Spain
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Project no. 1
Ebro river delta: the broadest river delta in the Mediterranean (after the Nile), one of the most important wetlands in Europe, fully covered by rice fields, except the coastal lagoons around the delta full of water birds. Water increasingly polluted by agrochemicals. An NGO has bought a piece of land, for 3 years tried organic rice, finally got it based in and improving the traditional knowledge rescued from a few old people who worked the rice fields before the fashion of agrochemicals in the 1950s. Advantages of the organic rice: twice the price and many more birds, plus water quality allows aquaculture; now the NGO has created a social enterprise to commercialise it (this is a challenge for them), profits reinvested in more research and education. Local forces, always suspicious with all these "conservationists", particularly big landowners who happen to deal agrochemicals in the region, begin to understand.
Project no. 2
Zaragoza, a city with 600.000 inhabitants, lies in one of the driest regions in Europe (almost a desert). A local NGO started a city campaign to save water, reaching around 100.000 homes and most schools. As a result, water use stopped growing and descended a 4%. Now they have started campaigning with industries and with governmental buildings as well, through a campaign on "50 good practices to save water" together with stores and professionals (architects, plumbers) involved in water equipment. They also work on paper recycling.
Project no. 3
The Island of Menorca, the best conserved in the Balearic Islands thanks to its "rainy" weather, declared by UNESCO a Biosphere Reserve in the mid-1990s, prepares to drive its development away from the threat of massive tourism. Several projects here, such as new rural products (based on traditional quality), re-conversion of fisheries (about to start), marine reserves together with fishermen (successful), a forum of local NGOs to strengthen and articulate citizens around the idea of sustainable development (successful), a socio-economic observatory for monitoring and evaluation of development in the area (under development).
Project no. 4
Valleys in the Pyrenees: forgotten by "development" plans since the 1960s, these 4 neighbouring valleys still host some of the best natural (our last wild bears included) and cultural representations of the Pyrenees. Reason why the government decreed a "Natural Park" in all the area - as usual without any local consultations. Locals opposed (they only think of us when it is about restrictions.... if this landscape is conserved it is only thanks to us... bears are more important than us, we´ll burn the forests away...). In 1999 we started a participatory process (many workshops with all the local sectors) to analyse the situation and propose alternatives (also economic factibility studies with the local people). Now most believe (included noticeably the village majors) that the future should be sustainable (forests, cattle, low impact tourism, small quantities of a diversity of quality local products) and that the Park is an opportunity, not a threat. They already organising themselves around this idea and are preparing proposals to the Government of Aragon
and to the EU.
Other projects are trying to strengthen rural development, mostly quality agriculture as an alternative in deserted rural areas, recuperation of traditional varieties of olive trees, pastures, and many fruit and horticultural germoplasm in Castilla and in Extremadura, and traditional knowledge as a basis for a new organic agriculture.
Project no. 6
EL Hierro island, in the Canary Islands. The true last frontier, perhaps one of the best examples in the world of sustainable development, as a whole, with strong local participation and convinced local governments. An "island of sustainability", and many leaders with good and sophisticated ideas.
Information supplied by Arturo Lopez who is a member of the AVINA Foundation.
Project no. 7
An aging eagle that was hit by a car while feeding on a hare and suffered brain damage that left it blind for a day has been nursed back to health and released into the wild.
Veterinarians in southern Spain treated the male golden eagle with steroids after concluding its optic nerve had been knocked out of wack in the accident Saturday in a nature reserve in Huelva province.
The bird, estimated age 40, was left in the dark as it convalesced so as not to get spooked when it recovered its sight, said Rafael Hernandez, director of Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche Natural Park.
He said the bird had been eating a hare by the side of a road and was hit by a car just as it tried to take flight.
It suffered no apparent injuries, but vets realized something was wrong when they took the bird to a Civil Guard post in the town of Cortegana en route to Seville for a checkup.
"When I got to Cortegana they had the eagle sitting on a table and everyone was having their picture taken with it," Hernandez said. "The bird couldn't see a thing," he added, and thus was not startled by the camera flashes.
The bird responded to the medication and was released in the park the next day.
Golden eagles are relatively abundant in Spain, which has an estimated 1,200 pairs, about as many as in all of the United States, Hernandez said. The species also lives elsewhere in North America and in Asia and North Africa.
The birds take their name from golden-to-blond feathers on the back of their head. Their two-meter (7-foot) wing span and powerful wing structure makes them such good fliers they can reach speeds of 300 kilometers per hour (200 mph) when swooping down to catch prey.
Golden eagles live to be about 50.
