Fundación Iberdrola España supports the reintroduction of the osprey in the Valencian Region
- The entity, together with the Migres Foundation, renews the agreement to develop the project in 2023 for which it provides 50,000 euros
- Actions for the reintroduction and recovery of this bird of prey at risk of extinction will be analyzed and assessed
Fundación Iberdrola España has renewed in Valencia the agreement with the Migres Foundation for the project of reintroduction of the osprey in the Valencian Community, which will analyze and evaluate actions for the reintroduction and recovery of this bird of prey at risk of extinction in the Iberian Peninsula.
The president of the Migres Foundation, Miguel Ángel Ferrer, and the director of Fundación Iberdrola España, Ramón Castresana, have signed the agreement at the headquarters of the Regional Ministry of Ecological Transition. The event was attended by Julio Gómez, general director of Natural Environment of the Generalitat Valenciana; Juan Jiménez, head of Wildlife of the Generalitat Valenciana; Ibán Molina, institutional delegate of Iberdrola in the Comunitat; and Ana Lafuente, regional director of i-DE, the distribution company of the Iberdrola group.
This project, which began in 2022 in the Marjal de Pego, has an annual budget of 50,000 euros from Fundación Iberdrola España and is part of one of its main areas of activity, such as the protection of birdlife and habitat conservation.
The purpose of this collaboration is to obtain young fisherwomen from different donor countries for their transfer to the Valencian Community, for their release employing hacking techniques, usual in this type of reintroduction projects. The ultimate goal is the recovery of a self-sufficient breeding population in the Comunitat after more than 50 years of its disappearance.
The estimated number of chicks needed for this purpose is around one hundred, which will be released over five years, with the support of donor countries such as Scotland, Sweden, and Norway, among others. Initially, the plan was to release a minimum of 12 young birds in 2022, but the sudden appearance of a particularly virulent outbreak of avian influenza prevented the movement of birds within Europe, so it is expected that this year the initially planned number of birds can be transferred.
Since its inception, the Migres Foundation has developed more than 130 projects related to the reintroduction of two endangered bird species, the osprey and the imperial eagle, to recover for the Iberian Peninsula a species that had been extinguished by human actions and that returned to breed in Spain.
Iberdrola, committed to environmental protection
Iberdrola, through its Foundation in Spain, is firmly committed to environmental protection and the fight against climate change. Thus, the commitment to biodiversity extends to important actions that are governed by the lines of action set out in the Master Plan, such as supporting programs for the conservation of endangered species and the restoration of protected habitats.
Fundación Iberdrola España works with institutions and companies to improve the ecological environment and protect biodiversity. Among other initiatives, it supports the Rei Jaume I Prize for Environmental Protection in the region, which is awarded to people who have excelled in research into improving the ecological environment.