BioBlitzes can bring up iconic spieces such as this Kingfisher. © Paula Puy
On Sunday, the 5th of June, coinciding with World Environment Day, the Seventh Nature Week of Catalonia ended with significant participation. Under a unique star, it started on the 22nd of May, the International Biodiversity Day.
The COVID-19 pandemic meant that the first two editions in the past were carried out with a reduced number of participants per group and through online activities. However, participation is something that we have recovered this year, with a notable increase in both organised activities and participants.
During the 15 days of Nature Week, 555 activities were organised all over Catalonia to raise awareness of the importance of caring for nature and the land. Throughout Catalonia, there has been a wide variety of proposals from which each participant has been able to choose the one that suits their interests and needs best.
There have been numerous guided trips to get to know the fauna and flora of the local environment
The activities have promoted the values of discovery and respect for the environment, bringing nature closer to citizens. They provided them with knowledge, skills, and resources to get involved in the conservation of nature. The environmental volunteering days to remove invasive exotic species to improve and restore natural spaces have been outstanding. During the Nature Week there have also been numerous guided trips to get to know the fauna and flora of the environment, workshops on biodiversity and climate emergencies, citizens science initiatives such as BioBlitzes on invasive species, night snorkelling to census marine species, workshops on building water tanks, building insect hotels, and many, many more activities.
Participants are teaming up. © Paula Puy
Biodiversity is what produces the air we breathe, provides us with food and resources, guarantees the quality of water
Catalonia has excellent ecological diversity and richness of landscapes, habitats and species, with very different and unique landscapes throughout the territory. But all of that is exposed to pressures (mainly derived from anthropic activity) that threaten biodiversity. The alarm is triggered by the observation that a progressive and general loss of biodiversity in Catalonia occurred lately.
Biodiversity is what produces the air we breathe, provides us with food and resources, guarantees the quality of water, and also provides us with places where we can enjoy our leisure time. Nature and its biodiversity are essential to our lives, it brings us both physical and mental health, and it is necessary and urgent to protect and conserve it.
Participants on a field trip during the Nature Week. © Paula Puy
What do we contribute to Nature Week?
Nature Week was created to highlight the work that environmental organisations do every day to recover and improve the habitats of Catalonia. We do that through actions such as the extraction and control of invasive species, monitoring of fauna and flora, environmental education and awareness-raising, waste collection… In all these tasks, citizen involvement is necessary. Raising awareness of ecological problems and the need to care for our environment is essential to achieve that. Initiatives such as Nature Week make it possible to increase this citizen’s involvement in the conservation of nature, know to protect and act.
Nature is the foundation of our lives, and there’s no planet B.
Organisations, town councils, libraries, schools, environmental groups and participants: thank you so much for making the Nature Week one more year possible!
The Natures Week is organised by the Xarxa per a la Conservació de la Natura and cofinanced by the Generalitat de Catalonia and the Diputació de Barcelona
