Conservation in Spain, 1980-2000

After many centuries of exploitation, but still conserving very high levels of biodiversity, Spain finally seems to be fully awake to environmental issues and much on its way to take the necessary steps for recovery. In the last 20 years of the century, many important changes have indeed taken place in the field of nature conservation. These changes are reflected in a steady increase in the number and total surface area of protected ecosystems with increasing attention to their management. There have also been important advances with respect to the protection of flora and fauna through many ex situ or in situ initiatives, and steps taken to protect individual species or communities. The involvement of universities and research institutes has accompanied an increasing level of public conscience which had clearly started to grow by the 1970s. Important changes in legislation (previously non-existent or very obsolete), and the development of proper administrative agencies, have supported this process. It was also during these decades that conservation groups began to take a leading role after their initiation around the end of the 1960s and the sudden multiplication in number of these in the 1970s. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.