The Government's agrarian law incentivizes real estate operations and "runs over" the territorial planning of the Islands, warns the GOB

PalmaThe environmental group GOB stated this Wednesday that the draft agrarian law being processed by the Government incentivizes real estate operations, "runs over" the territorial planning of each island, and intends to override basic environmental regulations, which it considers unconstitutional. Representatives from GOB Mallorca and Menorca and GEN-GOB Eivissa met this Wednesday with the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment, Joan Simonet, to express their rejection of the draft agrarian law and present proposals "aimed at guaranteeing the economic viability of farming, strengthening the protection of agricultural land, and advancing towards a sustainable food production model rooted in the territory".

In a joint statement, the three environmental organizations warn that "the economic viability of farming cannot be achieved at the cost of incentivizing real estate operations, facilitating the tertiarization of the countryside, or reducing the protection of the environmental and landscape values of rustic land". They emphasize that rustic land must be "for agricultural activities, not urban or tourist ones" and ask that the law strengthen local food production, protect family farming, and recognize the fundamental role of the agricultural sector in the conservation of the territory. Furthermore, they ask the Government to review some aspects of the draft law because it consolidates the urban and tourist use of rustic land instead of strengthening its protection.

Proposals

The organizations demand that the new law prevent the progressive urbanization of the countryside, the proliferation of new buildings, and the implementation of residential and recreational uses on rustic land. Specifically, they ask that it prohibit the construction of new swimming pools on these lands. They also denounce that facilitating the conversion of modern agricultural buildings (built up to 2015) into rooms for tourists is "distorting the uses of the territory" and they recall that some of these buildings were built with agricultural subsidies. The draft law also allows their volume to be increased by 20%.

On the other hand, they qualify as "especially serious" the interference of the new regulation in urban, territorial, and environmental issues of each island, because the agrarian law forces all regulations to be adapted to its provisions, which "often contradict planning and territorial plans approved on each island". This represents "an intolerable interference" in the powers of the island councils.

According to the GOB, the Government's proposal also overrides state environmental regulations and is unconstitutional. The associations also oppose the first additional provision of the draft law, which establishes an extraordinary procedure to incorporate into the planning buildings, constructions, and agricultural facilities built before Law 1/1991, on natural spaces and urban regime of the areas of special protection of the Balearic Islands. As they point out, it favors the regularization of certain constructions that do not have ordinary urban recognition, with the risk of consolidating buildings on rustic land and facilitating new uses for them. For this reason, they demand guarantees so that it does not become a way to legalize irregular buildings or to urbanistically transform protected natural spaces and areas of high environmental or landscape value.

Environmentalists are calling for the new law to strengthen the recognition of family farms and establish specific support measures, especially for small and medium-sized professional farms. They propose giving them priority access to public aid and promoting measures that facilitate generational renewal. They also ask that the law explicitly recognize the strategic nature of organic farming and incorporate concrete measures to promote it, because it contributes to conserving biodiversity, protecting soil fertility, reducing water pollution, and decreasing dependence on synthetic chemical products. Furthermore, they consider that it represents an opportunity to move towards a more sustainable and resilient food system in the face of climate change.

Another proposal is for administrations to increase public procurement of local and organic products to supply school canteens and hospitals.

Regarding the recognition of the agricultural sector's role in biodiversity conservation, the maintenance of the agroforestry mosaic, soil protection against erosion, the prevention of forest fires, and carbon capture and storage, the entities propose "studying the creation of a basic income or agricultural transition salary, which contributes to guaranteeing a dignified income for people who maintain agricultural activity and assume commitments to environmental conservation and agroecological transition".