On the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Natura 2000 Network, Fundación Global Nature, with the City Council of El Hito and the CRA (Rural Joint School) San José de Calasanz have held a recreation journey in El Hito Lagoon.
The aim of these days is to value the natural heritage of this lagoon with children as the main protagonists. “Education is the most powerful tool to change the world and children are the best allies to transform society. They know better than anyone the natural wealth of the territory and the potential of conservation as a tool for development,” says the LIFE coordinator for the expansion and restoration of El Hito Lagoon, Aixa Sopeña.
The students of pre-school and primary education of the municipalities of El Hito, Montalbo, Villarejo de Fuentes, Palomares and Huerta de la Obispalia have participated in the first day of awareness of the CRA San José de Calasanz in the environment of the lagoon. A meeting that has had beekeeping and insect workshops, a visit to the lagoon and a very special puppet theater by the hand of Mario Ezno.
Preserving what is known
The famous puppeteer and tiktoker from Cuenca, Mario Ezno, has participated in the commemoration of the Natura 2000 Network with a puppet theater created for the occasion. “Hearing the values of the lagoon and the importance of its conservation from the mouth of one of his idols has been something very special,” says Yolanda Rozalén, mayor of El Hito. “You can’t preserve what you don’t know. From their earliest childhood, children are hearing about the benefits of the lagoon and the richness of the Natura 2000 Network”.
The LIFE project for the expansion and restoration of El Hito Lagoon has an extensive awareness-raising program in the province of Cuenca for the next two years, with a special focus on the villages around the lagoon. “The children of El Hito, Montalbo, Villarejo de Fuentes, Palomares and Huerta de la Obispalia are not only great allies of nature, but also the citizens who will have to say what will be the model of development and conservation of the lagoon in the future,” says Aixa Sopeña.
El Hito Lagoon, a protected area of the Natura 2000 Network
The Natura 2000 Network is the European Union’s main instrument for the conservation and protection of nature. It brings together more than 27,000 protected areas, of which 1,800 are located in Spain, being the country that contributes the most surface area to this network.
The steppe zones and the saline wetland of El Hito Lagoon is one of the areas that is part of the Natura 2000 Network. It is an oasis of extraordinary biodiversity, with valuable endemic species and highly threatened plant formations. To stop the decline it has suffered in recent years, the Regional Government of Cuenca, together with Fundación Global Nature and the support of the EU LIFE program are working on the restoration and conservation of El Hito Lagoon.
