European topic centre - university of malaga
Meet our team members

Antonio Sánchez
Environmental scientist, GIS and Remote Sensing specialist
a_sanchez@uma.es
+34 951 952 905
Antonio has developed his career focused on Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing tools, especially in the management and processing of data to calculate indicators and generate illustrative maps of environmental problems of all kind. His main area of work has been marine and wetlands related data, where he has produced the analysis of environmental pressures and sea-coast interactions in different sectors such as transport, fishing, tourism and energy among others, as well as the study of environmental data such as populations of marine species and protected areas. In the field of remote sensing, he has developed different products related to wetland ecosystems using Landsat and Sentinel images, such as land use/land cover maps, surface water dynamics, flood regulation and land use/land cover change indicators. He has also participated as a trainer in remote sensing for different wetland user organizations.
Antonio also works as freelance photographer, graphic and web designer for different companies and public institutions. The experience in this field is put into practice in the ETC-UMA, giving greater versatility to the team when it comes to producing dissemination material for both experts and the general public, as well as in the development and maintenance of web pages.
RESOURCES
Technical Reports

Sánchez-Espinosa, A.; Abdul-Malak, D.; San-Román, S.; Vera, A.
Marine mega fauna and litter in the Mediterranean: Overview of impacts in MedBioLitter Technical Report
2022.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Biodiversity, Conservation and management, Environmental conservation, Marine litter, Marine protected areas, Mediterranean sea, Pressures, Protected areas
@techreport{Sánchez-Espinosa2022,
title = {Marine mega fauna and litter in the Mediterranean: Overview of impacts in MedBioLitter},
author = {A. Sánchez-Espinosa and D. Abdul-Malak and S. San-Román and A. Vera},
url = {https://www.etc.uma.es/wp-content/uploads/Marine_mega_fauna_litter_Mediterranean_March2022.pdf},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-04-01},
urldate = {2022-04-01},
abstract = {This report highlights the conclusions coming from the analysis of MedBiolitter spatial and scientific data on interactions between marine fauna and litter in the Mediterranean published in English as in v.8 updated in March 2022, integrated with marine litter data collected by ACCOBAMS in the frame of the Aerial Survey Initiative on cetaceans and marine litter. The analysis focuses on the impacts on marine megafauna (large mammals like cetaceans and seals, turtles, cartilaginous fishes like sharks and rays, and scombridae like tuna and swordfish). This publication follows the publication of the “Mediterranean biodiversity and marine litter: an interaction knowledge base” report in the frame of the Interreg Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection project published in 2019. },
keywords = {Biodiversity, Conservation and management, Environmental conservation, Marine litter, Marine protected areas, Mediterranean sea, Pressures, Protected areas},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {techreport}
}

Guitart, C.; Abdul-Malak, D.; Sánchez-Espinosa, A.; Valverde, C. Pérez; Bigagli, E.; San-Román, S.
Mediterranean biodiversity and marine litter: an interaction knowledge base Technical Report
2020.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Biodiversity, Conservation and management, Marine litter, Marine protected areas, Mediterranean sea, Pressures
@techreport{Guitart2020,
title = {Mediterranean biodiversity and marine litter: an interaction knowledge base},
author = {C. Guitart and D. Abdul-Malak and A. Sánchez-Espinosa and C. Pérez Valverde and E. Bigagli and S. San-Román},
editor = {ETC-UMA},
url = {https://www.etc.uma.es/wp-content/uploads/PAN_report_Mediterranean-biodiversity-and-marine-litter_LowRes.pdf},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-10},
urldate = {2020-01-10},
abstract = {The Interreg-Med programme (2014-2020) has co-financed several initiatives that tackle the issue of marine litter. The Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community, co-financed by Interreg Med and featured by PANACeA, is one of these networks and aims at ensuring harmonized approaches to provide transferable evidence-based solutions on this growing challenge in the region. Part of the contribution of this Interreg Med community is to increase the evidence and the understanding of marine litter concerns and to reduce the pressures coming from marine litter as well as its impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems in the Mediterranean region.
The main areas of work of this community to date include the compilation of knowledge and available information on monitoring, measures and actions in marine protected areas (MPAs) and beyond, and to provide tools to support biodiversity protection and management to a wide range of stakeholders from local managers to regional policy makers in the Mediterranean region. An insight on projects tackling marine litter policy, management, pressures, impacts and best practices to combat litter in the marine and coastal environment is presented in Table 1. Five projects (out of 11 thematic projects within the Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community) have pursued marine litter pollution knowledge objectives. The knowledge generated by the Biodiversity Protection community has been synthesized here to offer coordinated knowledge and practice in the Mediterranean region and to contribute to both the Mediterranean and international marine litter reduction challenges.},
keywords = {Biodiversity, Conservation and management, Marine litter, Marine protected areas, Mediterranean sea, Pressures},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {techreport}
}
The main areas of work of this community to date include the compilation of knowledge and available information on monitoring, measures and actions in marine protected areas (MPAs) and beyond, and to provide tools to support biodiversity protection and management to a wide range of stakeholders from local managers to regional policy makers in the Mediterranean region. An insight on projects tackling marine litter policy, management, pressures, impacts and best practices to combat litter in the marine and coastal environment is presented in Table 1. Five projects (out of 11 thematic projects within the Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community) have pursued marine litter pollution knowledge objectives. The knowledge generated by the Biodiversity Protection community has been synthesized here to offer coordinated knowledge and practice in the Mediterranean region and to contribute to both the Mediterranean and international marine litter reduction challenges.

