Category Archives: News

S’Estany de Mongofra and the problem of microplastics

Views: 201

GOB organised a clean up of the coast along s’Estany de Mongofra that took place on Sunday 23 July. The topography and the enclosed coves of this unique area make it particularly prone to the accumulation of waste brought in by the sea.

The fifty volunteers that came to help were distributed to various points already identified around s’Estany. In total, they collected 83 kilos of waste, mostly plastics. The presence of microplastics in the area, with muddy or pebble beaches, made them difficult to collect, so that they could only be collected manually picking up each one by one.

It was a day of intense heat so that the mid-morning snacks, with Land Stewardship Scheme farm products, above all the melons and watermelons, helped rehydration and to give strength to continue with the task.

At the end of the day, the different types of waste were separated. This time, the remains of broken plastics made up the main part of the waste, weighing 29 kg, followed by bulky plastic waste, 23 kg, and in third place were the ropes weighing 17 kg. What is surprising is the large number of stoppers that can be found, on this occasion 3.5 kilograms that took up a volume of 30 litres.

Since 2015, GOB has organised various clean up days at the same point and something interesting has been observed that, with the passing of time, the smallest plastics (microplastics, mesoplastics and others) have been replacing the larger objects that used to represent the most common waste. These small waste objects are nothing more than the result of plastic degradation, which, as we all know, is not biodegradable so that it breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces that end up in the trophic chain and become ingested by humans.

We are grateful to all the volunteers that took part on this day and we encourage everyone to take advantage of their beach days and collect the plastic waste they are sure to find in the sand.

This event was supported by the Island Governing Council and the Menorca Preservation Fund.

For photographs, please look here

Illegal swimming pools in Menorca and closure order in France

Views: 419

It is now known that the developers of certain illegal swimming pools in Menorca are also having a major conflict in France, in the Provence Region, where the city council is preparing a closure order of an establishment in the chain.

The same developers that are managing Sant Ponça and Torre Vella in Menorca (under the Group name, Domaine de Fontenille) have opened recently a new luxury hotel in Sain-Remy-de-Provence that is generating a lot of controversy in the area, which is being spread via major media outlets.

In agricultural areas of this region, it is only possible to process tourist accommodations, called guesthouses, of five bedrooms. The problem is that the hotel in question would have been inaugurated with 19 bedrooms and a restaurant without a licence or municipal authorisation. The different administrations have made negative reports that will probably result with a closure order. In fact, some major booking platforms no longer operate with the hotel.

The new establishment, called Domaine de Chalamon, is located in an area that, like Menorca, opted for strict urban planning, in order to avoid unwanted development. The authorities do not want to allow precedents that would encourage future disastrous planning.

The authorities have shown greater courage than in Menorca

Seeing the publicity that announced the details of the building (19 bedrooms, swimming pool, restaurant…) did not coincide with the characteristics of a guesthouse, the different administrations coordinated and visited the establishment and issued negative reports. A closure order seems imminent if it has not already occurred.

It should be remembered that in 2019 GOB denounced the presence of swimming pools that should be troughs for saving water in the agro tourism of Torre Vella as well as other irregularities. As a result, in 2021 the Consortium of Urban Discipline opened a file with the proposal of a sanction for about one and half million euros (486,000 for each one of those responsible – the developer, the architect and the builder.)

A little while afterwards, the Environmental Commission also raised reports of environmental breaches and proceedings have been initiated with the Island Governing Council, as the body that must enforce environmental issues.

The developers allocated all the existing buildings for tourist use and then asked to build new ones to maintain the farming activity, then petitioned for legalising water troughs made into swimming pools. The Alaior Town Council did not allow GOB to see the documentation and this obstruction has been reported to the Council for Transparency and Good Governance that is processing the file.

A case that creates comparative grievance between the Menorcans

Torre Vella continues, in the summer of 2023, promoting the bedrooms with the illegal swimming pools. It seems that no administration decides anything and meanwhile, the promoters do business when their facilities are illegal.

