La Charca de Suárez, declared a Special Protection Area for Birds

The Regional Government of Andalusia (Junta de Andalucía) has declared the Charca de Suárez a Special Protection Area for Birds (SPA) and has approved its Management Plan. This is done through Decree 523/2026, dated October 21, published in BOJA no. 207 on October 26, 2026, in section 1 of General Provisions, with text identifier no. 13979 and a length of 98 pages.

The decree appears in the bulletin’s summary under the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment, within the block of general provisions reserved for the higher-ranking regulations approved by the Andalusian Executive. Five days elapsed between the date of the agreement—October 21—and the publication of the text—October 26—, which is the usual editorial processing period for the bulletin.

At 98 pages, it is the longest document in issue 207, far exceeding the other regulations and resolutions of the same day, most of which occupy between one and seventeen pages. This length is explained by the fact that the decree is not limited to the declaration: it incorporates the plan that will govern the area.

A protection figure of European scope

The SPA is the category that the European Union reserves for territories that support especially relevant bird populations, and its declaration integrates the area into the Natura 2000 Network, the web of protected areas of the Member States. This figure does not create a park or a reserve closed to use: it imposes a conservation regime on the activities carried out within the declared perimeter.

The Andalusian decree relies on this framework and applies it to a specific area with its own management instrument. The declaration and the plan travel within the same regulatory text, so that protection comes into force with the rules of use already defined.

The Management Plan, the operational part

The Management Plan is the core of the decree: it establishes the regime of uses and activities of the space and the conservation measures that must be applied within it. Unlike the declaration, which identifies and delimits, the plan establishes how the day-to-day management of the wetland is handled.

Hence the 98 pages of the published text, which make Decree 523/2026 a mandatory reference regulation for administrations, owners, and users of the environment. The plan conditions the activities carried out in the area and visits to the space, and it does so with a detailed set of articles that the BOJA reproduces in full.

A decree within the activity of October 21

Decree 523/2026 is part of the regulatory package that the Andalusian Executive finalized on October 21 and which the BOJA of the 26th publishes jointly. In the same issue appear, among others:

• Decree 522/2026, of October 21, creating the municipal preschool «Los Prados» in Guadahortuna (Granada), text no. 14032.
• Decree 524/2026, of October 21, providing for the cessation of Ana María Vielba Gómez as Secretary General of the Audiovisual Council of Andalusia, text no. 14026.
• Decree 525/2026, of October 21, providing for the appointment of the Members of the Electoral Board of Andalusia, text no. 14027.

The coincidence of dates confirms that the declaration of the Charca de Suárez was approved in the same Governing Council session as those appointments and the creation of the educational center in Granada, and that its publication was staggered until Monday the 26th.

What changes for the environment

The declaration turns the Charca de Suárez, in Motril, into a space with its own legal regime within the Andalusian Natura 2000 Network. For those in the wetland’s surroundings, the practical effect is that authorizations, uses, and visits cease to depend on discretionary criteria and become subject to a plan approved by decree and published in full.

For the rest of Andalusia, the text expands the list of spaces with an approved management plan and adds a 98-page precedent on how the Regional Government articulates the protection of a coastal wetland. The regulation is available for consultation in the bulletin, along with its articles and zoning maps.

Source: BOJA, no. 207, October 26, 2026, section 1. General provisions, summary page 7 (official reference: text no. 13979).