“There is not the slightest doubt that Valdecañas is a ZEPA”, affirms Ecologistas en Acción

“There is not the slightest doubt about the declaration of the ZEPA of Valdecañas.” This is what Ecologistas en Acción maintains in a press release in which it «comes to the step -he assures- of the last ruse of the promoters of the illegal urbanization (Marina Isla Valdecañas SA and Golf Valdecañas SA), who affirm that the space does not it is protected”.

It must be remembered that these companies maintain that the Special Protection Area for Birds was never declared, since there is no resolution of the Governing Council of the Junta de Extremadura or publication in the Official Gazette of Extremadura that proves it. As announced TODAY on April 6, the lack of express resolution of the declaration was recognized by the regional government in a letter sent to the promoter. Later, President Guillermo Fernández Vara also admitted it publicly.

To Ecologists in Action, this affirmation of the Board seems “surprising”, since it considers that “the ZEPA was declared with all the requirements that were demanded at the time, as evidenced by the documents held by the Board.” The conservationist collective recalls that the promoters “have filed an appeal for reconsideration in which they interpret that the entire judicial process is vitiated by radical nullity, since it is based on a non-existent ZEPA.”

The attitude of the Board “is shocking”

“Nothing is further from reality,” declares Ecologists in Action, adding that it is “responding in court to these resources from the promoters,” and pointing out “how shocking it is that an environmental organization is, once again, the that defends the protected natural spaces that should be protected by the Junta de Extremadura, which now even sows doubts about its declaration ».

According to the association, “the ZEPA Embalse de Valdecañas was declared in 2003.” “Until four years later,” he explains, “when Law 42/2007 on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity was approved, there was no specific regulation regarding the ZEPA approval procedure. Indeed, after the approval of this law, the declaration of these areas did have a more regulated procedure, which included a period of public information and publication in the corresponding official bulletin.

«What was in force in 2003 -he continues- was Royal Decree 1997/1995, which establishes measures to help guarantee biodiversity through the conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora. This rule stated in article 3 that the European ecological network Natura 2000 will include the special protection areas for birds declared, where appropriate, by the corresponding autonomous communities, by virtue of the provisions of Directive 79/409/CEE , known as the bird directive’.

“How was it done then”

Consequently, the statement from the conservation association continues, «the ZEPA ES0000329 Embalse de Valdecañas, declared in April 2003, was declared in accordance with the usual practice at that time, that is, by means of the referral from the administration of Extremadura to the general administration of the State of the Normalized Data Form (FND) of said space duly completed, and the central Government was the one who later, in June of that same 2003, would officially communicate it to the European Commission».

«In short -Ecologistas en Acción ditch-, that until 2007 neither the community nor the basic state nor the regional regulations required that the declaration of a certain space as ZEPA be adopted by Agreement of the Governing Council, nor a specific procedure for this, beyond reflecting them in the forms established for this purpose. «This declaration -he abounds- was, in addition, endorsed by the inclusion of the LIC (Site of Community Interest) Márgenes de Valdecañas in the annex to the Decision of the European Commission, of July 19, 2006, by which it is adopted, of in accordance with Council Directive 92/43/EEC, the list of sites of community importance in the Mediterranean biogeographical region notified under number C(2006) 3261, as well as by the approval of the Order of December 11, 2012 by the that the Management Plan of the ZEPA Embalse de Valdecañas is approved”.

“Furthermore -adds the association-, decree 110/2015, which regulates the European ecological network Natura 2000 in Extremadura, provides that ‘the ZEPAs existing in Extremadura are those that appear in annex IV of this decree’, where ZEPA Embalse de Valdecañas appears. «So -concludes Ecologists in Action- that there is not the slightest doubt about the declaration of the ZEPA of Valdecañas». On the contrary, in his opinion, it is “before another chapter of manipulation and media noise promoted by the Junta de Extremadura and welcomed by the developer companies to try to save the illegal urbanization.”