Tag Archives: Sustainability

Residents 1, Urban developments 0 – 13/06/26

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It is difficult to get people who are spending a few days on holiday to understand that the place they are visiting has water problems. Perhaps they could get an idea if the surrounding context suggested it, but that is not the case.

The progressive loss of drinking water in Menorca is directly related to the economic development model that is being promoted. The resident population is making efforts to reduce consumption, but spending is increasing in tourist areas.

On Saturday, June 13, at 7:30 p.m., a protest action has been called in Biosphere Square in Maó. A great deal is at stake for the immediate future. Please help spread the call.

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Sustainable distortion

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Almost 40 years have passed since the concept of sustainable development was spread worldwide by the United Nations. However, fears about the distortion of the term have gradually come true, and there are still people who equate it with sustained growth.

Ancient philosophers already said that when words lose their meaning, citizens lose their freedom.

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So Na Parets Vives joins Custòdia Agrària

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Custòdia Agrària, GOB Menorca’s land stewardship programme continues to grow. This May, it welcomes a new farm: So Na Parets Vives, an organic livestock project focused on artisanal goat cheese production and the regenerative management of the land.

The farm is located in the municipality of Ciutadella and covers an area of approximately 30 hectares. Its main productive model is organic goat farming with Murciano-Granadina breed goats (although there are also pigs and cows).

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Pere Fraga: “The landscape around us is the best school of gardening”

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We speak with Pere Fraga i Arguimbau, botanist and expert in the flora of Menorca. Fraga is one of the co-authors of the Manual de jardineria sostenible i amb planta autòctona, per a una illa com Menorca (Sustainable Gardening and Native Plants Manual for an island such as Menorca), the latest publication by GOB Menorca, recently presented in Maó, Ferreries, and Ciutadella, and one of the organization’s highlighted new releases this Sant Jordi. We take this opportunity to talk about the manual and to ask him for some basic recommendations on how to apply the principles of sustainable gardening to home gardens and terraces.

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The cross-cutting issue

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Spring has begun, leaving behind meetings, conferences, studies and debates on important issues in Menorca. Menorca’s winter brings a remarkably active pace of events that encourage reflection and analysis. And in all these initiatives, when one takes a moment to think, a common factor emerges—one that runs through all these issues and fills them with a sense of concern.

We struggle to find solutions for aquifer management, access to housing, waste reduction and recycling, beach overcrowding, and the gradual loss of purchasing power.

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Cutting the flower

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The President of the European Commission says that nuclear energy is strategic for Europe. Next month will mark 40 years since the very serious accident at the (formerly Soviet and now Ukrainian) Chernobyl plant, when a radioactive cloud larger than the entire Iberian Peninsula was released and drifted across the West as far as the United States. The radiation was equivalent to hundreds of bombs like the one in Hiroshima.

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February 26, the challenge of waste management, up for debate at the Ateneu de Maó

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The fourth and final round table in the «Viure dins del dònut» [«Living within the doughnut»] debate series at the Ateneu de Maó will focus on waste management. This genuine collective challenge is a key element in moving towards more sustainable and responsible models. The session will address the future prospects of island waste management, the role of the three Rs —reduce, reuse and recycle— and innovative local upcycling initiatives.

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Dangerous land

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The theory of no man’s land began as a somewhat rudimentary slogan, but it soon took root because of the usefulness it could offer at particular moments. Circumstances condition many things. When more developed societies carried out the occupation of other territories, it was necessary to dress it up with justification.

The strategy was to argue that no one was using that land. Without ploughing or sowing, it seemed abandoned. It was not difficult to spread the idea of lands that held no interest for those who had arrived previously. A line of reasoning that was very successful, to the misfortune of those who were already living there.

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A Step Forward for the Menorca Agroecological Alliance: Collaborative project workshop

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The Alliance for Agroecology in Menorca is organising a Project Definition Workshop next Thursday, 19 February, at CentreBit Menorca (Av. des Camp Verd, 4, in Alaior), with the aim of opening up the participatory process launched a year ago and bringing new people and organisations into the transformation of Menorca’s agricultural sector towards a more sustainable, fair and territory-rooted model.

After a first year of work driven by a small core group, the Alliance wants to take a step forward and broaden the project’s social base. Promoting the agroecological transition — which links agricultural production and nature conservation — is a collective challenge that requires everyone’s involvement.

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