Spanish beaches with black flags

Spanish Coastline has more than 300 black flags

Ecologists in Action, an Ecological group who have been carrying out a survey of the Spanish coastline for over a decade, say that this year they have identified more than 300 black flags dotted around the Spanish coastline.

The black flags refer to points where contamination of the coastline is particularly bad or where the coastline has been damaged irreversibly. They also show points where projects which have not been carried out yet would damage the coastline.

In order to carry out their survey Ecologists in Action have used information provided by diverse universities, the Oceanographic Institute and other Environmental Agencies as well as information provided by the Spanish Environment Ministry.
The results of this year´s survey which were presented in the group´s headquarters in Madrid highlight the unsustainable development of the Spanish coastline with regards to construction, fishing and tourism. Theo Oberhuber, the Coordinator of Ecologists in Action, says that now the Spanish coastline is facing an important crisis which will have significant consequences for the Spanish economy.

He spoke about the constant degradation of the Spanish coastline which would put at risk the activity of these three important sectors of the economy. He said there would be serious economic, social and environmental consequences due to the intense activity in these sectors at the moment.

The results of the survey award 129 black flags and 162 black spots to the Mediterranean, 73 flags and 32 black spots to the Cantabrican coast, 36 black flags and 28 black spots to the Canary Islands, 36 black flags and 54 black spots to the Balearic Islands and 21 black flags and 31 black spots to the Golf of Cadiz.
The Mediterranean coast was identified as the most contaminated and the most damaged by the denaturalization of its coastline. Jorge Sáez, the spokesperson for Ecologists in Action, said that none of the regions on the Spanish Mediterranean filtered their waste water sufficiently.

The survey also showed that although the Mediterranean was the most contaminated the Golf of Cadiz and Cantabrican coast were also more contaminated now than they had been in the past decade. Jorge Sáez said that regional authorities on the Cantabrican coast had used its vast capacity to hide waste where nobody would detect it.

According to figures from the UN over the last decade building projects in Galicia (800,000 houses have been built), and in Asturias (30,000 houses) and new housing projects such as the one in the nature reserve of Urdaibai in the Basque Country all threaten coastal ecosystems in these areas.

The areas most seriously affected according to this survey are Murcia (32 flags and 68 black spots); Mallorca (36 flags and 54 black spots); Asturias (28 flags and 18 black spots); Cadiz (16 flags and 24 black spots) and Malaga (12 flags and 24 black spots). However, Huelva which has only 5 flags and 7 black spots is the worst case of industrial contamination in the whole of Europe according to Sáez

Related: Best beaches in Spain

Latest figures for foreign tourism in Spain

Number of foreign tourists visiting Spain this year increases

The sun and beaches continue to attract foreign tourists to Spain. In the first 6 months of this year the number of foreign tourists visiting Spain went up by 2.6% to 26.6 million compared to figures for the same period last year.

According to the Survey on the Movement of Tourists published today by the Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Commerce Spain received 5.7 million foreign tourists which is 0.7% less than for the same month in 2007.

Catalonia is the most popular destination for foreign tourists and received 6.6 million tourists between January and June this year which accounts for 24.8% of the total followed by the Canary Islands which received 4.7 million tourists (15.6% of the total). Andalucia was in third place with 3.7 million foreign tourists (14.1% of the total). The Comunidad Valenciana received 2.6 million foreign tourists (10.1% of the total) and the Comiunidad de Madrid received 2.3 million foreign tourists (8.7% of the total).

The survey found that 7.3 million tourists were from the United Kingdom (27.5% of the total) which is 1% more than for the same period last year. Germany is in second place with 4.7 million of its citizens visiting Spain during the first 6 months of this year which is 2.8% more than for the same period last year. French visitors numbered 3.6 million and Italians visiting Spain number 1.5 million.

Out of all the foreign tourists visiting Spain this year between January and June 18.4 million tourists visited independently (7% more than for the same period last year) and the number of tourists visiting Spain which were not on package tours continued to decrease. In fact the number of tourists coming on package tours went down by 6.8% during this period.

Arriving by air continued to be the most popular form of travel with 20.9 million tourists arriving this way (78.5% of the total) an increase of 2.8%. The preferred type of accommodation continues to be hotels (65.9% of the total) which is an increase of 3.8% while the number of people not staying hotels remained the same at 8.8 million which is the same as 2007.

Number of non-smoking bars and restaurants drops

Number of bars and restaurants where smoking is prohibited has gone down in Spain

After carrying out a survey on bars and restaurants where smoking is banned in Spain the National Committee for the prevention of Tobacco Addiction (CNPT) has discovered that the number of premises where smoking is prohibited has gone down to 26% compared to 38% last year.

According to this organisation the Anti-tobacco Law which came into effect on 1st January 2006 urgently needs reforming as at present it ´is not worth the paper it is written on´ and in most towns and villages in Spain it is impossible to find a bar or restaurant where smoking is prohibited. The CNPT advocates a total ban on smoking in bars and restaurants like in other EU states such as the United Kingdom, Italy and Ireland.

A spokesperson for the CNPT said that a lot of private companies and Spanish Universities are responsible for infringing the anti-tobacco law.

The Committee has found that 95% of restaurants less than 100 m2 are still full of smoke, sometimes more than before the anti-tobacco laws came into effect and more than 60% of those over 100 m2 do not protect non-smokers from smoke.

According to María Ángeles Planchuelo, the president of the CNPT, the best solution would be for the central government to reinforce the present law and make it less ambiguous. If this is not possible then the CNPT believes that regional authorities in Spain should impose restrictions and make improvements to the law.

