The action plan coordinated by the Cebas-CSIC aims to achieve “very low levels” of nutrients in the lagoon in 2035
A team from the Segura Center for Edaphology and Applied Biology, of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (Cebas-CSIC), has coordinated a roadmap with fourteen measures to achieve the sustainable development of the Mar Menor and promote cooperation between the coastal and rural in the lagoon.
The proposals include the promotion of rural and coastal ecotourism activities, sustainable agriculture based on the control of the use of fertilizers and the maintenance of the extension of irrigation within legal limits, and the start-up of small agrophotovoltaic installations. In addition, the Cebas-CSIC has developed a model that allows the impact of these measures to be evaluated. These results are part of the Coastal project of the Horizon 2020 program of the European Union (EU), which aims to find synergies between the activities that take place in coastal and rural areas, in order to promote sustainable environmental, social and economic development. The project, organized around six study areas in Europe, includes the Mar Menor and Campo de Cartagena.
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Promotion of rural ecotourism activities. -
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Promotion of coastal ecotourism activities. -
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Implementation of nutrient, soil and water retention measures. -
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Fertilizer reduction. -
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Denitrification of treated brine residues for irrigation. -
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Adequacy of the agricultural demand for water per hectare. -
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Control of the extension of irrigated agricultural areas. -
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Controlled extraction and treatment of groundwater. -
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Increased amount of desalinated seawater. -
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Controlled pumping and surface water treatment of the Rambla del Albujón. -
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Control of the number of underground water wells for irrigation. -
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Control of point sources of pollution in urban areas. -
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Promotion of small agrophotovoltaic installations. -
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Organization of environmental education activities.
In the last four years, scientists have organized a large number of workshops and interviews with representatives of the different sectors (tourism, agriculture, administrations, fisheries and salt mines, local populations and NGOs) to develop mental maps that identify interactions between sectors and solutions potentials. The maps, the interviews with experts and the technical work have resulted in the first quantitative system dynamics model of the Mar Menor and Campo de Cartagena, which allows evaluating the impacts of the roadmap on key sustainability indicators, according to the researchers. .
“Our first results include 14 solutions and 56 practical proposals. The novel part is the quantification of the impacts in the adoption of solutions through participatory modeling, which has facilitated understanding and consensus between groups on an environmental problem that has escalated to a social problem”, explains Joris de Vente, researcher at the Cebas-CSIC and coordinator of this initiative in Spain.
green corridors
“In addition to the 14 general solutions, the roadmap includes 56 practical proposals mentioned by participants throughout the project,” explains Raquel Luján Soto, a Cebas-CSIC researcher involved in the project. Some examples are the creation of green corridors that connect places of interest with sustainable transport; the restoration and promotion of cultural heritage; the organization of recreational activities in wetlands and salt flats through conservation and restoration projects; the implementation of green roofs between crops, and the promotion of training in the agricultural sector on the use of fertilizers, roofs and agrotourism.
With the implementation of the roadmap, it is expected to reduce the excess of nutrients from different sources in the Mar Menor, a problem associated with ecological degradation and the death of fish in the lagoon. “With the application of these solutions, the amount of nutrients accumulated in the lagoon could reach very low levels in 2035. If the roadmap is not implemented, a linear and sustained increase over time in the accumulated nutrients is expected”, the researchers say. Tourist numbers are also expected to increase as environmental quality recovers.
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