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The renewable energy transition and its impactin Red Natura 2000 spaces.
📚 Environmental zoning for renobal energies in red natura 2000 spaces
📚 Evaluación ambiental “adecuada” y coherencia de la Red Natura 2000
📚 Estrategia nacional de infraestructura verde y de la conectividad y restauración ecológicas
Reference documents will be the «Strategy for Biodiversity 2030 of the European Union«, and the Spanish «National Strategy for Green Infrastructure«.
And this to raise the impact that the energy transition towards a renewable model will cause in the Natura 2000 Network spaces, taking into account that the new wind farms and photovoltaic plants require a significant occupation of territory and affect biodiversity.
For this, the Ministry of the Environment and Demographic Challenge has provided, for guidance purposes, a tool for zoning the environmental sensitivity of the national territory for renewable energies.
Regarding strategic planning in terms of biodiversity for the decade 2021-2030, at the community level, the European Union has maintained its commitment to renew the Aichi Targets, through the approval of the Strategy for Biodiversity 2030.
In Spain, the National Strategy for Green Infrastructure and Connectivity has been approved.
The change in our energy model, sponsored by the EU through an energy transition focused on renewable energies, particularly wind and photovoltaic, will have an impact on the Natura 2000 Network spaces. The main environmental effect of maximizing renewable power that is to be installed in the next decade is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. However, it is necessary to weigh another series of environmental effects on factors such as land use, natural heritage and biodiversity, which may not be positive if adequate measures are not adopted that are translated into effective and enforceable regulations. Such ambitious energy goals must be compatible with the protection of species and habitats. Environmental factors associated with the projects of renewable facilities as they are intended to be located in the Natura 2000 Network spaces.
The EU strategy on biodiversity between now and 2030 seeks to “reintegrate nature into our lives”, and is part of one of the initiatives included in the European Green Deal of December 2019.
In this 2030 Strategy, the Commission begins by recognizing the state of crisis in which nature finds itself, seeking to adopt measures so that, between now and 2030, Europe’s biodiversity recovers, and reverts the degradation of natural resources. ecosystems.
Goals of this Strategy are:
– That 30% of the land and sea surface of the European Union have legal protection.
– Incorporation of ecological corridors to create a Trans-European Network of Natural Spaces, by promoting and supporting investments in green infrastructure
– That some form of strict protection be established for at least 10% of the land and sea surface
– Effective management of all protected areas, defining clear conservation and monitoring measures and objectives.
– Strengthening the legal framework for the recovery of nature.
– Stop the loss of pollinators, plant millions of trees, promote organic farming, and improve the governance of biodiversity.
The European Commission wants to dedicate an annual community budget of 20,000 million euros per year, for investment in Natura 2000 and Green Infrastructure.
But the uncertainties about the viability of achieving the objectives set for 2030 are evident, given the deficient state of conservation of:
Wild birds;
Protected species; and
Types of protected habitats, and their unfavourable conservation status.
Faced with this, the creation of the concept of Green Infrastructure is defined as the interconnected network of natural spaces, including some agricultural lands, such as greenways, wetlands, parks, forest reserves and communities of native plants, as well as marine spaces that regulate naturally shaped stormwater flows, temperatures, flood risk, and the quality of water, air, and ecosystems, and aimed at enhancing nature’s ability to provide multiple and valuable ecosystem goods and services, such as water and clean air, improving the quality of life, biodiversity, the fight against climate change, etc …
It starts from the idea that it is cheaper to maintain these services (air, water, etc.) provided by ecosystems in a natural way, then through the development of substitute technological solutions.
Elements that make up the Green Infrastructure range from small linear elements such as hedges, fish ladders or green roofs, to complete functional ecosystems, such as floodplain forests, wetlands or free-flowing rivers. Each of these elements can contribute to green infrastructure in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas, both outside and within protected areas, and Natura 2000 is an essential part of the implementation of the Green Infrastructure for biodiversity conservation.
The Green Infrastructure is the territorial management tool that complements the protection of the Natura 2000 Network, promoting the connection between these spaces.
In Spain, the National Strategy for Green Infrastructure and Ecological Connectivity and Restoration was approved in October 2020: Green Infrastructure is defined as the ecologically coherent and strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas and other environmental elements, designed and managed for the conservation of ecosystems and the maintenance of the services they provide us.
It is a strategic planning document that regulates the implementation and development of Green Infrastructure in Spain, establishing a harmonized administrative and technical framework for the entire Spanish territory, a fundamental planning tool to identify, conserve and recover damaged ecosystems throughout the Spanish territory and connect them with each other.
The Strategy begins with a truly bleak Diagnosis, recognizing that, to achieve ecological connectivity in Spain, it is necessary to go beyond the protection of the Natura 2000 Network and other protected areas, taking into account that many key places to achieve spatial connectivity They will be located outside these protected spaces.
General objectives of the Strategy:
– Application of planning and territorial management tools.
– Strengthen coordination between Public Administrations.
– Maximize transversal integration at the different levels of territorial planning.
– Promote knowledge, research and information transfer within the framework of the Green Infrastructure objectives.
Therefore, it is necessary to integrate the Green Infrastructure in the different instruments of territorial and sectoral planning.
Thus, the European Commission determined that, to materialize, it requires its standardization as a model of land management and that it be fully integrated in the application of territorial policies: In environmental assessments and in the approval of state sector plans, in the spatial planning plans and general urban planning plans, to give just a few examples, these issues should be taken into account.
Logically also, the National Strategy must be developed by the Autonomous Communities, which are the ones with environmental management competencies.
Well, given the definitive boost of renewable energies, also in the Natura 2000 Network spaces, and whose origin was in the European Green Pact, the confluence of energy and environmental policies must be reconciled, which should not be conceived as a conflict of public interest, with true compatibility being desirable, especially considering that both must be developed in the public interest.
Spatial planning may have improved, but landscape fragmentation continues to increase, with clear damage to habitats and biodiversity.
The National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan is the one that establishes a Decarbonization Strategy, where it is stated: “Special attention will be paid to the cumulative effects of renewable facilities in the rural environment, promoting specific environmental criteria, avoiding the impact on values fragile environments or those of interest for the conservation of the environment, promoting rural and sustainable and fair development, and avoiding damage to protected natural areas that may pose a special risk to the maintenance of natural heritage, biodiversity and related traditional economic activity. to the territory».
The Natura 2000 Network spaces are not untouchable, but their selection to locate renewable energy facilities must be subsidiary in nature, the energy transition sponsored by renewables must provide beneficial solutions for all and not play to the detriment of the Network.
The simplification of administrative procedures for new renewable energy projects, in particular, the reduction of deadlines, should not be detrimental to the correct environmental evaluation of the projects derived from the plan, especially in the studies to be carried out to identify the impacts or enhance negative effects of the project on the environment.
They should avoid «in general, the occupation of undeveloped land protected or affected by environmental protection figures, as well as areas of high natural value regardless of their degree of legal protection».
Total compatibility, conditional compatibility and incompatibility, are the three assumptions that are finally handled.
It is undoubtedly true that the energy transition benefits the environment but it is also true that its development, especially in large facility projects, has an impact on the territory where they are located, and more so when it comes to Natura 2000 Network areas characterized by the need for conservation and protection of habitats and species.
InterJuez.es 