Aragon has taken the lead in this respect by initiating a process of perfecting the anti tobacco legislation which involves all sectors of society including the main trade unions, the hotel sector and consumer organisations. The Health Services of Catalonia, Navarra and Andalucía have also expressed their support for independent intervention.

The Committee said that permissiveness in the anti-tobacco law would eventually cost the lives of 800,000 restaurant workers.

Barcelona HQ of new Mediterranean Union

Paris summit approves the creation of a Mediterranean Union

At the conclusion of the Paris summit meeting yesterday Nicolas Sarkozy announced the approval of the creation of a Mediterranean Union (UPM) which will be a new organization aimed at strengthening cooperation between the EU and its southern Mediterranean neighbours.

At the end of the summit meeting between 42 heads of state from the EU and the Mediterranean region Sarkozy is quoted as saying "We had all dreamed of this and now the UPM is a reality’.

It is hoped that the creation of the UPM will promote cooperation between the two shores of the Mediterranean by setting up permanent mechanisms which will ensure that projects aimed at regional integration are carried out. Six initial projects have already been put forward and approved.

The Foreign ministers of the 42 countries attending the Paris summit will meet again in November this year to reach an agreement on the location of the headquarters of the Permanent Secretary for the UPM and to define in more detail the financing of this new organization.

Miguel Ángel Moratinos, the Spanish Foreign Minister has already confirmed that Spain will present an official proposal for Barcelona to be the base for the UPM Permanent Secretariat. Moratinos said that he believed that Barcelona is an excellent choice that meets all the criteria and has all the ‘historic legitimacy’ required. Paris has already ruled itself out of being the headquarters although Malta and Tunisia remain hopeful candidates.

The Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, spoke of the creation of the UPM as a ‘giant step’ that opens a new page in European-Mediterranean cooperation. He also said that it would bring more stability and peace to the Mediterranean region.

José Manuel Durao Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said that the UPM would ‘open the way to authentic regional cooperation’. He also recognized that although the Mediterranean is a critically important region for Europe, where unfortunately there are numerous conflicts, it is also promising.

The UPM will establish Permanent structures including a rotating co-presidency which will be shared between European and the Mediterranean countries, a permanent secretary in charge of public and private finance and the supervision of projects.

Unemployment to reach new peak in Spain

Spain predicted to have the highest unemployment out of all OECD countries by 2009

The 10.7% unemployment rate predicted next year in Spain will place it at the top of the list of OCDE countries with regards to the number of unemployed in these countries.

This prediction, included in the annual report on Employment Prospects by the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development (OCDE), is based on the slowdown in the creation of new jobs and is quite far from the average 6% unemployment rate for the rest of the OCDE countries.

It is expected that the unemployment rate will reach 9.7% this year (2.2 million people) and will rise to 2.5 million next year which is above the rate in Turkey, predicted to have an unemployment rate of 10.5% in 2009. In fact, together with Ireland, unemployment is expected to rise significantly in Spain in 2008.
Slovakia comes immediately after Turkey in terms of the number of unemployed in relation to the active population (9.6%) followed by Portugal (7.9%), Greece (7.7%), France (7.6%), Hungry (7.6%), Germany (7.4%) and Belgium (7.2%).

On the other hand Holland with an unemployment rate of 2.7% followed by Norway (2.8%), South Korea (3.1%), Mexico (3.6%), Denmark (3.7%), Japan (3.8%), Switzerland (3.8%) and New Zealand (3.8%) are all at the opposite end of the list.

In global terms the authors of the study calculate that this year there will be a million more unemployed in all the 30 countries in the OCDE, to which another 2 million will be added in 2009. These figures can be understood in relation to the development of the US economy where the unemployment rate is predicted to rise above the 4.6% registered last year (7.1 million) to 6.1% in 2009 (9.5 million).

The biggest increases in the unemployment rate apart from Spain will be in Iceland, Ireland and Turkey while it is expected that it will go down in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. The OCDE predicts that the creation of new jobs will slowdown from 1.5% last year to 0.7% this year and will reduce even further to 0.5% in 2009.
The study also found that various countries would experience a net destruction of jobs (Hungary, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand and the US) while Spain and Ireland would experience a drop of more than two percentage points. In Spain job creation will go down from 3.1% last year to 0.7% this year and to just 0.3% in 2009. However, this will be countered by changes in the number of unemployed in relation to the number of the active population which will drop from 2.3% to 1.5%.

The report also showed that the difference in employment levels between men and women has gone down by 1.5% over the last 10 years while no change has been registered in countries like the US or Finland over the same period.

Invasion of seagulls in Cadiz

The Environmental Office for the Cadiz local government has decided to take decisive action against the growing numbers of seagulls in the city and its surrounding areas. The progressive increase in the population of seagulls in the bay of Cadiz and areas such as beaches, rubbish tips and fishing ports as well as other urban zones mean that these birds are now considered to be a menace. The last time a count of the seagull population was made 4000 pairs were recorded.

The seagulls are now considered to be a problem due to damage to buildings as well as their negative effect on some species of indigenous plants and some species of animals. The first problems were recorded five years ago and the survival and reproduction rate of this particular type of seagull mean that they now constitute a serious problem for the authorities.

In just a few years the population of seagulls has almost tripled and there are now estimated to be thousands of these birds in Cadiz. The local government has received complaints from several districts regarding the problems that they are causing.
Sometimes the seagulls are aggressive in their search for food and have been known to attack school playgrounds.

Measures taken against the massive increase in seagulls include the removal of nests, the destruction of eggs (almost 15,000 have been destroyed so far) and even the shooting of seagulls in their favourite feeding grounds such as the rubbish tips. Seagulls have also been culled in urban areas of Cadiz such La Línea, Los Barrios and Algeciras. Now there are plans to carry out a study to see whether these measures have been effective in reducing the population of seagulls.