Boosting Climate Resilience: Wetland4Change Project Advances Flood Management Solutions for Mediterranean Coastal Zones
The Mediterranean coastal zone´s combination of multiple severe climate hazards – rising temperatures, water scarcity, sea-level rise, and extreme weather events – makes it a hotspot for highly interconnected climate risks for the ecosystems and societies. Recent catastrophic floods in ...
RESTORE4Cs 1st Policy Brief: How can coastal wetlands help achieve EU climate goals?
The first RESTORE4Cs Policy Brief of RESTORE4Cs, “How can coastal wetlands help achieve EU climate goals?“, highlights the importance of European coastal wetlands for reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions. The key messages of the first RESTORE4Cs Policy Brief include: Coastal wetlands are important natural carbon stores, ...
Mapping the Impact of Blue Tourism in the Mediterranean
The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation with the support of ETC-UMA in the framework of the Blue Tourism Initiative, has released a comprehensive report entitled “Mapping the Impact of Blue Tourism in the Mediterranean: Vulnerability Assessment of Coastal and Marine ...
StrategyMedFor Presented at Annual Medforval Meeting 2024
StrategyMedFor was prominently featured at the Annual Medforval Meeting 2024, held from June 5-7 in Fontecchio, Italy. The event brought together 25 practitioners from national parks and natural reserves across 9 Mediterranean countries, providing a valuable platform for StrategyMedFor to ...
Celebrating leadership in environmental management: an interview with Dania Abdul Malak
From designing integrated ecosystem assessments in Europe and the Mediterranean to transforming outcomes into evidence-based recommendations for regional stakeholders, the European Topic Centre on Spatial Analysis and Synthesis (ETC-UMA) stands as a flagship for territorial cooperation. At the forefront of ...
Save the date! Unlocking solutions for coastal conservation in Europe
How can coastal wetlands respond to major European Union objectives such as climate neutrality, biodiversity protection, and pollution reduction? What key role do coastal wetlands play in achieving EU commitments for climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation? The European Topic Centre ...
Towards a Strategy for the Sustainable Management of Mediterranean Forests (StrategyMedFor)
The StrategyMedFor project, co-financed by the Interreg Euro-MED programme, was launched at the University of Malaga during a two day meeting that took place on March 18 and 19, 2024. The European Topic Centre on Spatial Analysis and Synthesis (ETC-UMA), ...
Collaborative science for forests by ETC-UMA showcased in Slovenia during the COP23
As UNEP MAP partner organization, ETC-UMA recently engaged in the organization of a session with Mediterranean institutions under the topic of climate change, entitled: From COASTAL to FOREST ecosystems: Mediterranean Nature-based Solutions to tackle climate change and ensure the Resilience ...
Tools for conserving the Spanish coast
On the initiative of the Instituto Universitario Hábitat Territorio y Digitalización (iHTD) of the University of Malaga, around 70 representatives of Spanish public administrations, researchers, architecture and environmental science players and civil society signed up to the second debate on ...
GreenEye System: a cloud-based system to monitor wetlands in Andalusia
Developed in the frame of the LifeWatch INDALO project cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for the study of biodiversity and global change in Andalucia, GreenEye System, this new cloud-based monitoring system, provides useful tools for wetlands’ assessment, ...
Looking back and forth to Mediterranean Forests
Timely published to enrich the knowledge available to fight fires and climate change challenges after an extremely hot summer, the proceedings of the Seventh Mediterranean Forest Week “Forest and Ecosystem Restoration for the next Mediterranean Generations” held from 21 to ...
More space for innovative Mediterranean forest data partnerships
The report entitled A knowledge baseline on Mediterranean forests supported by innovation launched in July by ETC-UMA provides a highlight of what Mediterranean countries and institutions are doing to integrate new digital, satellite and Artificial Intelligence technologies into forest monitoring ...
The Earth from Space shown by ETC-UMA at FANTEC 2023
Students from 80 centers from all over Andalusia came together on Friday 19 May 2023 at the High School of Industrial Engineering of the University of Malaga to participate, one more year, in the Andalusian Technology Fair 2023. Antonio Sanchez ...
ETC-UMA launches new technologies applied to ecosystem knowledge
Built on the Google Earth Engine cloud computing platform, the new wetland monitoring system based on remote sensing data, developed by ETC-UMA and presented in April 2023 at the National Centre for Environmental Education (CENEAM by its acronym in Spanish) ...