28/03/2025
https://www.diariodemallorca.es/.../restauracion...
(Original link in Spanish, Translated in English below)
Industrial Agriculture and the continuing decline of nature in southern Spain, spelt out in this article by Beltrán Ceballos.
For all nature lovers, the final approval of the European Nature Restoration Act last June brought great joy. For all of us who have been dedicated to this for some time, it also caused some concern due to mistrust. It's no wonder we've known about RAMSAR and the Natura 2000 Network for a long time, and we all know the results of these "powerful tools" over the years. Doñana and Daimiel are Ramsar and NR2000 sites.
The regulation proposes—or is it committed to?—restoring 20% of the EU's degraded land and marine areas by 2030. It is, without a doubt, a very ambitious goal. To achieve it, we must provide mechanisms that can make it a reality, credible, plausible, and possible.
Nor less than 1957, the decree approving the regulations for the Compulsory Expropriation Act in Spain was published. Sixty-eight years ago, it was said that land owned by a person could be expropriated when justified by social interest or a purpose, and the cause of expropriation was classified as being in the public interest.
Andalusian Agrarian Reform Law 8/1984 of July 3 declared some properties clearly improvable due to the failure to meet the social purpose of a specific property or piece of land.
We have rushed to discuss and understand what restoration is, and more importantly: whoever certifies, endorses, and ensures that this restoration has the labels, credits, and guarantees to be declared as such. To achieve this, a certifying body composed of recognized opinion leaders must be created. I'm sure we're already there.
The countryside, nature, is literally bleeding to death. Life is disappearing in torrents, and faunal groups such as insects, amphibians, and some mammals like bats are suffering. Butterflies are disappearing because they have no wildflowers. Large open areas have been massacred by an agro-environmental industry, not agriculture, that has no limits or end. There is little decontaminated soil, water is scarce, and development wants even more. And the European Union says that by 2030…
There are cases in Spain, primarily floodplains, wetlands, sacred places for life and its diversity, that urgently need a change in political attitude to be saved. Many things depend on them: our health, our lives, all of us.
There are places that occupy publicly owned areas, some with final rulings from the Supreme Court, occupied by mega-productions from the aforementioned industry that violate the most basic of all: nature conservation.
It's no longer that the laws are not being enforced. Doñana has the most demanding regulations possible for its conservation and cannot escape its agony. Daimiel is the most paradigmatic case of all. In both national parks, the administration is rescuing land and carrying out reforestation and flooding efforts. We must go further. If we want to recover, change the trend, begin to improve and restore. Wouldn't it be logical to be able to expropriate land or property when justified by social interest or purpose, and the cause for expropriation is classified as public interest?
In nature conservation, everything today can clearly be improved.
