Some 20,000 pairs of 39 species of aquatic birds have bred this season in the Albufera de València due to favorable weather and good flooding levels in the lagoon and rice fields during 2023, despite environmental degradation. of the area that environmental organizations repeatedly denounce.
According to the Spanish Society of Ornithology (SEO/BirdLife), some species, such as the common stilt and the mallard, have experienced a recovery. Good flooding levels in the rice fields in the area have allowed species such as the mallard to return to normal parameters. In 2022, this species did not reach the reproduction of 1,000 pairs, while this year there have been around 2,000.
Furthermore, for the first time in the history of this wetland, the nesting of 5,300 pairs of common flamingos has been recorded in the Racó de l'Olla area. The reasons for this important presence of the species may be due to "the combination of a good state of winter flooding of the rice fields of the natural park with the persistent lack of water in wetlands such as the Fuente de Piedra lagoon, the Odiel or Doñana marshes. , their most common breeding locations,” explains the technician from the SEO/BirdLife delegation in the Valencian Community, Toni Castelló.
The reproduction of 20,000 pairs of waterfowl in this lagoon located in the Gulf of Valencia stands out compared to many other species that do not find safe nesting spaces to increase their populations. Low numbers persist in species such as the red duck, the shelduck, the coots and the herons, since they depend on the quality of the water and the submerged vegetation, which serves as food for them and which is very scarce due to the excessive load of nutrients in the water. These species are “very far from a favorable conservation status” according to SEO/BirdLife.
The group of l'Albufera, Doñana and the Mar Menor contain 90% of the coastal lagoons in Spain. The poor state of conservation of these spaces and the lack of sufficient measures to improve them is putting these areas in danger. Furthermore, the three natural spaces represent 20% of the surface area occupied by coastal lagoons in Spain, which is why they play a key role in the recovery of populations of threatened species. For this reason, SEO, the Spanish Ornithological Society, asks the public administration to assume responsibility for improving water quality and the availability of adequate and safe breeding areas.
SEO/BirdLife has requested the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Miteco) that this set of coastal lagoons be declared “habitat in danger of disappearance.” This reclassification would involve the creation of specific measures to restore, protect and conserve coastal lagoons. The NGO has been requesting this change since 2020, and expresses the importance of coastal lagoons in the “proper functioning of the ecosystems and animal species that occupy them.”
SEO/BirdLife also highlights the need to improve rice paddy management. Calls for ecological flows to be allocated to l'Albufera to improve the quality of habitats and food resources for aquatic birds. Furthermore, the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) sets the year 2027 as the deadline to achieve a good state of rivers, aquifers and wetlands such as the Albufera. An objective that “seems difficult to achieve in less than four years in the absence of a Natural Resources Management Plan,” concludes Castelló.
