At the meeting, which was held electronically, Teresa Ribera reported on the draft bill for the declaration of the Sierra de las Nieves National Park (Malaga), which, when completed, will become the sixteenth national park in Spain .
The draft of the draft law has already been submitted to the Andalusian Government. The text, similar to the declaratory laws of the last two declared national parks, Monfragüe, in Cáceres (2007) and Sierra de Guadarrama, in Madrid and Segovia (2013), will be sent to the affected sectors and will be submitted to public information, thus such as the mandatory consultation and participation processes before being sent to the Council of Ministers for approval.
The future national park encompasses an area of 23,000 hectares in the municipalities of Benahavis, El Burgo, Istán, Monda, Parauta, Ronda, Tolox and Yunquera (Málaga), which promoted the declaration of national park and have collaborated with its protection through the previous declaration of natural park and Biosphere Reserve. The incorporation of this natural space will allow the inclusion in the Network of Parks of outstanding landscapes, a truly unique gea and flora and a valuable representation of fauna.
Incorporation of the fir fir in the park network
The park houses 65% of the Spanish pinsapar surface. Spruce fir (Abies pinsapo) and white fir (Abies alba) with the only representatives of the genus Abies in the Iberian Peninsula. However, while we have excellent white fir forests in some of our national parks (such as Ordesa and Monte Perdido, in Aragón, and Aigüestortes and Lago de San Mauricio, in Catalonia), pinsapo was not present until now in the Red de National Parks. Sierra de las Nieves also stands out for its outcrops of peridotites – ultra basic rocks that constitute one of the rarest rocks in the Earth's crust – and for its diversity of habitats and varied fauna.
Along with the representativeness of natural systems, the Sierra de las Nieves meets the rest of the requirements to be a national park, defined in Law 30/2014 on National Parks. Thus, it has a relevant proportion of the species and communities typical of the natural systems represented; Its surface is continuous, not fragmented, mainly occupied by natural formations, without artificial elements that significantly alter the landscape, and its soils are not susceptible to urban transformation.
Declaration of marine reserve on Dragonera island
Likewise, the Advisory Council has been able to learn about the proposal for a ministerial order to extend the marine reserve of fishing interest of Freo de Sa Dragonera (Balearic Islands) to external waters. The first monitoring reports of the results of the inland part of the marine reserve indicate a favorable evolution in the recovery of the species and improvement of the state of the bottoms, so it is appropriate to establish the corresponding part of external waters as a reserve. marine to complete the protection and recovery of an area of high ecological and fishing value that brings together a great diversity of habitats, species and communities, which justifies its protection through this type of figure.
Waste regulations
Likewise, the Advisory Council has been informed of the preliminary draft of the Law on Waste and Contaminated Soils, to which the Council of Ministers gave the green light to the last June 2 and that is in public information until July 3. This regulatory proposal includes, for the first time in Spanish legislation, limitations on single-use plastics, and also includes restrictions on their introduction into the market and consumer information obligations. Likewise, the text contains the first environmental taxation instrument in the field of waste: a tax on non-reusable plastic containers, in order to reduce their use and prevent the generation of this waste.
The preliminary draft of the Law is the main piece of the normative package that accompanies the Spanish Strategy of Circular Economy, also approved on June 2, and contains prevention measures -such as facilities for the donation and redistribution of food to reduce food waste, prohibition of destroying non-perishable surpluses or reducing the consumption of bottled water in public administration buildings and in the hospitality industry – and management measures such as new mandatory separate collections for biowaste, textile waste, hazardous household waste and used cooking oils.
New royal waste decrees
In addition, MITECO has submitted two Royal Decree projects to CAMA, one on the environmental management of batteries and accumulators and waste from electrical and electronic equipment, and the other on end-of-life vehicles.
The first transposes the new European regulations on this matter and adjusts to the new reality derived from the use of new and numerous types of batteries, accumulators and batteries. In this sense, new waste from batteries and accumulators considered dangerous is incorporated in the face of scientific evidence of the danger of certain components of these products, such as lithium, which is also increasingly present in electrical and electronic equipment and in the automotive sector. These wastes must be distinguished, due to their peculiarity and characteristics, in their collection, transport and treatment. This RD project is in the public information phase until June 18.
The second RD project refers to end-of-life vehicles (VFU), modifying the current regulations to prevent illegal exports of VFU and the inadequate management of waste in unauthorized scrap yards. The project is currently in the public information phase (until June 25).
Environmental responsibility
MITECO has submitted to the CAMA the biennial report on the evaluation of the execution of the Environmental Responsibility Law, corresponding to the period October 2017-October 2019. The report focuses on the application of the principles of prevention and of "the polluter pays" in which the Environmental Responsibility Law is based. Thus, on the one hand, it includes the main technical instruments and guides developed in Spain to facilitate the application of environmental liability regulations, as well as the necessary regulatory development.
On the other hand, among the elements that make it possible to evaluate the application of the principle of "the polluter pays", are the cases of environmental liability claims processed, or the existence of a financial guarantee system. In this sense, Spain has established a system
In relation to environmental liability cases, 42 cases have been processed in Spain. In the 2007-2013 period, 12 cases were processed, and in the 2014-2019 period, another 30, 7 between 2017 and 2019. This means that in the last six years the number of cases processed has more than doubled (71% of cases have been processed between 2014 and 2019). This, together with the entry into force of the system of compulsory financial guarantees, demonstrates the strengthening of the "polluter pays" principle.
National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change
CAMA has also addressed the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PNACC 2021-2030), which MITECO presented on May 4 and whose public information period extends until June 30.
The text responds to one of the commitments of the Council of Ministers agreement in which the Declaration of Climatic and Environmental Emergency was approved and constitutes a tool whose main objective is to build a less vulnerable country, safer and more resilient to the impacts and risks of the climate change, capable of anticipating, responding and adapting to a changing climate context.
The PNACC includes important novelties: it broadens work areas, incorporating protection of cultural heritage, aspects related to security and social cohesion, risks for Spain derived from transboundary climate impacts; it defines 81 lines of action organized in 18 sectors of sectoral work, among which are health, water and water resources, biodiversity and protected areas, forest protection, fight against desertification, agriculture and livestock or food security; incorporates an integrative perspective on climate risks considering the interactions between different types of risks (for example, health threats derived from the loss of air quality and high temperatures), and reinforces the instruments for information and monitoring of policies public adaptation.
Environmental Advisory Council (CAMA)
The Environmental Advisory Council is a participation body chaired by the fourth vice-president of the Government and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, and is made up of representatives of non-governmental organizations at the state level, including trade union organizations, business, consumer and user, agricultural, environmentalists, or the National Federation of Fishermen's Guilds.
