Nature has a message for us and it is increasingly urgent that we pay attention to it: the health of people depends on the health of the planet. Human activity has reduced the richness of terrestrial and marine habitats by 30%, which is the main cause of biodiversity loss, and global warming is aggravating this situation. Life depends on us knowing how to join forces and take care of our environment, as thousands of collaborative microorganisms do all over the world, participating in a perfect symbiosis in which everyone wins.
Protecting biodiversity is a necessity to preserve the health of the planet and, therefore, that of human beings and that of the rest of the species that inhabit it. World Environment Day, which is celebrated today, June 5, focuses this year on calling for us to be aware of the correlation between climate change, biodiversity and health. The current pandemic, and the extreme weather events we have recently experienced, are clear examples that it is time to act. The survival of the world we know is at stake.
Healthy ecosystems, in which there is great diversity, favor a balance between species, avoiding the predominance of one of them and hindering the spread of pathogens such as viruses. In addition, taking care of biodiversity allows wild species to continue in their habitat and have no need to enter areas of human activity. In contrast, in degraded ecosystems it is easier for a virus to infect many individuals of a species and, due to its proximity to human activity, end up reaching people.
SUEZ Spain’s commitment to biodiversity is evident in its Sustainable Development Report
Biodiversity
Around one million animal and plant species, of the eight million that exist on the planet, may disappear in the next ten years, according to the United Nations. Since the 1970s, agricultural and fishery production, as well as the extraction of raw materials, have steadily increased, while the capacity of the land to recover has diminished. Deforestation and depletion of fishing banks are two examples of this overexploitation. All this has dire consequences on the richness and variety of ecosystems. Spain is the European country with the highest percentage of threatened species. It is a challenge that forces everyone to assume their share of responsibility, both citizens, administrations and companies. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the roadmap for dealing with climate change and reducing inequality on the planet, highlight in number 15 the importance of sustainably managing forests, combating desertification, halting the degradation of land and address biodiversity loss.
New development model
Water, an essential and indispensable element for life, is essential for this purpose. SUEZ, firmly committed globally against climate change and in favor of the protection of natural heritage, promotes a new development model based on the circular economy and innovation to anticipate the demands of the future. Its great vocation is to help citizens, administrations and industry to carry out an environmental transition that allows for a sustainable improvement in the well-being and quality of life of its inhabitants.
Ebro Delta wetlands. Author: Oliver Hernández
In this context, and with the aim of contributing to overcoming the current coronavirus pandemic and addressing climate change, SUEZ has signed – together with more than 150 business groups – a joint declaration addressed to governments and political leaders from around the world requesting that economic reconstruction to overcome the current crisis is carried out based on sustainable ecological plans.
This request focuses on the need to relaunch a zero-carbon economy and on the importance of limiting global warming of the planet to a maximum of 1.5ºC in the year 2030. By signing the declaration, SUEZ reaffirms that, with its own decisions and actions, will help ensure the transition from a gray economy to a green economy.
SUEZ in Spain’s commitment to biodiversity
Likewise, in Spain, the commitment to biodiversity is evident in “”, its Sustainable Development Report (IDS) corresponding to 2019. During the past year the group carried out 60 biodiversity diagnoses, 45 of them in facilities located in protected areas . In addition, 17 action plans were established in water treatment plants (11 of them in protected areas).
the marsh
For example, at the Palau Saverdera treatment plant (Girona), adjacent to the Aiguamolls de l’Empordà protected natural area, the group carried out an action to convert the area into a refuge for the reproduction and reintroduction of threatened amphibians such as the spadefoot toad or the green newt. In the Cabezo Beaza lagoons, which store reclaimed water from a treatment plant belonging to the group in Cartagena, it has managed to shelter 30 species of aquatic birds (14 of them included in conservation catalogues) and repopulate the white-headed duck, a peculiar duck diver with a very small and localized population, which in Spain was on the verge of disappearing in the 1970s. In the Olot and Sant Joan de les Fonts treatment plants, in the Girona region of La Garrotxa, two butterfly gardens and a grassy habitat have been created to favor these species and improve the biodiversity of the environment.
green infrastructure
The group has transformed the water cycle facilities into “green infrastructures” so that, in this way, they support the ecosystem in which they are located and favor the services that nature offers us. The elimination of the use of phytosanitary products (currently 58.6% of its facilities are already free of these chemical products) and the control of invasive alien species are also part of its action plan.
For the control of foreign species that colonize ecosystems, efforts have focused on the invasive exotic flora in its facilities.
La Garrotxa Treatment Plant
The BiObserva STOP-invasive program has been developed, which offers, through its own methodology and tools (a web platform and a mobile app), the necessary information to train facility personnel on how to identify species, report observations and execute plans of control.
SUEZ Spain has involved its workers in the mission of protecting biodiversity. The employees collaborate in the monitoring of birds that live next to the treatment plants. The presence of certain species of aquatic birds that feed on fish in rivers is a clear indicator of the health of riverbeds. The BiObserva Voluntariado program, implemented in 95 facilities, has the voluntary participation of more than 270 workers. Bird sightings at work centers are recorded in a mobile application and on publicly accessible web platforms. The nearly 60,000 observations made have been used internally by the group to carry out specific action plans and at the same time made available to scientists on the global biodiversity information platform (GBIF), sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and managed through the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). SUEZ in Spain is the private entity that provides the most records.
In 2019, SUEZ Spain carried out 60 biodiversity diagnoses, 45 of them in facilities located in protected areas
In addition, committed employees and family members participated, for the second consecutive year, in clean-up days in the local environment, in line with the “Let’s CleanUp Europe” campaign, a common action throughout Europe to raise awareness about the amount of waste that we dump in an uncontrolled manner. to nature, through the collection of garbage and abandoned plastics in forests, beaches and riverbanks.
Raising awareness among the youngest and disseminating the importance of biodiversity among citizens is also a priority. Last year, the group trained 173,173 schoolchildren in the sustainable use of water and was visited by 89,728 people at its facilities and at its museum.
Biodiversity in cities
SUEZ Spain promotes solutions based on nature. On the one hand, the naturalization of cities, with more green areas in urban centers to improve conditions and make cities more resilient to climate change. For example, the La Marjal park in the city of Alicante is a benchmark urban green infrastructure in Spain. Capable of collecting 45 million liters of rainwater, it also fulfills a social function, as it is a municipal space for use by citizens, and an environmental one, as a green lung that also acts as a refuge for vegetation species and birds in the area. On the other hand, SUEZ also promotes solutions in vulnerable natural spaces of high ecological interest to improve their biodiversity. This is the case of the wetlands of the Ebro Delta, natural treatment plants for water from rice cultivation.
Biological diversity provides food, raw materials and a wide variety of basic resources. To promote diversity in nature, the group promotes general measures such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and water saving, as well as the reduction, reuse and recycling of all the waste generated by its activity. Betting on the circular economy and technological innovation, SUEZ is a world pioneer in transforming traditional treatment plants into biofactories. This new concept, which represents a paradigm shift, is based on three principles: the reuse of water for new uses, the generation of renewable energy and the recovery of all waste.
Preserving biodiversity and fighting climate change are necessary objectives to guarantee a better future. Taking care of all beings on the planet is our obligation. It is the best practice to achieve a more…
Facebook Comments
Disqus