Date Published: 15/01/2020
ARCHIVED - SOS Mar Menor proposes the creation of a Regional Park to protect the lagoon
ARCHIVED ARTICLE 
The platform group is critical of the regional government’s “insufficient” draft legislation
With the proposed Mar Menor protection law drawn up by the regional government of Murcia now open to amendments, suggestions and additions, rather than being brought into force immediately and without debate, the platform group SOS Mar Menor is advocating that a new Regional Park be created to include the lagoon, areas around it which are already protected and a “green belt” in which irrigation farming is banned.
The idea would be for the exact width of the green belt to be defined in detail in different areas but it would be at least 2 kilometres, far more than the 500 metres specified in the government’s draft legislation and which is described by the platform group and numerous others as being insufficient. Irrigation farming, it should be remembered, is held largely responsible for the runoff of surplus water into the Mar Menor carrying the nitrates and fertilizers which have brought about the serious deterioration of the marine environment in the lagoon.
Not only would irrigation farming automatically be banned within a Regional Park, other activities such as cattle farming would also be excluded, and very strict limits placed on construction and a wide range of other activities.

At the same time, the group proposes a tax in areas where irrigation farming is allowed to continue of 500 euros per hectare per year, with reductions available for concerns using ecological agricultural techniques. This, according to biologist Julia Martínez of Ecologistas en Acción, would provide a catalyst for the “green revolution” which is needed in the Campo de Cartagena in order to satisfy the demand for the leaf vegetables grown there in the north of Europe, where awareness of the connection between farming and the deterioration of the Mar Menor is growing.
SOS Mar Menor is strongly critical of the proposals made by the regional government, claiming that only 10 of the 85 articles contained in the draft law represent any real progress. Another 62 outline regulations already contained in other legislation, they say, while 13 are described by the group as “backward steps” designed to keep agriculturalists and the construction sector happy.
For example, Sra Martínez explains that the much-publicized proposal to ban all new construction around the Mar Menor for at least five years contains numerous “get-out clauses”: firstly, exemptions from the ban are specified for projects which have already received initial approval, and on top of that any other projects declared to be of tourist interest may be allowed to go ahead.
In addition, the ban on construction applies only to “Zone 1”, which accounts for a mere 10 per cent of the Campo de Cartagena and the area around the lagoon.
Image 2: algae at the beach of Lo Pagán on Sunday morning
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