To allow this impunity transmits an inequality in the application of the rules (many illegal works on the Island have ended in demolition as established by law) and generates a sensation of favourable treatment by the Menorcan authorities.

What a difference from the reaction of the French authorities. There, despite the French millionaires mentioned putting forward their usual arguments of giving jobs and restoring the archaeological heritage, the public institutions have replied that the rules are equal for all as was known by the developers from the first day that they were interviewed.

Look at the following images:

https://www.laprovence.com/article/region/40725405570106/saint-remy-de-provence-le-domaine-de-chalamon-dans-le-viseur-de-la-mairie

https://marsactu.fr/bref/vu-sur-le-web-a-saint-remy-de-provence-un-nouvel-hotel-de-luxe-menace-de-fermeture/

https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2023/07/20/a-saint-remy-de-provence-la-mairie-denonce-le-passage-en-force-d-un-hotel-de-luxe_6182717_3224.html

Formal complaints about the new pontoons in the Fornells Port

Views: 450

Puertos, the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands, have opened a file for a concession to build and make use of five pontoons in Fornells Port. GOB has made formal complaints in order to remind that these new facilities were approved with a series of environmental conditions that must now be followed.

Let us remember that the project of remodelling the Fornells Port was conditional on a series of measures that had to be carried out prior to the commissioning of the new pontoons. Let us look at the conditions:

  • The Balearic Port Authority has to contribute 30,000 euros per season to the Posidonia Fund, in the form of an anchorage monitor who, in the summer season, daily monitors all the LIC (Communal Places of Importance) of the Marine Area of the North of Menorca and all the LIC of Punta Redonda Arenal de un Castillo. The first payment made before the occupation of pontoon L.
  • Send to the Environment Councillor of the Balearic Islands, underwater photographs of the pontoons A and B with their surroundings to show that they have not dredged the red zone of the posidonia reef outlined in plan 1 of the attached cartographic image, as well as a map of the new bathymetric levels resulting from the dredging.
  • Photographs of the pontoons F and G where it shows that the fingers and rings of the 41 mooring places to be removed have been dismantled.
  • Photographs of the beacons installed that delimit the prohibited navigation area so as not to affect the seabed, as well as the entry and exit channels.
  • Copy of the announcement of the tender of the works concerning the installation of the ecological buoy fields in the bay of Fornells.
  • Photographs of the buoys already installed in the coves to the east of the bay and along the north side of the dock.
  • Copy of the tender announced for the contract of service, or in this case, of the signed agreement, or of whatever other type of valid agreement, for the execution of the restoration of 5119.92 square metres of Posidonia Oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa. (This activity must be associated with the tracking of the meadows in the whole of the port area, especially in the restored area, following the criteria of the agreement of the Nature Network Committee of 27 May 2008).
  • Propose means for minimising the visual impact of the bollards to the General Directorate of Natural Spaces and Biodiversity.

GOB also asked that criteria for historical heritage and sustainability of boats be applied when prioritizing the allocation of moorings. Specifically, it asked for priority to boats of traditional construction of less than 8 metres, those that move by sail, electric motor or powered by technologies more sustainable than fossil fuels.

It should be borne in mind that studies carried out on nautical load capacity of the Menorcan coast shows that the defined maximum has been exceeded for 13 years. For this reason, the final increase in moorings that is to be carried out in Fornells of 77 new points, is also dependent on the financing, installation and management of the 77 ecological buoys in coves within and outside of the bay, given that this area can no longer accommodate more boats in high season.

Volunteering to clean up the coast at Mongofra

Views: 261

GOB is organizing a clean-up day on Sunday 23 July at s’Estany de Mongofra, one of the most beautiful places on the island.

Owing to its northern situation and the topography of the coves, a great deal of rubbish coming in from the sea accumulates there. In 2018, a rubbish collection was organised and nearly 500 kilos of waste was collected, but, as we have seen the beaches are once again full of plastics, especially micro plastics.

The event is open to everyone, and we encourage you to invite your families and friends. It is suitable for adults and children.

