Ecological network planning
Introduction
A Natural Resources Management Plan (PORN) is an instrument of territorial planning and environmental protection, included in the Spanish legal system that seeks to adapt the management of resources, and especially of the natural spaces and the species to be protected, according to the nature conservation policy established by the "Natural Heritage and Biodiversity Law".[1].
The Natural Resources Management Plans are the specific instrument for the delimitation, classification, network integration and determination of their relationship with the rest of the territory, of the systems that integrate the heritage and natural resources of a certain spatial area, independently of other instruments that may be established by regional legislation.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition, (on the date of publication of the Law the Ministry of the Environment), with the participation of the autonomous communities, is responsible for developing, within the framework of the State Strategic Plan for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity, guidelines for the management of natural resources to which, in any case, the Natural Resources Management Plans approved by the Autonomous Communities must comply. These guidelines will be approved by Royal Decree, within a maximum period of two years, following a report from the State Council for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity.
The object of these guidelines is the establishment and definition of basic general criteria and standards that regulate the management and use of natural resources, in accordance with the provisions of this Law.
Goals
The objectives of the Natural Resources Management Plans, without prejudice to the provisions of regional regulations, are the following:
• - Identify and georeference the spaces and significant elements of the Natural Heritage of a territory and, in particular, those included in the Inventory of Natural Heritage and Biodiversity, the values that characterize them and their integration and relationship with the rest of the territory.
• - Define and indicate the state of conservation of the components of the natural heritage, biodiversity and geodiversity and of the ecological and geological processes in the territorial area in question.
• - Identify the capacity and intensity of use of the natural heritage and biodiversity and geodiversity and determine the management alternatives and the limitations that must be established in view of their state of conservation.