Spain and Mauritania reinforce their environmental cooperation with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on National Parks and Biosphere Reserves

Third Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen, with the President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani.

Within the framework of this official visit, Spain and Mauritania, through the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Mauritanians Abroad, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation in the field of national parks and biosphere reserves with the aim of strengthening technical and institutional collaboration in the protection and conservation of natural and cultural heritage, also promoting sustainable socio-economic development in environments of high ecological value.

The MOU sets out a comprehensive roadmap for making progress in the effective and sustainable management of national parks and biosphere reserves, including:

• Capacity building and technical training, as well as exchange of information and experiences in environmental planning and management.
• Ecosystem restoration and environmental monitoring, including the reinforcement of conservation and recovery programmes for endangered species.
• Environmental education and citizen participation, through the promotion of awareness-raising and dissemination programmes adapted to universal accessibility criteria.
• Support and training in surveillance, control and field management of the Banco de Arguin National Park, and technical and logistical capacity building.
• Collaboration with universities and research centres to promote joint actions in biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

In addition, the agreement provides for the creation of a Joint Committee, made up of representatives from both countries, which will be responsible for coordinating the implementation of the agreement, approving annual work plans and ensuring the follow-up of actions.

Commitment to international environmental cooperation

This agreement with Mauritania is in line with the strategic priorities of the MITECO's Autonomous National Parks Organisation (OAPN), which works to preserve natural wealth and biological diversity through participatory, scientific and sustainable management of protected areas. The experience accumulated by Spain in the development of the National Parks Network and the Spanish Network of Biosphere Reserves, recognised by UNESCO, is thus put at the service of technical cooperation that seeks shared benefits for local communities and ecosystems.

The MOU will enable the identification of areas with similar management problems and challenges in both countries, facilitating the creation of partnerships and collaboration networks between territories. This partnership approach will contribute to improving the resilience of natural systems to the effects of climate change and to promoting models for development compatible with the conservation of nature and the well-being of the populations living in their environment.

With an initial term of five years, extendible for a further five years, the agreement does not entail direct financial commitments, but will guide cooperation actions through available regular budgets. It also envisages the possibility of including new areas of collaboration through additional agreements.

This MOU is part of Spain's firm commitment to strengthening international cooperation for the protection of the environment, especially in key contexts such as the Sahel, where the conservation of biodiversity, the fight against desertification and climate change are shared priorities.

Non official translation.