On this occasion, two meeting points have been organised for sharing cars. At 8.15 in the parking area of the poliesportiu of Maó. For those who do not come from Maó, at 8.45 in the car park of the Tramuntana School (Ses Escoles, ctra Favàritx 24).

In the middle of the morning, there will be a break for a snack of products from the network of Land Stewardship Scheme farms, for all participants.

GOB will take all the necessary materials for the cleaning operation, but if you have your own gloves, then take them. It is important to be well equipped with closed shoes, sun hat, sun cream and bottles of water to cope with the heat. You will have to walk about 20 minute from the houses to the base point where we will organise groups and select the types of waste found.

If you wish to participate, please complete this form . Or telephone GOB (971 350 762), or go to the office any morning from 9.00 to 14.00 H, at Camí des Castell 53, Maó. It is important to state how many people you will be, your telephone number or email, and which meeting point you choose.

The volunteering day coincides with the general elections, but it is expected that the activity will end at 13.30.

We look forward to seeing you!

Letter to the new president of Melià about Son Bou

Views: 514

To Mr Gabriel Escarrer

It has recently been published that the Melià company, owner of the large hotels at Son Bou, has changed directors. You, Gabriel Escarrer, son, have taken over as director from Gabriel Escarrer, father. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your new role and wish you every success.

As you surely know, in Menorca we have a certain argument over one of your establishments. We thought that, now, at the beginning of this new position, it would be useful to explain to you the reasons for the disagreements that GOB has over the modernisation project for the hotels at Son Bou that your company is trying to process on our Island.

In the seventies, on the largest beach of Menorca, two towers were built with 12 floors that had some constructions added to the sides and made into a hotel given the singular name of Milanos-Pingüinos. The Melià Company acquired it some years ago and, in 2017, presented a project to modernise the building.

The supposed improvement is not accompanied by a reduction in guest places, as might be expected, but plans to maintain the current number of 1,140, most of which function as “all included”.

In summary, the action that your company wishes to carry out means maintaining  the current height of the towers cutting only 428 square meters off a corner between floors 9 and 12 and adding a lot of new volume (6,000 square meters) between the ground floor and the seventh floor. This will mean affecting the landscape because now, at least, the sea can be seen between the towers, but with the new project, it would be screened off.

In addition, it is proposed to double the swimming pools area, the intention being to make 2,245 square meters available for them on a plot of land that is on the first line, less than 90 meters from the sea.

These figures, Mr Escarrer, seem to sit badly with the sustainability declaration that your company makes and with the promises announced in its publications.

We cannot quite understand how the energy consumption of the establishment could be made, how to imagine that the objectives announced for the Agenda 2030 can be completed, nor how the improvement in the water footprint could be achieved, if the hotel were to be enlarged, the number of guest places maintained and the swimming pools doubled.

We explain all this to you because we know that it is common for the top management not to know the details of the information published by their company. For example, you may not be aware that they boast making a reduction in carbon emissions of 51% (which is a huge percentage) but the example used is for 2020 (the year of the pandemic when all the world came to a standstill.)

Mr Escarrer, we think that you have a golden opportunity to show your real commitment to an island like this, a Reserve of the Biosphere. You have the possibility to present a new project that adapts to the current urban parameters, of a ground floor with two more levels thus freeing Menorca of one of the worst attacks made on its coastal landscape.

When deciding, keep in mind that GOB has repeatedly written to the Alaior Town Council warning them that the hotels are in an illegal position, as confirmed by several court reports commissioned by the Council. There is not sufficient area in the plot of land.

Recently, our entity, with the help of many people, has filed a lawsuit against the group that has tried adding square meters to legalise the hotel. It seems that in so doing they have taken green areas but, even so, the enlarged area is insufficient.

Depending on the result of this litigation, it will also be possible to see the degree of responsibility of those people who worked to stop any prior consultation of the documents, who prepared reports and gave the orders to carry out manoeuvres that are now being analysed in detail by the lawyers and designated experts.

These are some of the issues inherited from the past. However, you are starting a new period and perhaps could make things happen differently. In our opinion, companies can play a very active role in restructuring for the world’s needs. If at any time you would like to discuss this matter directly, you would be welcome to get in touch.

