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L’Albufera, located on the Mediterranean coast next to the city of Valencia, is a coastal lagoon of approximately 2,800 hectares fed by ravines, rivers and irrigation ditches. It includes permanent freshwater areas, a coastal bar on which a mature forest is established, a sandy beach and rice fields. It is an exceptionally biodiverse wetland that has the presence of more than 2,000 different taxa and a notable representation of endemic and threatened species. The wetland is home to up to 50 threatened fauna species, many of which are strictly linked to the aquatic environment. The extension of aquatic habitats such as coastal lagoons and calcareous peat bogs stands out, as well as the floodable depressions between the dunes, known as meshes.
The Valencia City Council is obliged to consider its wetlands as basic elements of territorial planning since L’Albufera specifically occupies more than 42% of the surface of its Municipal District, being also largely its property, a completely exceptional case. Among the measures that guarantee that this wetland is fully considered as an essential element of the territorial planning and integrated management of the city of Valencia, the following are highlighted: