2023-05-12 02:14:44
Greenpeace has demanded from the Spanish political formations a “radical” change in the “devastating” policies that, as the organization denounces, have repercussions on nature, health and social cohesion, in view of the municipal and regional elections that will take place on the 28th of May. For this reason, it has released a video that, with the slogan ‘Chimpún, it’s over’, wants to alert citizens and politicians of the current situation.
On the occasion of the start of this electoral campaign in the early hours of May 12, the NGO presented a series of proposals this Thursday in Madrid to transform municipalities into “more sustainable, more livable and with more rights” spaces in favor of citizens and nature. In addition, he recalled that this May 12 is the day on which the natural resources available for the entire year will have been exhausted in Spain.
“Everything has a limit, except our capacity and desire to change what doesn’t work to start building a livable and happy future. Science tells us that the planet is sick. This is the legacy that we will leave to the next generations and that already we are suffering,” said the executive director of Greenpeace Spain, Eva Saldaña, at the press conference.
Given the Spanish ecological footprint -so far this year, it states that the equivalent of the production of 2.8 planets has been spent-, Greenpeace has indicated that the main cause is the current “devouring” socioeconomic model that has caused the decrease in biodiversity, the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and greater stress on the availability of water, food and energy.
For this reason, it has called on the political parties for “urgent and transformative” action from the municipalities in four areas. In the first place, in the current context of drought and fires, they are committed to a remunicipalization of water management, improvement of the service, greater savings, the fight against fraud, the suspension of licenses for macro-farms and a commitment to the Milan Pact, in addition to implement preventive and emergency plans against forest fires.
“In the end, it is the neighbor who pays first with his health and then with money to pay the fines that are imposed from Europe,” said the spokesperson for the Stop Industrial Livestock Coordinator, Inma Lozano.
Protect soils and forests from desertification and fires
To these proposals, they have added the need to protect soils and forests from desertification and forest fires, as well as the obligation to stop the advance of industrial livestock and its macro-farms that affect the quality of life of citizens.
The second point revolves around housing, which, according to Greenpeace, is a right and must be of quality, closely related to the fight against climate change and energy poverty. Thus, they see it as a priority to increase the quantity and quality of green spaces in the municipalities and the rehabilitation of homes and buildings, prioritizing vulnerable people.
“It is a priority to put the work and investment at the service of community development so that people lead this transformation of homes in energy improvement using Next Generation funds and taking advantage to generate energy autonomy”, added the coordinator of the Assertos Program, Daniel Millor .
The third axis revolves around mobility, for which reason they have insisted on the importance of Low Emission Zones, basic local services, accessible public transport through single transport passes, bicycle paths, pedestrian zones and green and shaded areas. . “We are in a situation of absolute contamination in which there are more premature deaths than we can bear,” warned the president of Ruedas Redondas, José Luis Martín.
Finally, in the economic field, both Greenpeace and the representatives of other organizations present have agreed to bet on a “local and regenerative” economy. “We must stop thinking of an increasingly concentrated capitalist economy and that words such as regeneration and democracy, short circuits of economy, renewable energy are increasingly common and more familiar when it comes to talking about the economy”, pointed out ECOOO Revolución Solar Genevieve Lopez.
In addition, the organizing organizations have asked to promote the creation of energy communities and cooperatives, as well as to promote responsible public purchasing, local commerce, the creation of spaces for innovation and the regeneration of the local fabric.
Response of political formations
This meeting was also attended by representatives of the main political parties, such as the deputy in the Madrid Assembly for More Madrid, Hector Tejero, for whom “there is no greater challenge than the climate crisis” and added that, in In the last four years, the policies of its formation have focused on the “just, social and territorial” ecological transition.
For his part, the spokesman for the Environment of the Popular Party, Vicente Martínez, has stressed the need to pay attention to the regression of the coasts, an issue “with many conflicting interests” and which invites joint work between political forces and environmental initiatives. “We conceive the circular economy in a transversal way, which is why in our political party it has been included in the economic field and not only in the environmental one” he has pointed out.
Meanwhile, the socialist and secretary of Just Ecological Transition and Preservation of Biodiversity, Marc Pons, has influenced the complexity of the situation due to “crossed interests”. However, he has reiterated the need to fight for the ecological and energy transition from perseverance and taking into account the cities without which “it would not be possible”.
For Unidas Podemos, as the Secretary of Civil and State Society and member of the party’s executive, Alejandro Zapico, has pointed out, the planet must be conceived as “a good of life, not of a market”.
In the same way, he has warned of the problem that tourist homes represent, as well as the importance of betting on the economy and local commerce as an opportunity for the creation of “quality employment”.
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