The Diplomat
The Verdemar-Ecologistas en Acción organization has filed a complaint with the Environmental Prosecutor’s Office for the landfills and works that Gibraltar is carrying out in the eastern part of the Rock, within the protected and Spanish waters of the Eastern Strait.
The complaint, filed on October 1 and which has been admitted for processing, indicates that these landfills pose a serious threat to marine biodiversity and the habitats protected by the Natura 2000 Network, in addition to putting a valuable archaeological heritage in Malaga at risk, according to the local newspaper Europa Sur on Monday.
The document sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office focuses on the Eastside project, which is developing a vast area on the eastern side, an area considered strategic both for its natural value and for its importance as a migratory corridor for numerous species, including the bottlenose dolphin and the loggerhead turtle. According to Verdemar, the project led by the business group The TNG Global Foundation involves the use of stone from a quarry owned by Votorantim Cimientos, in Casares, to continue reclaiming land from the sea in a protected natural environment.
In addition, as reported by this same newspaper on Sunday, Verdemar has asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs to take measures regarding the extraction of large quantities of stone from quarries in Casares (Málaga), which are being used for the Eastside expansion project in Gibraltar. The request was made during the meeting held last Wednesday in Madrid with the minister José Manuel Albares, to whom the environmental organization explained the environmental impacts that this practice has on the Sierra de la Utrera, an area of high ecological and archaeological value.
