The Natura 2000 Network, a constant European ecological network of biodiversity conservation areas, in addition to the Special Protection Areas (SPAs) of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs).
The SAC is a definitive protection figure, since the areas are initially designated as Sites of Community Importance (SCIs). An SCI contributes to maintaining or restoring a natural habitat type of those listed in Annex I or of the species included in Annex II of the Habitats Directive. As we said, it is a figure of temporary protection, since they will later become SAC, designated by the Member States through a regulatory, administrative and / or contractual act, and then becoming part of the Natura 2000 Network.
In the SACs, the necessary conservation measures will be applied to maintain or restore, in a favorable state of conservation, the natural habitats and / or populations of the species for which the site has been designated.
The SCI Salinas y Arenales de San Pedro del Pinatar (ES0000175), designated in 2000 and today declared as SAC, coincides with the delimitation of the SPA and houses a total of 15 habitats included in Annex I of the Habitats Directive, being 4 of them priority: 1120 * “Posidonia grasslands (Posidonion oceanicae)”; 1150 * “Coastal lagoons”; 1510 * “Mediterranean salt steppes (Limonietalia)”; and 2250 * “Coastal dunes with Juniperus spp.”