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Date Published: 25/10/2021

ARCHIVED - ILP Mar Menor petition reaches 500,000-signature target

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Spanish Congress must now debate giving legal personhood to the Mar Menor

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - ILP Mar Menor petition reaches 500,000-signature target

The Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) petition to grant legal personality to the Mar Menor lagoon has finally reached half a million signatures, the threshold at which the issue must be debated in Congress. After 11 months of collecting signatures and a last-minute extension to the deadline, the ILP and the thousands of ordinary people who signed have forced the government’s hand and demand they discuss taking action to save the Mar Menor.

“Without contacts or economic resources, we have managed to put the protection of the Mar Menor on the front line, achieving milestones such as the invitation of the ILP to the 26th United Nations Conference on climate change (COP26), where the rights of nature will be discussed on November 4 in Glasgow and where Dr Teresa Vicente will defend and give voice to the Mar Menor,” read a statement released by ILP campaigners on Monday October 25.

It was the mass demonstration march in Murcia at the beginning of the month that gave them the final push, when 50,000 signatures were still missing. As for the rest, it was the signatories and volunteers who really made it happen, deploying more than 500 collection points for signatures, 365 in the Region of Murcia and another 200 in the rest of Spain and other countries across Europe such as Germany, Finland, France and the Czech Republic.

“Thousands of people have made their mark to get closer to achieving the Popular Legislative Initiative to give rights to the Mar Menor. There have even been petitions for signatures from South America,” the ILP platform said, while stressing that restrictions on movement and adverse political conditions “have not made a dent for those citizens who want a healthy, living Mar Menor”.

Even now, though, the ILP is encouraging people to keep signing the petition to reach the 10% margin of error.

“As promoters of the ILP Legal Personality for the Mar Menor, we would like to thank the whole of society for the sensitivity and support they have shown us in the many actions we have carried out during these months to give visibility to the collection of signatures. Unable to contain our enthusiasm and the avalanche of petitions that we are still receiving, the hashtag #SOSMARMENOR simply says: Thank you!”

Image: ILP Mar Menor