its functioning. By September of 2017, the Spanish Network of NPs consisted of 15 NPs. They are scattered across the four

Thirteen NPs are managed by the governments of the regions in which they are located, whereas the two NPs in Castilla-La Mancha region, Cabañeros NP and Tablas de Daimiel

the marine environment under Spanish jurisdiction protected by 2017 [7].

**2.8. Next steps**

104 National Parks - Management and Conservation

targets is still a pending task.

biogeographic regions in Spain (**Table 1**) [11].

NP, are still being managed by the central government through the NP Autonomous Body (OAPN). The overall state's investment in the Spanish NP Network was approximately €89 million in 2015 [12]. The NP Network is funded by the regional administrations for most ordinary expenses and by the central OAPN, which chiefly finances common actions across the Network including monitoring, research, volunteering, local socioeconomic subsidies, training and dissemination. In contrast to some other countries where entrance fees to NPs apply to all visitors or just to foreign visitors, fees do not apply in Spanish NPs and entrance is free of charge although regulated in order not to exceed the carrying capacity of protected ecosystems (**Figure 2**).

The main official aims of Spanish NPs are (1) ensuring the long-term conservation of biodiversity and cultural features; (2) supporting public use; (3) promoting scientific knowledge on their natural and cultural assets; (4) encouraging social environmental awareness; (5) exchanging experience and knowledge on sustainable development; (6) training and capacity building of staff working in NPs; and (7) participating in international programmes and networks. We could probably add an eighth aim, included in the current law on NPs, which deals with 'promoting local socioeconomic development' [10]. For this, a substantial part of the annual budget of the NP Network provided by the OAPN for common actions across the

**4.1. Regular inner assessments**

**4.2. External assessments: project calls**

reactive) monitoring.

website.

Regular censuses or samplings of biodiversity of conservation concern (e.g. endangered species) are regularly carried out in each NP according to their management planning using their own means and staff. Other features of conservation concerns, such as cultural or geomorphological features, are subject to regular surveillance and more sporadic (normally

A Centennial Path Towards Sustainability in Spanish National Parks: Biodiversity…

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73196

107

The OAPN finances annual calls for research projects on natural values, cultural heritage, socioeconomic aspects and traditional knowledge in NPs since 2002. Those calls are included in the Spanish Research, Development & Innovation Plan. Research priorities in Spanish NPs are established in the NP Master Plan. According to it, funding precedence will be given to projects that monitor global change effects, projects that include more than one NP and projects

**Figure 3.** OAPN's funded 2015 research call on National Park's advertisement on the Spanish Ministry of Environment's

**Figure 2.** Location of Spanish National Parks by September of 2017. Numbers indicate order of designation: 1. Picos de Europa; 2. Ordesa y Monte Perdido; 3. Teide; 4. Caldera de Taburiente; 5. Aigüestortes i estany de Sant Maurici; 6. Doñana; 7. Tablas de Daimiel; 8. Timanfaya; 9. Garajonay; 10. Archipiélago de Cabrera; 11. Cabañeros; 12. Sierra Nevada; 13. Islas Atlánticas; 14. Monfragüe; 15. Sierra de Guadarrama.

Network (approximately 58% in 2015) [12] is devoted to subsidies aimed at compensating local dwellers in the municipalities included in NPs for the restrictions to natural or cultural resource use from NPs' regulations and at promoting sustainable economic practices. Thus, the aims of the Spanish NP Network are closely aligned with those of sustainable development: environmental conservation, social equity and economic profitability. But are NPs attaining them?
