CARM.es - Development presents the first subventions for implementing Nature-Based Solutions to improve public spaces.
20/09/2021
They are part of the Action Plan for the Sustainable Architecture and Construction Strategy which aims to "create healthier cities".
They have a budget of 400,000 euros and this will be assigned to projects for sustainable rainwater management, reducing the heat island effect, air quality and purity.
The Department for Development and Infrastructure presents the first grants in order to implement Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) to improve urban public spaces, which the 45 municipalities of the Region of Murcia can vie for. The call for proposals has a budget of 400,000 euros in total and will be published in the coming weeks.
Councillor José Ramón Díez de Revenga explained the characteristics of these subsidies during the Board of Municipalities' for the Sustainable Architecture and Construction Strategy (EACS) meeting, which intents to obtain "healthier and more confortable public spaces, with a high standard of environmental quality so they contribute to creating more sustainable communities".
These subsidies are developed by the EACS' Action plan, made up of 171 measures, with which the regional Government intends to change the model, a new green revolution in architecture and construction with the aim of promoting cities which care for people." emphasised the councillor.
Díez de Revenga explained that the regional Government's promotion of NBS "is a clear commitment to the renaturalisation of cities, since they are one solution to the many challenges we face nowadays such as adapting to climate change, natural resource management and reducing flooding".
He recalled that the Strategy is the product of "an important process of participation" and that it is aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the European Union's Green Deal.
Eligible projects
The new lines of grants will be awarded by simple concurrence, subsidizing the drafting of projects and funding the execution of the works considered for the implementation of Nature-based Solutions.
The projects must consider Nature-based Solutions in order to address issues such as sustainable rainwater management, mitigating the heat island effect, air quality and purity, naturalisation and connection of public spaces, removing the grounds' sealing and waterproofing, increasing biodiversity and restoring habitats in urban areas.
The councillor gave the implementation of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), interventions with trees such as carbon sinks or an increase in shaded areas, or increasing areas landscaped with native species or those adapted to the climate of the area, and green corridors as examples of eligible projects.
The grants can also be applied to creating green barriers against noise and pollution, or for plant walls or coverings in urban areas, as well as adapting spaces next to pavements to transform them into green spaces for pedestrians and installing pollinator modules to conserve biodiversity.
Photographs: Presenting the grants for implementing NBS in municipalities.
Statements: Councillor for Development and Infrastructures, José Ramón Díez de Revenga, on the first line of grants for the implementation of Nature-based Solutions to improve the public urban spaces in the Region of Murcia.
