A University Foundation

The Fernando González Bernáldez Interuniversity Foundation for Natural Spaces is a university foundation created in 1996 upon the initiative of the Complutense University and the Autonomous University of Madrid and Alcalá along with a group of professors linked to the intellectual legacy of the ecologist Fernando González Bernáldez. The Board of Trustees has included the partnership of EUROPARC-Spain, a federation in which almost all protected areas in Spain participate.

The foundation ́s vocation is to contribute to the exchange and mutual learning between academic and research field and the world of nature management and conservation. We value the conservation and management of protected areas –and of natural spaces in general– and the development of their benefits for society. To do so, we are inspired by the legacy of the figure from which the foundation gets its name.

The legacy of Fernando González Bernáldez

The foundation gets its name from the ecologist Fernando González Bernáldez (1933-1992), whose legacy tries to collect, disseminate, and develop in its triple commitment to research, environmental education, and conservation.

Our Objectives: Building Bridges Between Academic and Professional Worlds

Since its creation, the foundation has worked to build bridges between scientific research and the professional and practical world of nature conservation. This linkage is applied to the study and management of ecological processes and biodiversity of natural spaces, especially within protected areas.

What Makes Us Different? The value of the alliance with environmental administrations through EUROPARC-Spain

The Foundation has built stable alliances within the field of conservation and protected areas. Since 1997, the Technical Office of EUROPARC-Spain has been the scientific and technical instrument to support protected areas in the development of their functions. EUROPARC-Spain is the Spanish sector of the EUROPARC Federation, a pan-European organization unites conservation institutions in 40 countries since 1973.

Fundamental Objectives

The reference to the figure of González Bernáldez and his unfinished work is the framework for the foundation, which has the following Fundamental Objectives:

  • Research, as well as the incorporation of scientific advances to sustainability, environmental management, and the conservation of natural spaces (and the associated natural and cultural heritage).
  • The exchange of experiences on the management of natural areas, especially protected areas, through training programs, publications, conferences and seminars
  • The promotion of the support of society for the conservation of natural spaces, aiming to demonstrate the benefits of nature for society.
  • Support for the management of natural spaces, collaborating with administrators, professionals, and all other actors involved.