Date Published: 22/04/2020
ARCHIVED - The naturalists association ANSE buys Cabo Cope
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
Half a million euros have been spent to protect the imposing headland on the coastline of Águilas
To coincide with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on 22nd April the naturalists’ group ANSE (Asociación de Naturalistas del Sureste) has announced that with the help of the WWF España group it has purchased the headland of Cabo Cope in the municipality of Águilas, in the south-west of the Region of Murcia.
On a clear day this imposing headland is visible from as far away as Cabo Tiñoso and La Azohía at the eastern end of the bay of Mazarrón, rising to a height of 242 metres above the village of Calabardina. It is also part of the natural park of Cabo Cope and Puntas de Calnegre, declared a Site of Community Interest on account of its tectonic and geomorphological complexity, its singular vegetation, the presence of endangered species and the existence of sites of archaeological and historical interest.
The water in this part of the Mediterranean is considered a perfect habitat for various animal species including groupers, conger eels, barracuda, octopus and corvina drum, and is also home to extensive posidonia sea grass meadows as well as being suitable for white corals.
In addition, the headland is home to a ZEPA birdlife protection zone, with the avian species present including the peregrine falcon, the Bonelli’s eagle and the trumpeter finch. Other fauna includes the spur-thighed tortoise, while the vegetation consists largely of semi-arid plants such as dwarf palms and an isolated group of Phoenician junipers.
ANSE’s purchase is intended to guarantee the protection of the headland (and the regional park of Cabo Cope and Puntas de Calnegre) once and for all after the natural characteristics of the area were threatened in the early years of this century by the proposed Marina de Cope development: this mega-project would not have occupied the headland itself but a large area just to the north of it, and was ruled illegal by the courts after it was deemed to include areas of protected land.
The land acquired by the Fundación ANSE occupies an area of 270 hectares, including almost all of the mountainous terrain of Cabo Cope, and includes various plots previously owned by Bankia (formerly Caja Madrid) which were later passed onto the books of the “bad bank” Sareb. The only areas not now owned by the naturalists are those on which privately owned homes are located
It is reported that the cost of the land acquired by ANSE was approximately 500,000 euros, and ANSE’s director Pedro García explains that with this purchase the intention is to prevent the arrival of “speculative funds” interested in re-activating the plans to build Marina de Cope, and to lobby for the approval of the Natural Resources Land Ordinance plan which was shelved in order to allow the development to go ahead. At one time Marina de Cope was to include 9,000 homes, various hotels and sports facilities including at least one golf course, as well as an artificially created inland harbour and marina.
In the coming weeks a fund-raising campaign will be launched to offset the expense incurred by ANSE and to pay off the bank loan by which the purchase is financed, and it is hoped that this campaign will receive widespread support for such an important purchase – comparable in many ways with the acquisition of the biological reserve of Doñana in south-western Spain by Adena (now WWF España) in 1963.
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