Slowly and with many pauses. The Llobregat delta is still just as exposed to environmental damage, one year after the wake-up call given by the European Commission on the need to deploy regulations to protect it. The space is integrated into the Natura 2000 Network, a European ecological network of biodiversity conservation areas. The mayor of El Prat de Llobregat, Lluís Mijoler, denounced this Wednesday that, despite the “severe warning” that the community authorities notified on February 18 of last year, “the lack of protection of the natural spaces of the delta” has not been remedied. . He accuses the Generalitat and the central government of inaction when it comes to guaranteeing the conservation of a strip of wetlands that is permanently threatened by pressure from the port and the airport. “Among the different natural spaces in Catalonia, the Llobregat delta is the one that suffers the greatest urban, industrial and infrastructure pressure, but, on the other hand, it is the only one that has not approved a specific protection and management plan”, Mijoler censured.
The debate generated last summer by the expansion project for the third runway at the Josep Tarradellas airport focused on the fragility of the ecosystem of the Llobregat delta, and especially in the La Ricarda lagoon. The commotion ended up propitiating the sudden resignation of the Government of the Generalitat to the project and the investment of 1,700 million euros that it entailed, to the stupefaction of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, which considered the agreement reached with the regional vice president Jordi Puigneró to be firm. That resignation was a step forward for the protection of the natural space that surrounds the airport, argued the president Pere Aragones. But, the bet has not materialized. “The Generalitat has still not approved the plan for the protection of the natural environment and the landscape of the protected areas of the Llobregat delta, and that is a fundamental instrument for the design and development of the necessary actions for the preservation of the area”, Mijoler reproaches . From the council it is highlighted that the lack of a strategy to shield the delta collides with the position shown by Aena, which does not give up its plan to expand the airport. “Aena’s proposal is the complete opposite of what the European Commission has said”, is criticized from El Prat. The municipal argument states that lengthening the third runway would mean “an even greater destruction of the natural spaces of the delta and the agricultural park.”
In February of last year, the European Commission sent a letter of summons to the Government. The statement was part of an infringement procedure against Spain for negligence in the guardianship of the Llobregat delta, a green lung that is integrated into the Natura 2000 Network and has special bird protection areas (ZEPA). The European reprimand directly splashed the Generalitat, competent in matters of the natural environment, and the State, for their participation in promoting large public works around the mouth of the Llobregat river. The Commission condemned the negligence of the authorities in the care of the Llobregat delta, warning that the neglect of this ecosystem violates the European directive for the conservation of natural habitats.
The complaint was brought to Europe by the naturalistic entity Depana. A systematic failure to comply with the compensation measures agreed in the environmental impact statement of each major project that has affected the delta was argued. The city council of El Prat points out that urgent measures are necessary to reverse the erosion of wetlands and the loss of water resources due to “alterations in the area” caused by the growth of infrastructure. A report from the council indicates that only one hectare of wetlands has been created, compared to the 40 hectares that were eliminated a decade ago, as a result of the latest expansion of the airport.
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