PalmThe environmental group GEN-GOB has sent a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture requesting the withdrawal of the draft agrarian law, which is currently undergoing a hearing and public exhibition process. They argue that the Balearic Islands government "intends to deal the death blow to the peasantry," targeting them for investment funds and tourism companies so that they become part of "the oversized tourism offerings of these islands," exacerbating the problem of dependence on the tourism sector and "considering the peasantry as a residual activity."

Environmentalists believe that the so-called agrarian law will spell the death knell for the peasantry in the Islands, rather than a law that "defends the sector and its incalculable contribution to the land in every way." For them, the law currently being processed "doesn't just deal the final blow to the peasantry," turning it into the new target of tourism speculation, "it also condemns protected natural spaces and puts property and people at risk, always in the service of speculation." "It values interests over human lives," they lament.

Thus, they explain that rural risk protection areas are once again suitable for building. "After seeing the ferocious fires unleashed by climate change, completely uncontrollable, building capacity is being restored within the forests, whose regulations wash their hands of any casualties they may cause. We are no longer talking about biodiversity, which is clearly a nuisance to the Balearic government," they say.

They also point out that the provisions that allow "the destruction of large areas of natural environment without even an environmental assessment make no distinction between islands." They explain that "the differences in size between Formentera or Ibiza and Mallorca, and the impact that this permissiveness may have on such limited territories, are not a cause for any kind of precaution or concern."

The GEN-GOB believes that "the natural environment is being treated as an enemy to be fought" under this misnamed agrarian law, to the point of eliminating natural parks from the category of protected rural land. These parks, which have so far been the greatest exponent of environmental protection and which have been achieved "in many cases after intense and long struggles," are now considered "an area of protection and conservation of natural values," contrary to basic state legislation. This opens the door to them ceasing to be areas of protection and conservation of natural values.