Last Saturday 12th November 2022, the LIFE Wetlands4climate project held a workshop on the ecosystem services of the Pego-Oliva Marjal in the Espai Vecinal Antic Institut in Pego (Alicante). The aim of this type of workshop is to locate the “key local agents” of each wetland on which LIFE W4C is working, contact them and gather their opinion and knowledge about this type of wetlands through a process of surveys. Once the surveys were analysed, an in-person participatory workshop was organised with the aim of allowing them to express and contrast their ideas on various issues related to this wetland, such as its values, the changes it has recently undergone, its problems, its state of conservation, and possible future actions that may have an impact on its improvement.
The conference held in Pego was a success, with the participation of more than 20 people, representing farmers, livestock breeders, hunters, silvestrist, ecologists, ornithologists, climate change experts, government staff, tourism companies and NGOs from the municipalities of Pego and Oliva, in the same space to discuss the state of the Marjal and its future from different points of view and with different interests, but with the same objective: its conservation. After the workshop, the participants considered it appropriate to try to create a Forum that would integrate all these key actors, since for very different reasons nothing similar existed for this wetland and they believe it is necessary to join forces and make themselves heard by the public administration in order to ensure the correct management of this area.
