According to our Nature Conservation Act, the Patrons are the bodies for the participation of the Natural Parks, among which are the approval of the annual budgets of the Parks and the management programs. The Member should explain to us how we will be able to fulfil these competences if we are called or forget to call ourselves when the year is over.

The Act also recognizes the Board of Trustees a total of eleven functions to promote or control initiatives to protect nature, all of which are useless, while those responsible do not express any intention to comply with the law.

It is more embarrassing than in an administration that spends almost EUR 3 million each year “in the Directorate-General for Citizen Participation”, and that “open and collaborative governance is based on the new forms of relationship and collaboration between governments and civil society”, in this Parliament that preaches us without hindrance, with the Patrons as the only official bodies of participation in the Nature Administration.

And on the content of the meetings, what to say; in the reports of the last two years read to us by the supposed directors of the Park, they made it clear that the Natural Parks are not managed for the protection of nature, but that, on the contrary, public initiatives have no other objective than to make the most of the users of these spaces. We know that not everything should be measured in money, but that without it there can be no miracles. Because the Board of Trustees informed us that two-thirds of the budgets that they could not approve were in livestock infrastructure or in public management, and almost one-third in staff spending. At best, only 3% was devoted to the research. Although the first objective of Natural Parks is to “protect, preserve and restore existing ecosystems within the Park”, the Provincial Council has relinquished this objective, the recovery of biodiversity is not a priority of the Provincial Council.

And they didn't answer our questions, overwhelmed by this situation! Let us not talk about flora, fauna, habitats, ecosystems, landscapes, climate emergencies or natural heritage to our authorities. They are signing Green Treaties in the European Union. The Office of Rural Development does not think that investing in the protection and recovery of nature is necessary for economic recovery, nor when, as the COVID-19 crisis has shown, it has become more necessary than ever to have a healthy environment. They do not want to understand that if biodiversity is not restored, in addition to natural heritage, we will lose opportunities to deal with this type of crisis.

As stated in the European treaties, who recognizes the importance of nature for physical and mental well-being, as well as the ability of our society to cope with global change, health threats and disasters. Or we need nature to be present in our lives. At a time when more and more beautiful and in-depth sessions are being made for the protection of nature on our continent, perhaps we are mistaken in thinking that we are Europeans.