Bankia S A : and WWF Spain have recovered 63 hectares of Las Tablas de Daimiel National Park over the past three years

• The 'Bosques de agua. Restoring the forests of Las Tablas de Daimiel' project focuses on the recovery and conservation of one of the most fragile and valuable wetlands in the area known as La Mancha Húmeda
• Bankia professionals have participated in awareness-raising and forestry improvement activities

Bankia is collaborating for the third consecutive year with WWF Spain to promote the biodiversity of one of the most emblematic national parks in Ciudad Real, Las Tablas de Daimiel. Both entities focus their participation in the 'Bosques de agua. Restoring the forests of Las Tablas de Daimiel' project in awareness, recovery and conservation tasks involving one of the main wetlands in Spain.

The initiative of WWF Spain and Bankia, which was launched in 2018, has allowed forestry activities to be carried out on 63.2 hectares of the National Park area. This recovery of the Mediterranean forest will help to increase biodiversity in the area and ensure the good condition of the aquifer that brings life to Las Tablas de Daimiel.

Bankia and WWF have worked together over the past three years, always under the coordination of the Park staff, in recovering the potential vegetation associated with this area since it is an essential element from the forestry point of view. With the actions carried out by WWF and Bankia professionals, who have participated in environmental volunteering work in the area, they have managed to work on both reforested areas and pastures.

The project has involved planting native species such as holm oaks, terebinth, rosemary, kermes oaks and broom brushes, using the best ecological restoration techniques and creating refuge for wildlife and corridors so that the species can travel without difficulty.

In addition, during the project's third and final planting campaign, new restoration work has been carried out in two places: the Primillar de la Duquesa and Prado Ancho, on a total area of 12.7 hectares. The objective of the actions carried out at La Duquesa has been the recovery of the oak-planted area that once occupied this land. In the second location, Prado

Ancho, forests of native vegetation have been planted (mainly holm oak, but also kermes oak, broom brush, rosemary, olivilla, black hawthorn, terebinth and almond tree).

Coinciding with World Wetlands Day, Bankia's corporate manager in Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura, Jaime Campos, stressed that 'Bankia has a strong commitment to environmental conservation and what better way to do this than through one of the most important wetlands that we have in our territory, which is home to great richness and biodiversity'.

For the coordinator of the WWF Forest Programme, Diana Colomina, 'thanks to the 'Bosques de agua' project, we are working on one of the most valuable and endangered wetlands in Spain'. 'Getting the environment of Las Tablas de Daimiel National Park to recover its optimal natural state, with strong forests where there was once agricultural land, is vital for it to resist the alterations produced by the impact of human beings and climate change. The restoration of ecosystems is also a fundamental element for achieving the good state of nature that we at WWF aspire to achieve', she pointed out.

In recent months, awareness raising and participation activities with various groups (WWF volunteers, Bankia professionals and the local population) have been suspended as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.