Conservation and management

Fostering science and practices to support environmental protection

CURRENT STATUS

Biodiversity and the essential ecosystem services it provides - fertile soils, healthy foods, drinking water, clean air - are being seriously degraded as a result of unsustainable extraction, production and consumption patterns by an increasing human population.

Humans are meant to share the Planet with millions of species; however, larger and larger shares of resources and space taken by us, a single species, are depriving many others of the essential natural capital needed to survive. To keep our balance, we need to understand the value and role of the nature around us, and learn to develop in a sustainable way that respects the needs of other living beings. For this to happen, sound science on conservation and sustainable use of natural resources to preserve our assets is urgently needed.

To assist in creating the scientific grounds to prove the urgent need for action, ETC-UMA performs environmental, social and economic sustainability assessments on diverse territorial units, at various spatial scales and referring to any ecosystem.

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OUR ACTIONS

The ETC-UMA team has worked extensively on spatial and semi-experimental sustainability assessments of land and sea territories and protected areas from an integrated social and ecological perspective.


Developing theoretical and practical methods to validly discriminate the environmental, social and economic effects of protected areas and other conservation tools and policies.

Exploring the use of novel approaches to biodiversity conservation such as OECMs.

Engaging with scientific, managerial, sectoral and policy stakeholders for enhanced conservation and sustainable development.

Providing scientific advice to enterprises, public administrations and NGOs on biodiversity conservation and restoration, territorial planning and marine spatial planning.

Featured outputs

Mediterranean ecosystem restoration sites

Mediterranean ecosystem restoration sites

Nature-based solutions and transferable best practices towards broader ecosystem restoration actions ...
Supporting cetacean conservation in the Pelagos Sanctuary

Supporting cetacean conservation in the Pelagos Sanctuary

A new report has been presented today, 18 November 2022, online in the frame of the cooperation between the Pelagos Permanent Secretariat and the Mediterranean ...
An assessment of marine biodiversity protection in the Mediterranean Sea: A threatened global biodiversity hotspot

An assessment of marine biodiversity protection in the Mediterranean Sea: A threatened global biodiversity hotspot

The Mediterranean Sea is a World’s biodiversity hotspot. It harbours around 11% of all marine species in less than 1% of the global marine area ...

Related projects

Resources

Get in touch

David Rodríguez Rodríguez

Territorial sustainability assessment - Protected areas

davidrr@uma.es

David Rodríguez Rodríguez holds a European-mention PhD in Conservation Biology, an MSc in Ecological Restoration, two BScs: in Biology and in Environmental Sciences, and one University Specialist Degree in GIS and Remote Sensing...

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María del Mar Otero

Nature Based Solutions and Marine Conservation and Management

mar_otero@uma.es

Maria del Mar Otero is a coastal and marine expert with long experience in the Mediterranean, Europe and Asia. She holds a PhD in Marine Science, an MSc in Shellfish Resource Management and a BSc in Marine Science...

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Brief update of the MedBioLitter database version 10 updated in January 2023

Brief update of the MedBioLitter database version 10 updated in January 2023

The MedBioLitter knowledge base is an entry-point to the peer reviewed research evidence published on the impacts of marine litter on marine biota in the Mediterranean region. This knowledge base was created in 2017, under the Interreg-Med funded initiative PANACeA ...
Looking back and forth to Mediterranean Forests

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

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 ...
Job opening at the ETC-UMA: Senior Specialist in Nature Based Solutions for Climate Adaptation

Job opening at the ETC-UMA: Senior Specialist in Nature Based Solutions for Climate Adaptation

The European Topic Centre on Spatial Analysis and Synthesis (ETC-UMA) is an international center that develops and applies scientific knowledge and cutting-edge technology to address environmental issues and enhance the status of ecosystems at all spatial scales targeting various stakeholders ...
The Earth from Space shown by ETC-UMA at FANTEC 2023

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

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) ...