The Albufera is one of the most important environmental attractions of our region. It is a natural park near Valencia that hosts the largest lake in Spain and one of the most important wetlands on the Iberian Peninsula. A place of
great ecological interest. It is in the Gulf of Valencia, in the Valencian Community, in Spain. It came to existance 1000000 years ago. Many years ago it was used to produce salt, for fishing and hunting.
The ecosystem is very rich. There are different parts in the Albufera like dune, saler and lakes.
There are many different plants, like sea lily, sandspurry,
 sea medick, sea holly, At the moment it hosts a reserve for birds different types of  herons, ducks or even flamingos which come from other parts of the world to spend a season in this beautiful lake, up to 350 kinds of birds go to the “Albufera” in one point of the year and 90 kinds make nests there.
Moreover in the waters of the lake we also find different species of fish like: eels, carps, Valencian tooth carp, black-bass, three-spined stickleback, barbs, European sea-bass, mullets...

ENVIROMENTAL PROBLEMS
The most important problem is the light pollution: the lake is near Valencia so many lights are switched on at night. This
makes that some animals don’t know if they have to sleep or not.
Furtive chasing of birds or pollution caused by industry whis is near the lake and the park puts especies in danger.
Also urbanisation has been a big problems for decades. During the 60’s and 70’s many buildings were built in the
area for people who wanted to live there or just spend their holidays, they meant to build more roads and facilities for
visitorsbut after pressure from local people and environmental organisations this was partially stopped and at the moment the area is protected. The Albufera was declared a natural park on 23rd July in 1986.
Silting is also a big problem as a big part of the lake has disappeared in history  due to erosion and the diposit of sediments, now autoctone trees are being planted to prevent from erosion and avoid the arrival of sediments to the lake.

A GREEN ATRACTION
Nowadays this park is one of the main green atractions in Valencia. People work not only to preserve the biodiversity of the area but also to make people aware of the importantce of respecting the richness of animals, plants and waters of the
Albufera.
Many visitors are welcome to enjoy looking at birds from the observatory placed in the area or from one of the boats that local people use to sail on the lake. Urbanisation is under control now and preserving this natural park is the priority now for authorities.