ARCHIVED - UN to investigate the deterioration of the Mar Menor this June
Spain could be found to have breached the Barcelona Convention in the degradation of the Mar Menor
Following the events of recent years in the Mar Menor, where the degradation of the marine environment in recent decades was highlighted in autumn 2019 by an episode of anoxia which resulted in millions of dead fish and crustaceans being washed up on the shore, the United Nations has announced that it is to study the situation in the lagoon in depth following a complaint presented by Ecologistas en Acción.
The issue will be the focus of attention at a meeting in Athens in June of the Barcelona Convention, a regional convention adopted in 1976 to prevent and abate pollution from ships, aircraft and land-based sources in the Mediterranean Sea, and the complaint lodged by Ecologistas en Acción was the first to be admitted for consideration from a non-governmental organization.
In investigating the deterioration of the Mar Menor, the Convention will be consulting with the Spanish government in order to establish the causes of the eutrophication of the lagoon, a step which the ecologists view as being of great importance in their campaign to prevent the runoff of harmful fertilizers from the farmland of the Campo de Cartagena.
The UN cannot impose punishments such as economic sanctions, but should it be found that Spain is guilty of breaching the Barcelona Convention in the case of the Mar Menor it would be a signal that the relevant state and regional authorities need to take action urgently, according to Ecologistas.