Biodiversity and Protection of the Marine Environment

Biodiversity includes the habitats and ecosystems structure that supports the living resources of the planet, including wildlife, marine environment and forests. Also it offers the means to satisfy the basic human needs as food and medicine. Despite of that, its destruction by human activities continues. Biodiversity is preserved or it is depleted as a result of collective or individual decisions on land and  resources uses. These decisions are definitely influenced by  international law and policy.

This field of our activity is based on the contribution to the development and implementation of international conventions in force such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. Our work in this filed give priority to the following areas:


- Protection of marine and land habitats and species.
- Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT)
- Access to genetic resources
- Protection of traditional indigenous and local knowledge
- Analysis of the consequences from genetic manipulation consequences from an ecological, economic and humans rights perspective.

In this context, IIDMA has given legal advise to different administrations, has prepared reports about the constitution of Biosphere Reserves and the application in Spain of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Also, it has prepared the following legal reports:

The main objective of this Project was to contribute to the EU Framework Directive for a Marine Strategy and of the future EU Maritime Policy implementation processes through:  

1. Identifying and analysing the main existing legal mechanisms at the international, EU and national levels for the protection and preservation of the marine environment of Spanish waters that face potential negative impacts generated by marine and/or land human activities.
2. Preparing proposals to overcome identified legal vacuums.
3. Fostering an effective implementation of the legal order for the protection of the marine environment which shall lead to the improvement of the marine environments as a result. 

This Project, carried out by IIDMA from September 2008 to September 2009, was supported by Obra Social Caja Madrid and Oak Foundation. Its development consisted of the preparation of a series of legal reports, a questionnaire completed by a hundred professionals that specialize in the management, use and protection of the seas, and a workshop that was convened at the Representation of the European Commission in Spain on 8th September 2009 where thirty of those professionals provided their opinion and vision about the preliminary version of  the main result of this Project the publication titled Gobernanza para la protección del medio marino en España: Guía Práctica (Governance for the protection of the marine environment in Spain: A practical guide). With this publication IIDMA intends to offer an informative and consultation tool identifying the main legal instruments at the international, EU and domestic levels for the protection of the marine environment in Spain, with the goal of facilitating the work of all stakeholders involved in the planning, management and use of the marine environment.  

Collaboration with TRAFFIC-Europe preparing the report Spain’s Compliance with ICCAT Recommendations for Swordfish and Bluefin Tuna (1999)

This project consisted in the preparation of a study of the fisheries relations between the European Community and the Kingdom of Morocco. This initiative took place in the context of the Earth Council Project (Costa Rica) "Creating an International Environmental Ombudsperson”.