Fundación Global Nature: Restoring the La Nava Lagoon

Fundación Global Nature has spent over three decades reviving La Nava, once a 2,200-hectare steppe lagoon in Palencia's Tierra de Campos that was drained for agriculture in the mid-20th century. Land purchases and hydrological works beginning in 1990 have re-flooded roughly 300 hectares of the historic lagoon bed, alongside restoration at the nearby Boada and Pedraza lagoons. The wetland now hosts tens of thousands of wintering geese, cranes and other waterbirds each winter and draws more than 20,000 visitors a year to its education center. Beyond La Nava, the foundation has worked across some 100 wetlands in Spain and abroad, protecting or restoring over 14,000 hectares of habitat.