We have all ever seen environmental protests against some type of construction that damages the environment and surely you have thought if they really serve for something. Year after year, we see how complaints are filed and it is not very clear how they end.
Do you want to know some examples about the result of some protests?
Complaints in defense of the environment
Normally, the complaints that are most made against projects of large companies have to do with the construction of urbanizations, roads, industries, etc. Some of the largest environmental organizations in the world such as Greenpeace, Ecologists in Action or WWF They launch protests and complaints with legal grounds to stop this type of works that threaten the integrity of the natural environment.
These environmental organizations only ask that public administrations carry out their work, controlling that the law is complied with. This should be done on its own and not have to involve an organization to do the work of the administrations. For example, Greenpeace allocates 50.000 euros per year to deal with complaints of this style. This is quite a large amount of money, considering that it is an organization that lives off donations.
The head of the WWF legal department, Rita Rodriguez, comments that they have no interest in pursuing infractions. "We go to court when it is the last resort that remains." Sometimes discouragement spreads. "It's desperate, there are times when you want to throw in the towel, go live and get out of trouble," says Ángeles Nieto, from Ecologistas en Acción, who thinks the problem is due to politics being introduced to everyone the scopes. "You get to absurd situations, of fait accompli, like when the courts decide that a work is illegal, but it is already in operation," says Mario Rodríguez.
Achievements achieved by environmental organizations
Despite the great efforts involved in stopping or paralyzing certain works that can damage the environment, these environmental organizations manage to do so. These are some of his achievements:
Coastal destruction
It involves the construction of a hotel in the Algarrobico area, in Carboneras (Almería), located in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park. The work is currently paralyzed thanks to a judge ordering it on February 22, 2006.
Environmentalists are convinced that the hotel will end up being demolished, since it has 16 sentences against it.
Fertiberia discharges
This situation is related to phosphogypsum discharges (toxic and slightly radioactive industrial waste) in the Rio Tinto marshes. The area affected by these spills there are about 1.200 hectares of marshes with more than 120 million tons of discharges.
The current state of this situation is the suspension of these by a ruling of the National Court since December 31, 2010. The company must restore the area.
Work without environmental impact statement
This work tries to make a doubling in the road M-501 and crosses a special protection zone for the birds of the rivers Cofio and Alberche.
The current status of this is its operation since 2008. It is denounced by Ecologists in Action, since it lacks an environmental impact statement.
Get it to stop before it starts
It is a Balboa refinery project located in the Sierra de San Jorge, Santos de Maimona (Badajoz). Pipeline from Huelva of about 200 kilometers. The environmental impact study has been carried out and the Ministry of the Environment is waiting to receive more information to carry out the environmental impact statement.
This is still a project, but it presents serious opposition in the place where you want to build. The problem is that the necessary oil pipeline would cross protected areas along the route between Huelva and Badajoz. Furthermore, the risk of an oil spill oil spill can be dire.
As you can see, environmental organizations manage to stop some works that would end up destroying our natural environment.