Resolution of the ‘Second Call for Environment and Sustainable Development Project Proposals’

Bankia and the Montemadrid Foundation allocate 300,000 euros to 19 environmental projects in and Castilla-La Mancha

 The ‘Second Call for Environment and Sustainable Development Project Proposals’ selects 10 entities from the and 9 from Castilla- La Mancha

 SEO/Birdlife, GREFA, WWF/Adena, the International Foundation for Ecosystem Restoration and the Global Nature Foundation are a few of the selected entities that will carry out their environmental projects

 This year, 50% of the grants are allocated to the restoration and improvement of ecosystems that have been degraded, improving the environmental conditions that allow the colonisation of living beings that have been displaced

Madrid, 23/09/2020. Bankia and the Montemadrid Foundation have resolved the ‘Second Call for Environment and Sustainable Development Project Proposals’, with 300,000 euros, 50% more than the previous year, through the selection of 19 environmental entities from the Community of Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha. This year, 43 projects were presented, compared to 11 in 2019.

A total of 10 programmes from the Community of Madrid were selected, to which 162,000 euros will be allocated, plus 9 entities from Castilla-La Mancha that will receive a total of 138,000 euros to develop their environmental and social projects.

The chosen entities will carry out projects related to various areas of protection and care for the environment. Thus, the selected projects are related to the conservation of nature and biodiversity (47%), the promotion of sustainable development (32%), the

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mitigation and adaptation to climate change (5%), as well as the reinforcement of research of the aforementioned areas (16%).

The projects selected in the call for proposals are aimed at improving and restoring ecosystems (10), raising awareness and disseminating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (2), reusing technological and electronic material (1), the rescue and recovery of wild animals (1), the conservation of species (1), agroecology and organic farming (2) and naturalisation (1).

The ‘First edition of the Call for Environment and Sustainable Development Project Proposals’ held in 2019, has materialised this year in initiatives that have improved our environment and fostered sustainability.

Among the projects that have been developed, worthy of mention are the creation of ecological corridors to connect and improve the birdlife in Campo de Montiel; the revitalisation of diversity in La Sagra Region (Toledo); the improvement of various areas of the Natura 2000 Network of the Community of Madrid; the expansion of GREFA’s fleet of wildlife recovery vehicles; the dissemination of the SDGs in the schools and universities; and the improvement of the flora of the La Mancha agrosystem, among others.

The ‘Call for Environment and Sustainable Development Project Proposals’, jointly promoted by Bankia and the Montemadrid Foundation, will directly benefit the entities that have been selected to support the development of their projects aimed at protecting and caring for the environment, and indirectly at the population of the Community of Madrid and of Castilla-La Mancha, which will see their natural surroundings improved along with their knowledge about reuse, sustainability and renewable energies.

In addition, 8 million euros will be dedicated to Social Action

This collaboration between the Montemadrid Foundation and Bankia joins the ‘Call for Social Action’, which is in its eighth year of operation in 2020, and for which 1 million euros has been earmarked to support and develop social projects also located in Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha.

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The projects and entities selected in the ‘Second Call for Environment and Sustainable Development Project Proposals’ are the following:

 ‘Grefa Rescue Team’, of the Grupo de Rehabilitación de la Fauna Autóctona y su Hábitat  ‘¡Creando AyuntamientODS en la Sierra de Guadarrama!’, of the Fundación Comercio para el Desarrollo  ‘Guardians of Nature’, by SEO Birdlife  ‘Environmental improvement in the Jarama river basin’, by WWF/Adena  ‘Implementing improvements in our organic vegetable gardens’, by Cáritas Diocesana de Toledo  ‘Agricultural alliance for biodiversity’, by Global Nature Foundation  ‘Rebuilding nature in the Iberian System’, by Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre  ‘Restoration of the ecological functionality of the Cordel de la Asperilla cattle route’, by the Reforesta Association  ‘Alba Project for the conservation of nocturnal birds of prey’, by Grupo Brinzal for the defence of the natural environment  ‘Cleaning up the Coastline’, by the ECOMAR Foundation  ‘Reutiliza K’, by LaKalle Cultural Association  ‘Raices de barrio’, by Fundación Santa María la Real del Patrimonio Historico  ‘RESETAS- Resin and mushrooms to repopulate emptied rural ’, by Conde Valle del Salazar Foundation  ‘Restoration of the vegetation cover lost by the 2012 forest fire in the Alto Tajo Nature Park’, by Asociación Nacional Micorriza  ‘Restoration of biodiversity and adaptation measures to climate change in Casarrubios del Monte (Toledo)’, by Fundación para la Investigación en Etología y Biodiversidad  ‘Actívate+ Reactívate+ en Universidades’, by the Plan de Acción Global para la Tierra  ‘Autóctono Sano, Sostenible y Solidario. Escuela Agroecológica’, Fundación Oxígeno

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 ‘Restoring ecosystems: renaturalisation of agrosystems’, by Ecoherencia S.Coop.And  ‘Estepass II’, by Fundación Internacional para la Restauración de Ecosistemas

Bankia Bankia consolidates and reinforces its commitment to society through five priority lines of social action: employment and training, housing, local and rural development, disability and the environment. The bank is focusing its social investment on these areas and shows its commitment to society by involving the entire organisation and its employees. The Responsible Management policy is a capillary, grassroots programme that connects the bank’s welfare work with its corporate objectives. This enables Bankia to prioritise five of the 17 SDGs: Climate action (SDG 13), Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Quality education (SDG 4), Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11) and SDG 17, which encompasses them all, Revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development.

Fundación Montemadrid The Montemadrid Foundation is a private non-profit organisation that has made a great effort when it comes to boosting and promoting social action, education, culture and environmental protection in our country. Its activity is aimed at improving the quality of life and inclusion of groups and individuals with social difficulties, while boosting the active participation of citizens through greater access to culture and education. The Foundation maintains and manages social and cultural centres such as La Casa Encendida and Casa San Cristóbal, schools, libraries, centres for older people, special job centres and various administration centres from which social institutions, among others, operate.

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