Murcia, 13 de septiembre de 2012
La Asociación de Naturalistas del Sureste se ha dirigido a los miembros y suplentes del Comité de las Regiones para que estos le pidan al Presidente de esta institución comunitaria, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, que cumpla con la legislación europea de conservación de la biodiversidad y proceda a la aprobación de los Planes de Gestión de la Red Natura 2000. A juicio de ANSE, resulta paradójico que sea precisamente el Comité de la Regiones, presidido por un gobernante que incumple la normativa europea de conservación, la institución encargada de exponer los puntos de vista regionales y locales acerca de la legislación de la UE, incluida la de Medio Ambiente.
El pasado 20 de julio expiró el plazo de seis años para dotar a los Lugares de Importancia Comunitaria de adecuadas medidas de gestión y conservación, que en muchos casos toman la forma de Planes de Gestión: documentos que establecen objetivos, programas, acciones y normas para garantizar la conservación de estas áreas protegidas. A pesar del tiempo transcurrido, ninguno de los 50 Lugares de Importancia Comunitaria de la Región de Murcia cuenta con un Plan de Gestión específico aprobado, aunque la Administración Regional había redactado muchos de ellos, habiendo invertido cuantiosos fondos procedentes de la Unión Europea a través de proyectos LIFE. Ante este grave incumplimiento de la normativa comunitaria, ANSE presentó una queja formal ante la Comisión Europea a finales del mes de julio.
En la noche de ayer, la Asociación de Naturalistas del Sureste se dirigió a través de una ciberacción a 653 miembros y suplentes del comité de las regiones para solicitarles que pidan al presidente Ramón Luis Valcárcel que dé cumplimiento a la Directiva Hábitats en la Región de Murcia y proceda a la inmediata aprobación de los Planes de Gestión de la Red Natura 2000.
Con esta acción, ANSE espera que los miembros del Comité de las Regiones presionen al presidente Ramón Luis Válcarcel, pues resulta inadmisible que una institución comunitaria que debe pronunciarse sobre cuestiones de medio ambiente esté presidida por el responsable último del incumplimiento de la Directiva Hábitats en la Región de Murcia.
La Asociación también ha trasladado a los miembros del Comité de las Regiones la situación de la planificación y ordenación ambiental en la Región de Murcia, denunciando las iniciativas del Gobierno Regional para caducar o anular los Planes de Ordenación de los Recursos Naturales pendientes de aprobación, que podrían suplir las necesidades de gestión de estas áreas protegidas.
Conviene recordar que los tímidos avances en conservación de la biodiversidad vividos en la Región de Murcia en los últimos años se han producido principalmente tras la presión o la amenaza de sanción de las instituciones comunitarias.
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Asunto: Please, request the president to comply with de Habitat Directive.
Dear Sir or Madam:
We write to you about the Natura 2000 situation in Region of Murcia. The six years period established in the Habitats Directive for take measures has been exhausted and these protected areas have a lot of conservation problems (ecological changes, industrial agriculture, urban development, etc).
We think the Government of Region of Murcia despises the environmental planning because there are no management plans for any SIC (50 SIC), only five regional protected areas (Regional Parks) have plans approved and the development of the environmental laws is very limited.
We think the Committee of the Regions President must be an example by complying with the European Directives.
Please, request the president to comply with de Habitat Directive.
Thanks for your help.
More information in the next page
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“ANSE reports the Autonomous Community of Murcia to the European Commission on the absence of Management Plans of the NATURA 2000 NETWORK”
(The new president of the Committee of the Regions, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, makes his debut on the post failing to carry out EU rules on Environment)
None of the 50 Sites of Community Importance of the Region of Murcia has a specific Management Plan. For this reason, ANSE has sent a grievance to the European Community on the failure to carry out the articles 4 and 6 of the 92/43/CEE Directive, as well as on the binding commitments in the context of several Life projects. The non-fulfilment of the European Directive may lead to strong sanctions on Spain.
The deadline to take appropriate management and conservation measures on the Sites of Community Importance (SCI) such as Management Plans expired last 20th June. Countries of the EU were given six years to adopt these actions.
ANSE considers that the Autonomous Community of Murcia has avoided the binding obligations according to what is stipulated in section 4 of article 4 as well as the section 1 and 2 of article 6 of the 92/43/EEC, all that is in relation to the time established by the DECISON OF THE COMISSION of 19th July 2006.
The vast majority of the Sites of Community Importance of the Region of Murcia lack the necessary conservation measures and the appropriate statutory, administrative or contractual measures and what is most worrying: different threats are looming over them, intensified by this failure to carry out the above-mentioned conservation measures.
Additionaly, the instruments of management and organization planned by the current state and regional legislation such as the Plans for the Management of Natural Resources [1] ( hereinafter PMNR) remain halted or have been suffering a never-ending process that has undermined or even cancelled their capacity. The terms established by the regional legislation (from 1992) to provide the Protected Natural Espaces Network with the mentioned PMNRs have been systematically breached.
Despite that the deadline to provide the Sites of Community Importance with conservation measures has expired, the regional government of Murcia has started many initiatives aiming at cancelling, halting or favouring the expiration of the PMNRs of spaces rather than promoting conservation measures for these sites.
In this sense, an additional provision has been added to the Regional Law nº6 on Tax, Economic, Social and Administrative Measures of the Region of Murcia that may lead to the cancelling of the PMNR of spaces that are not yet declared as Natural Parks and has carried out a draft for a Conservation Law that includes the expiry of the PMNR status after 5 years since their beginning. This will mean that all plans which are at a standstill awaiting initial approval, will lapse.
Similarly, there is a flagrant failure to comply with the binding commitments on different LIFE projects, as the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia received many EU funded programs for the drafting and approval of 12 Plans for the Management of Sites of Community Importance. And what is more: none of them has been passed or even made public.
Due to all the above-mentioned reasons, ANSE hopes that the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia will proceed to the immediate adoption of measures for the conservation of the mentioned Sites of Community Importance, as the failure to comply with the Habitats Directive may lead to strong economic sanctions
The report: facts and figures
The 50 Sites of Community Importance assumes a surface area of 166.604 hectares of land and 181.029 hectares of sea, making a total of 347.633 hectares.
Only 5 SCIs have a definitively approved management document: Regional Park and SCI (ES0000173) “Sierra Espuña” (1995), Regional Park and SCI (ES6200001) “Calblanque, Monte de las Cenizas y Peña del Águila” (1995), Regional Park and SCI (ES0000175) “Salinas y Arenales de San Pedro del Pinatar”. (1995), Regional Park and SCI (ES6200009) “Sierra del Carche”. (2003), Regional Park and SCI (ES6200003) “Sierra de la Pila”(2004).
No PMNR has been approved in the last 8 years.
The approval of the PMNRs derives from the Regional Law 4/92 passed 20 years ago.
Some Protected Lanscapes and SCIs such as the “Espacios Abiertos e Islas del Mar Menor” have been suffering a processing of 14 years for their PMRN.
At least 41 SCI Management Plans have been drafted without any having passed or submitted for public information
The European Union has funded the draft of 12 Plans for the Management of the SCIs. However, none of them has been finally passed nor made public.
The sanctions of the European Union for the failure to comply with the Habitats Directive may assume several millions of euros, adding a daily amount for every day of delay.
[1] Plans for the Management of Natural Resources, that due to their legal reach and content could perfectly comply with what is provided in the Habitats Directive.