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The combination of interests drives many of the essential processes that make life on the planet possible. Humans, inclined to create our own world, often shape social realities that verge on the surreal.

This spring has brought enough rain for short-cycle plants. That is why the countryside is full of flowers — a grand stage to observe the actors of life in motion. If we have a closer look at a blooming field (at one that has not been sprayed), we will find wild and domestic bees, caterpillars and butterflies, spiders and flies… all of them pursuing their particular interest in interacting with the flowers.

Many times, it is a shared interest: the solitary bee collects nectar to feed the offspring it shelters in a hollow stem. In return, the flower exchanges a dusting of pollen.

Sometimes, the exchange is not so harmonious. Take, for example, the prey caught by the spider hiding among the petals — they suddenly feel the predator’s chelicerae. Still, experts say that even predation between animals can have beneficial effects on the environment. It is the result of the constant movement of those trying not to get caught.

This is especially visible in wild herbivores, which are always on the move and stay close together in tight groups to defend themselves from predators. As a result, they never exhaust a pasture and spread their droppings ideally across the land. A few months later, the grass grows back without any need to reseed.

Farmers who have learned to take advantage of this natural process try to encourage similar behaviour in their livestock. They do this by subdividing their fields into smaller paddocks where the animals stay for only short periods and do not return until many weeks have passed.

The farmer’s interest here is to make better use of the pasture, fertilise the land without machinery, and, in some cases, reduce the need for ploughing. Less intensive and more profitable systems — and much friendlier to the environment.

In other kinds of activities, however, the effects are not always so clear-cut. To determine whether a project designed to intervene in the landscape is beneficial or harmful, an assessment and public consultation process is usually required. If the project is considered very strategic, it may even be declared of general interest.

In Menorca, we have seen outrageous cases where this mechanism has been abused — a mechanism originally intended for obvious needs (a school, a firewater reservoir…). These days, the water park that was declared of general interest on the grounds that it would help deseasonalise tourism is shutting down. The judge wasn’t convinced.

Still, there is concern that similar cases could arise again. The current Balearic government modified the definition of general interest at the first opportunity. It removed the clause stating that the initiative must go beyond mere individual interests. The lever has once again become precarious.

There has been enough rain for the flowers, but not enough for the wetlands or the aquifers. In fields where livestock is not treated with chemicals, dung beetles abound, transforming manure into nutrients. They dig tunnels and bury dung balls to feed their offspring. Water infiltrates these soils more easily.

More often than we might think, human interests align with those of nature.