Proposal to create a micro-reserve on the Peñón (the Rock) of Salobreña to protect the coastal habitats of Granada (Spain)

The objective is to create a plant micro-reserve on the coastline of the Granada province (Andalusia, Southern Spain). This protection figure is a pioneering conservation model in areas with substantial plant diversity located in very anthropised environments that are not included in the RENPA [network of protected natural areas of Andalusia]. In the last few decades the Granada coastline has been subject to continual intense occupation, mainly due to tourism and agriculture, which has led to the degradation of the fragile and dynamic coastal systems. Fieldwork has been the primary methodological procedure used to conduct the research work, given the lack of previous studies on the conservation of threatened plant species on the Granada coastline. The starting point was to locate the most threatened plant taxa and the natural habitats of community interest of the NATURA 2000 Network identified along this coastal strip that these species belong to. Then a case study was analyzed, that of the Peñón de Salobreña, as a model for a plant micro-reserve and a pilot experiment area for conservation and the possible regeneration of natural habitats. The conclusion drawn is that this in situ model of protection is ideal to manage small areas of highly valuable ecology in such degraded and humanized regions like the Mediterranean coastline of Andalusia.