“The sea, the orchard, the Albufera and the Túria Garden make us the best hosts of the Green Capital and the best square to inspire the policies that should guide us in the future,” said Mayor María José Catalá yesterday in the inauguration of the València Capital Verde 2024 held at the Palau de la Música. These are the four green heritages that require protection, said Catalá, who recalled the challenge that the city has set for itself to seek the declaration of the Albufera as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO. This same week she met with the Minister of Environment, Water, Infrastructure and Territory, Salomé Pradas, and yesterday she also sent a message to the Government to “be by our side and guarantee water and health for our lake.”
In fact, yesterday also, Pradas chaired the Governing Board of the Natural Park, convened almost at the same time that the Green Capital celebrated its opening ceremony. There, Pradas confirmed that the Generalitat Valenciana wants to approve the new Rector’s Plan for Use and Management (PRUG) and address the Natural Resources Management Plan (PORN) of L’Albufera, which “has been forgotten in the drawers for more than eight years “.
With one eye on l’Albufera, whose file to be considered by UNESCO “is already being worked on”, as confirmed by Minister Pradas, and another on the rest of the green spaces to be protected, Catalá assured that there are two other large objectives: that the event be considered an “Event of Public Interest” for two years so that it “has many adhesions”, and that the city goes, in 2030, from 7 meters to 10 meters of green area for each citizen who lives in Valencia.
“We will work hard until 2030 providing the city with many green areas from many points of view, such as sustainable food and kilometer zero products, so that this legacy that we received from our ancestors continues to be the ‘València green’ color that is so characteristic.”
For these purposes, the city will hold up to 400 activities during 2024. Among them is the Ghada Amer exhibition “This Will Save Us”, which can now be visited, as the participants in the official opening did yesterday on a commented walk along the Túria riverbed to the Agora.
The International Wetlands Conference ‘Wetland Conservation in the Face of Climate Change’ will also be held on February 14 to 16, in which the Albufera will be the star topic, but where there will also be a presentation on the ‘Evidence of the deterioration of the Doñana lagoons’, or about the work on the La Nava lagoon, in Palencia, or the El Hito lagoon, in Cuenca.
The European Summit on Carbon Agriculture and the IV Bioeconomy Forum will take place in March
In September there will be a national conference on new sustainability governance, in October an event on the legacy of sustainable urban development and a meeting of experts on urban food systems. And more relaxed meetings will dot the calendar, but also involved in the capital, such as the Plogging Tour race in November, the Cava, Wine and Food Show in April or the ‘Green Marathon’ in December.