Yours sincerely,

GOB Menorca

We open the Centre of Recuperation for Wild Animals

Views: 269

The Centre for the Recuperation of Wild Animals is now open for visits by the public. It is an opportunity to see close up emblematic animals of Menorca, know their problems and see how this hospital tries to remedy them. The hospital will be open until September on Mondays to Saturdays from 18.00 hours, until sundown. Workshops for all the family will take place every Tuesday that relate to the animals in the Centre.

The visit will be guided and there is a series of explanation panels giving the characteristics of the animals and their problems. The route is divided into the terrarium area for tortoises, ponds for exotic turtles and ponds for the recuperation of toads. There are different areas where you can see falcons, kites and owls…These birds have suffered severe injuries and will not be capable of living in the wild, so they stay permanently in the Centre and help us to carry out the important work of environmental awareness.

Each Tuesday, from 18.30 we are organising different workshops designed for all members of the family, where we will learn through play the different characteristics of the animals.

The Animal Hospital is located in the Lithica Quarries. For visiting us you first buy an entrance ticket for Lithica (4 euros for residents, 7 euros for non-residents, young people under 13 years go free). Once inside go towards the Centre where we will ask you for a supplement of 2 euros (under 13 it is free). It is advisable to buy tickets for Lithica on the website https://lithica.es/en/visit/ . Though you can also buy them there. Entrance to the Pedreres de s’Hostal is on the Camí Vell de Ciutadella, km1.

Cala Corb lesson and the danger to s’Altra Banda

Views: 254

Four years of paralysis for ignoring the environmental laws

In Cala Corb, on the southern pavement of the Port of Maó works for connecting the pavement with the Moll d’en Pons, have been stopped for four years.

The reason was that the procedure used by the Port Authority awarded work consisting of a cantilevered walkway and suddenly, without any formalities or prior authorisation, it was turned into a construction dock with dozens of trucks emptying rocks into the sea.

A cantilevered walkway attached to the rock-face has hardly any effect on the marine environment, but, obviously, tons and tons of rocks being poured into the sea will transform its environment radically.

Any land subject to European laws, for some decades past, before causing such a transformation such as this, first commissions an environmental impact study, to know what values exist and to see if things can be done in such a way that cause the least loss of natural values.

A significant environmental impact

However, the Port Authority maintains that, as Maó is a State port, the environmental impact law does not apply, it has validity, they say, only in areas that have regional jurisdiction.

State regulation, however, is applicable over protected species. So, if works end up affecting a protected species, then there is a cumbersome terrain of reports, potential sanctions and specific authorisations. This is what has occurred at Cala Corb.

The dumping of rocks without control seriously affected a colony of protected coral that has been practically devastated. Had this been done by an individual, they would have been fined and in danger of being prosecuted through criminal channels.

Before a fait acompli, it was necessary to wait for a resolution from the corresponding ministerial department that had undertaken to contract a scientific service to move the remains of the coral to another part of the Maó port. Four years of paralysis and added costs for not wanting to realise that environmental laws are the same as others.

A new threat to the northern walkway: works and desalination plants

Recently, the Port Authority has put the management out to tender of the moorings by the northern walkway (the area known as s’Altra Banda) as well as those attached to the Isla del Rey.

Having consulted the specifications it can be deduced that whoever takes on the concession could significantly increase the number of moorings and, consequently, the areas where new installations could be put. To the 390 moorings that there are now, could be added another 250.

This intention contradicts two important points. In the first place, it implies adding a large number of new boats when Menorca has a study of the nautical load capacity of the island that was already saturated more than 10 years ago.

The second point is that it means altering new areas where no studies of the natural values have been presented.

The tender specifications also allow for installing various small desalination plants to provide water for the boats. But, there is no explanation for what is planned for the salt water generated by the desalination plants and it is not necessary to be very perceptive in deducing that it will be poured into the port itself which will significantly alter the natural environment.

