Reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause warming has become a common goal of large environmental NGOs. In Spain, the Government has taken steps in its Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) to achieve a 32% reduction in emissions in 2030 compared to 1990, which means intensifying the current commitment of a 23% reduction for that date. The goal, however, must be more ambitious and reach 55%. This is what Friends of the Earth, Ecologists in Action, Greenpeace, SEO/Birdlife and WWF claim in the document ‘A Program for the Earth’.
This document presented by these organizations includes 118 proposals, structured into 23 lines of action and four thematic blocks. In biodiversity, the development of roadmaps for compliance with the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework and the European Biodiversity Strategy stands out, the protection of natural spaces at risk of disappearing, such as Doñana and Tablas de Damiel and providing the necessary resources to comply with the commitments to protect 30% of the marine surface.
The NGOs also demand greater ambition to combat the climate crisis through a new Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan, which includes decarbonization by 2040 (so as not to exceed the 1.5ºC warming limit and a social consensus on the deployment of renewable energies, including the active participation of local communities and the approval of a Sustainable Mobility Law.
And in order to achieve a more democratic and fair economy, a reduction in water for irrigation is established, a change in the agricultural model and the maintenance of an environmental Vice Presidency in the Government.
The organizations hope that their proposals will serve the next legislature, regardless of who wins at the polls. Juan Carlos del Olmo, WWF Secretary General, explains it this way: “We are at a decisive moment and we cannot go back in the ecological transition. All parties should make the defense of the environment their top priority, especially in a country like Spain, hit by climate change”.
Eva Saldaña, director of Greenpeace, also declares: “Not acting means condemning the most vulnerable sectors to suffer the most from these impacts”, adding that it is essential that all political parties recognize the seriousness of these challenges and commit to addressing them in an collaborative, acting in the short term but with a vision in the medium and long term, with an approach that prioritizes fundamental rights for all and the well-being of citizens within planetary limits.
The report warns that “the destruction of biodiversity and ecosystems is one of the main risks facing our species,” according to studies by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. (IPBES), the same platform that warned of the danger of extinction of a million species.
Above all, it is requested that the Doñana National Park be protected; its aquifer was officially declared overexploited in 2020 and the water pressure it suffers points to its extinction, while PP-VOX tries to push forward a bill that would grant a future right to water to crops in the area that currently, are considered illegal.
They also recommend creating new national parks: the Chinijo Archipelago in Lanzarote, the Mar de las Calmas on the island of El Hierro and the Monegros Steppes. They are currently the favorite candidates, since all three meet the necessary requirements. Likewise, biodiversity conservation actions are called for and the development of a State Strategy for the Comprehensive Prevention of Forest Fires.
In the last 20 years, the water stored in reservoirs, in aquifers, in wetlands and that which circulates through rivers has been drastically reduced due to the increase in demands and climate change. Intense droughts are also becoming more frequent and affect the security of supply for municipalities and economic activities.
Greenpeace defends that the industrial agrarian model, the predominant one, cannot be maintained under these conditions and, consequently, it is urged to make a transition towards agroecology: promotion of crops that take into account the ecological processes of their specific environment. “It is urgent to develop a state strategy for a just agroecological transition that changes the focus of public support from the most intensive models of agriculture and livestock oriented increasingly towards international exports,” argues ‘Un programa por la Tierra’.
Asunción Ruiz, executive director of SEO/BirdLife, concludes: “Environmental and social precariousness go hand in hand. Defending environmental policies is not simply ecological.” Ruiz adds that profound changes are needed to allow society to adapt without suffering to a new reality in all sectors and in our lifestyles.
Friends of the Earth, Ecologists in Action, Greenpeace, SEO/Birdlife and WWF allege that these proposals would improve the level of quality of life, based on basics such as the right to breathe clean air; It is proposed to promote a review of the air quality regulations, which establishes the WHO air quality standards as new limit values ??to be reached by 2030.
“We believe that social changes must go hand in hand with having more time for care, leisure or enjoyment of nature. A more ecological world must also be a fairer and happier world”, closes Luis Rico, coordinator of Ecologistas en Acción.