Ebro river delta: the broadest river delta in the Mediterranean (after the Nile), one of the most important wetlands in Europe, fully covered by rice fields, except the coastal lagoons around the delta full of water birds. Water increasingly polluted by agrochemicals. An NGO has bought a piece of land, for 3 years tried organic rice, finally got it based in and improving the traditional knowledge rescued from a few old people who worked the rice fields before the fashion of agrochemicals in the 1950s. Advantages of the organic rice: twice the price and many more birds, plus water quality allows aquaculture; now the NGO has created a social enterprise to commercialise it (this is a challenge for them), profits reinvested in more research and education. Local forces, always suspicious with all these "conservationists", particularly big landowners who happen to deal agrochemicals in the region, begin to understand.
Project no. 2
Zaragoza, a city with 600.000 inhabitants, lies in one of the driest regions in Europe (almost a desert). A local NGO started a city campaign to save water, reaching around 100.000 homes and most schools. As a result, water use stopped growing and descended a 4%. Now they have started campaigning with industries and with governmental buildings as well, through a campaign on "50 good practices to save water" together with stores and professionals (architects, plumbers) involved in water equipment. They also work on paper recycling.
Project no. 3
The Island of Menorca, the best conserved in the Balearic Islands thanks to its "rainy" weather, declared by UNESCO a Biosphere Reserve in the mid-1990s, prepares to drive its development away from the threat of massive tourism. Several projects here, such as new rural products (based on traditional quality), re-conversion of fisheries (about to start), marine reserves together with fishermen (successful), a forum of local NGOs to strengthen and articulate citizens around the idea of sustainable development (successful), a socio-economic observatory for monitoring and evaluation of development in the area (under development).
Project no. 4
Valleys in the Pyrenees: forgotten by "development" plans since the 1960s, these 4 neighbouring valleys still host some of the best natural (our last wild bears included) and cultural representations of the Pyrenees. Reason why the government decreed a "Natural Park" in all the area - as usual without any local consultations. Locals opposed (they only think of us when it is about restrictions.... if this landscape is conserved it is only thanks to us... bears are more important than us, we´ll burn the forests away...). In 1999 we started a participatory process (many workshops with all the local sectors) to analyse the situation and propose alternatives (also economic factibility studies with the local people). Now most believe (included noticeably the village majors) that the future should be sustainable (forests, cattle, low impact tourism, small quantities of a diversity of quality local products) and that the Park is an opportunity, not a threat. They already organising themselves around this idea and are preparing proposals to the Government of Aragon
and to the EU.
Other projects are trying to strengthen rural development, mostly quality agriculture as an alternative in deserted rural areas, recuperation of traditional varieties of olive trees, pastures, and many fruit and horticultural germoplasm in Castilla and in Extremadura, and traditional knowledge as a basis for a new organic agriculture.
Project no. 6
EL Hierro island, in the Canary Islands. The true last frontier, perhaps one of the best examples in the world of sustainable development, as a whole, with strong local participation and convinced local governments. An "island of sustainability", and many leaders with good and sophisticated ideas.
Information supplied by Arturo Lopez who is a member of the AVINA Foundation.
Project no. 7
An aging eagle that was hit by a car while feeding on a hare and suffered brain damage that left it blind for a day has been nursed back to health and released into the wild.
Veterinarians in southern Spain treated the male golden eagle with steroids after concluding its optic nerve had been knocked out of wack in the accident Saturday in a nature reserve in Huelva province.
The bird, estimated age 40, was left in the dark as it convalesced so as not to get spooked when it recovered its sight, said Rafael Hernandez, director of Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche Natural Park.
He said the bird had been eating a hare by the side of a road and was hit by a car just as it tried to take flight.
It suffered no apparent injuries, but vets realized something was wrong when they took the bird to a Civil Guard post in the town of Cortegana en route to Seville for a checkup.
"When I got to Cortegana they had the eagle sitting on a table and everyone was having their picture taken with it," Hernandez said. "The bird couldn't see a thing," he added, and thus was not startled by the camera flashes.
The bird responded to the medication and was released in the park the next day.
Golden eagles are relatively abundant in Spain, which has an estimated 1,200 pairs, about as many as in all of the United States, Hernandez said. The species also lives elsewhere in North America and in Asia and North Africa.
The birds take their name from golden-to-blond feathers on the back of their head. Their two-meter (7-foot) wing span and powerful wing structure makes them such good fliers they can reach speeds of 300 kilometers per hour (200 mph) when swooping down to catch prey.
Golden eagles live to be about 50.
