Archive for the ‘Ecology in spain’ Category

The worldwide Environmental Justice Atlas (Spain)

Monday, April 7th, 2014

map-eco-issuesI have just come across this very interesting interactive map of environmental issues in Spain. Right now the map pinpoints 35 conflicts around the country that are of concern. Issues such as the mega-infrastructure projects of the Ciudad Real airport and Ports, to utility projects such as those over high tension electricity lines, incinerators and conflicts driven by tourism and its related infrastructure.

The problems over tourism and recreation projects are for me very interesting especially in Andalucia (as thats where I am located.) Two projects in particular, the Valdevaqueros hotel and housing project in Tarifa and the proposed government sell off of the enormous Almoraima estate whose land connects to the stunning natural park of Alcornocales (The largest cork forest in the world) Other problems are a waste incineration plant in Cordoba and in Huelva, the industrial chemical processing plant.

The map has a lot of background information about these projects and the articles are well researched and written. The map is not restricted to Spain and allows users to browse the world’s environmental conflicts, by country, commodity, company involved and type of conflict. I’m sure this map will get a lot bigger and in depth as more data gets added….

Click here to go to the Spain Interactive map

And join the discussion about the subject over at the Iberianature Forum

Aznalcóllar and the Cretaceous extinction

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Researchers from the University of Granada have compared the disaster caused by the  infamous Aznalcóllar spillage in the Doñana National Park in Andalusia 11 years ago with the biggest species extinction known to date during the Cretaceous period (65 million years ago). The aim of comparing this seemingly disparate pair of disaster events is to look at how ecosystems recover following mass extinctions. Read more