Natural Springs: springs of life or wells of biological extinction?
Saving natural sources will be one of the main challenges for the future. New studies point out that a large part of all Iberian biodiversity is linked to these oases of life and that it could be seriously threatened by climate change.
We launched a global strategy in Spain to urgently address this problem; led by BIOSCICAT, among others, has the support of the Ministerio para la Transicion Ecológica, through the Fundación Biodiversidad.
It is an ambitious project to protect and value these unknown redoubts of water and life, improving scientific knowledge about them, betting on communication at all levels, and acting from political advocacy and normative regulation.
Tarragona, April 18, 2018
BIOSCICAT, the Catalan Society of Sciences for the Conservation of Biodiversity, launches and leads an ambitious project at the national level based on a global strategy that aims to warn of the threat that affects natural springs, as well as to raise awareness among all civil society and public administrations of the need to conserve them, promoting the development of a legislative framework at European, state and regional level that guarantees their future.
This project aims to contribute to the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 13 and 15. Goal 13, 'Climate Action', calls for urgent action to combat climate change and its effects, while Goal 15, 'Life on Terrestrial Ecosystems', establishes the need to halt biodiversity loss.
This project is launched on the occasion of the celebration next Sunday, April 22, of International Earth Day, joining the initiative of 180 countries to raise awareness among civil society and governments about the health of the Planet.
The springs in the Iberian Peninsula
How much biodiversity are the Iberian natural sources home to and what part of our biological heritage does it represent?
What is their state of conservation and what is their future?
To what extent are they threatened by climate change and other factors?
What can we do to prevent their disappearance and that of the hundreds of living beings that depend on them?
These are some of the questions that the scientists of the project, led by BioSciCat, try to answer.
Climate change, the direct destruction of the springs and the lack of knowledge of their fragility and biological importance, are some of the factors that could compromise all the hidden wealth in the natural springs of the Mediterranean mountains. A few square meters of spring environments are home to more biological species than extensive terrestrial ecosystems.
“Now we know that natural springs are unknown, fragile oases of life with an uncertain future. A large proportion of the biological and genetic wealth of any of our ecosystems can be sheltered in a few square meters.
We urgently need to guarantee its future: the balance of ecosystems and, with it, the future and well-being of our species will depend on all this wealth. That is irrefutable”.
M. Manzano. BSC Communications Manager
The project
The project is articulated in three lines; scientific knowledge as a basis, communication as a measure to involve civil society, the scientific establishment and managing administrations, and political influence as a strategic and fundamental element in the proposal of new regulations.
Deep scientific studies that are being carried out on these small water points will lay the foundations to determine the ecological importance and the state of fragility and threat in which the spring environments are found, unknown today. The communication of the results obtained to the scientific community and the public administration, and the awareness of society, will guarantee the success of the proposed actions, together with the establishment of a new regulatory framework for conservation and management.
Support and financing
The NATURAL SPRINGS project, among others, has the support of the Ministry for Ecological Transition, through the FUNDACIÓN BIODIVERSIDAD. Led by BIOSCICAT, it hopes to progressively involve all the Autonomous Communities to act as a priority in the Spanish network of natural parks.
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