Balearic Islands Map Their Most Important Habitats for Their Protection

A detailed map to highlight, preserve and manage protected natural areas

What does it consist of?

The Balearic Government has launched a large-scale plan to map terrestrial habitats within the Natura 2000 Network, seeking to support their protection and sustainable land management.

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Data

PROJECT TITLE IN THE CALL
The Balearic Islands’ mapping of terrestrial habitats (HIC)
LOCATION
Mallorca, Minorca, Ibiza, Formentera
Entity submitting the PROJECT
Govern de les Illes Balears
Entity that executes the project
Direcció General d'Espais Naturals i Biodiversitat
Project code
ITS2018-070
Total project amount
785.000 €
ITS granted amount
785.000 €
Executed amount
785.000 €
Call year
2018
Execution status
Executed
Purpose
Environment
Budget execution
Executed: 100%
Last data request
11.10.2022

The project

The Balearic Islands boast a rich natural environment, with more than 500,000 hectares of land area and nearly 50 habitats of community interest (HCI), protected for their ecological importance. To boost their conservation, the Government, through the Directorate-General for Natural Areas and Biodiversity, has developed a plan to draw up a detailed map of the habitats in the Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) within the Natura 2000 Network.

The initiative aims to map the distribution and size of these habitats at a scale of 1:10,000, allowing for more effective decision-making in environmental planning, ecological restoration and species protection. To this end, the plan has been based on the criteria of the Spanish Natural Heritage and Biodiversity Inventory Committee, which defines methodological standards throughout Spain.

The work involved several phases, including the compilation and analysis of existing documentation and maps, fieldwork to precisely identify habitats, the use of geographic information tools and the technical validation of the data obtained. As a result, digital map layers have been created that will serve as a basis for future biodiversity measures and studies.