The Port of Maó is a natural port

The large marine area that provides safe anchorage for Maó is a natural port that houses protected species and that offers important biological functions. The dynamic that tries to continue growth each year with new infrastructures and, furthermore, without doing previous studies on any environmental impact, serves to provide the basis for new environmental conflicts.

GOB has asked that any new pontoons are constructed with a system of “piles and fingers” (rather than with concrete blocks and chains) in order to better protect the seabed. They also requested that priority on waiting lists for a mooring be given to boats of traditional construction, with sail or electric drive motor.

It was also requested that no increases be made for moorings near areas where there is seafood, since water in a good condition is required and it is important to maintain economic diversification within the port.

Acting with a vision for the future

The proposal from GOB is that the orientation of the Port of Maó is focussed on improving the quality of its nautical services as well as improving shipyard boat maintenance and not on increasing the number of boats in the sea.

The level of the nautical saturation now seen in many of the coves during the summer, as well as the need to recover environmental values that have been lost due to excesses committed in the last decades, leads us to ask for a new commitment that is not based on quantity but on quality.

GOB coordinates its different island sections

Views: 195

Organised civil society, that works to achieve collective interests, is now more necessary than ever in our archipelago: to work on environmental, social and economic aspects. During the weekend of 17 June GOB brought together its Balearic Islands sections and analysed the new political context.

The problem of tourist overcrowding would increase if the messages spread by the political parties forecast to form new government teams were applied. This route is considered wrong with loss of residents’ quality of life, with great pressure on natural values and a loss of positive economic results.

The impossibility of a large part of the resident population to visit certain beaches during the tourist season, the enormous difficulty to find parking in areas taken over by tourist vehicles, the price of housing that, in many cases, prevents exercising a constitutional right, are some of the social effects of the growing and unidirectional commitment towards mass tourism.

In economic terms, tourist overcrowding goes against per capita income as picked up by economic publications. In 1983, the province of the Balearic Islands was second in the state ranking. At that time, 4.3 million tourists visited the islands. In 2022, the Balearics appeared in 22nd place for state ranking, having received 16.5 million tourists.

It is clear that overcrowding does not contribute to the welfare of society, but only to certain activities that are extracted in economic terms, that is, extracting profits generated by the island and taken to other places.

This excess pressure shows repeated planning errors. Ibiza has three desalination plants and the aquifers are overexploited. Mallorca has been widening roads and new road infrastructures continue to be announced. In Menorca the sensation of saturation is growing and undeclared tourist accommodation takes up homes that should be for residents.

Faced with these growing problems, GOB has agreed for the society to work to promote control measures that will help social welfare and environmental recovery.

There are tools for these measures that can be used such as establishing a limit on the vehicles of each island, which has been successfully tested in Formentera; such as regulating the abusive extractions of water; such as management of the nautical offer without degrading natural values nor the quality of the experience of those using it; such as putting a brake on the promotion of summer tourism; such as the correct management of protected areas for conserving and recovering natural values.

Society is usually ahead of institutions in vision and commitment for the future. The islands need to organise themselves to find ways that balance conservation with non-speculative progress.

New support for the preservation of the Menorcan countryside

Views: 345

The inhabitants of Menorca are known for the love they have of their land. Many people have acted, in one way or another, for one cause or another, with the final aim of preserving the island as it is.

Furthermore, the cohesive fabric of Menorca is both wide and active. Today we want to celebrate the alliance between two local NGOs whose aim is to create synergies for potential action that are profound and long lasting. This is about the new collaboration we have initiated between the Menorca Preservation Fund and GOB’s Land Stewardship Scheme. Continue reading New support for the preservation of the Menorcan countryside →

Son Bou. First phase covered. Thank you

Views: 301

Within ten days of asking for help, it was possible to cover the costs of the first phase of the dispute over the Son Bou Hotels. Thank you to all the many people who have contributed.

The legal proceedings that have been started to prevent the Son Bou hotels from having significant structural growth, have costs that are structured into two phases. Seven thousand euros initially for contracting lawyers, and solicitors and the presentation of the complaint. The second phase will be for the hiring of technical and judicial experts. The litigation has already been presented. Continue reading Son Bou. First phase covered. Thank you →