www.netbiome.net

In the Canary Islands the funding regional research strategy is general for all subjects and regulated by a plan produced by the Government of the Canary Islands, which has 2 transversal- instrumental areas (Technology of the Information and Communications, and Biotechnologies) and then 9 scientific-technological priorities sectors; among these sectors one is Natural Resources and within this is Energy, Water, Climate Change and Biodiversity. The Agency for Research, Innovation and Society of Information opens calls based in that plan, funding all kinds of projects related to the areas and sectors defined as priorities. Obviously some will be given to biodiversity research but generally it will only be a part of the whole.

However, there are two Councils in the Government of the Canary Islands that have competence in biodiversity, the Council for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Council for the Environment and Territory Regulation. They are funded by the Government of Canaries but they also ask Europe for Interreg IIIB and Life projects to be executed by them; then they may work ad hoc contracting what they call technical assistances from companies like GESPLAN, research institutions like universities, ICCM, IEO, etc.. . On a regular basis they use the Government of the Canary Islands budget that have been assigned to these two Councils to monitor resources, such as surveillance of Natural Protected Areas, to reforest selected zones and so on. They produce a general plan but the management of the resources of each island is transferred to the local administration of the island (called Cabildo) that has an Environmental Department to deal with the conservation of the island natural resources.

Each island administration has the corresponding technicians to deal with the matter, and in some cases the may contract ad hoc to do certain activities. Then the results are provided to the Councils that are the ones generally producing the reports, very often helped by researchers of the Universities (University of La Laguna in Tenerife and University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria), and several research and planning centres.