These are the 23 main environmental demands for 23J

The five Spanish conservation groups with the most followers launch proposals to achieve “a prosperous and sustainable future”

On the occasion of the July 23 electionsFriends of the Earth, Ecologistas en Acción, Greenpeace, SEO/Birdlife and WWF have presented the report ‘A program for Earth 2023’, which contains 23 lines of action with 118 proposals so that in the next legislature “nature is put at the center, social problems are addressed and the bases of a prosperous and sustainable future“.

According to environmental organizations, exceeding environmental limits is putting an increasingly large part of the population at risk, so urge to adopt energetic and immediate action that generates profound changes in the economy and society.

Organizations have warned that Spain, due to its geographical position and climatic characteristics, is in a situation of “particular vulnerability to climate change” and it is already suffering the ravages of extreme phenomena, such as “suffocating heat waves, prolonged droughts, raging fires and soil erosion that threatens its productivity.”

Below are the 4 blocks with their 23 lines of action, of which a proposal has been selected in each of them.

Conserve and protect nature

1. Preserving biodiversity, a necessity for Spain. Approve in the first 100 days of government a roadmap for compliance with the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework and the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, detailing all the measures to be approved or executed during the legislature.
2. Conservation of species in Spain, protecting our natural wealth. Prepare a joint roadmap between the Ministry and the autonomous communities to improve the conservation status of common species. It must define concrete actions and promote citizen participation and environmental education in the conservation of biodiversity.
3. Protect, conserve and manage 30% of the territory by 2030. Reverse the situation of degradation of the national parks of Doñana and Daimiel, ensuring their recovery of water and biodiversity, and study, together with the autonomous communities, the designation as national parks of the Chinijo Archipelago in Lanzarote, the Mar de las Calmas on the island of El Hierro and the Steppes of Monegros.
4. Sea protection. Provide the necessary resources to comply with the commitments to protect 30% of the marine surface in Spanish waters, continuing the established roadmap and actively promoting dialogue and participation with scientists and society in the designation of these areas .
5. Protection and effective management of forest ecosystems. Develop and approve a State Strategy for the Comprehensive Prevention of Forest Fires, which must involve and coordinate all sectoral policies and provide itself with the necessary tools: clear and ambitious objectives, schedule, budget, indicators and form of follow-up.
6. Restoration of Nature. Support the urgent adoption of an ambitious and appropriate EU Nature Restoration regulation to address the twin climate and biodiversity crises.

fight against climate change

1. More ambition against climate change. Establish in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) greenhouse gas emission reduction targets of at least 55% in 2030 compared to 1990, and decarbonization in 2040, so as not to exceed the warming limit of 1 .5ºC.
2. Saving and democratization of energy. Democratize the energy system to put an end to the windfall benefits of large energy companies with effective measures that allow citizens to take a proactive role, promoting community energy, as dictated by European directives, as well as curbing the practices of electrical oligopoly to promote a fair price for energy and the entry of new actors and innovative, more democratic models.
3. Fair and sustainable renewables for the territory and nature. Seek social consensus in the deployment of renewable energies with the active participation of local communities. Promote responsible political management and create a legal framework that obliges promoters and public administrations to carry out consultation with all the actors involved, offering clear rules that guarantee the minimization of environmental impact and the maximization of social benefits.
4. Reduce mobility and transportation. Approval of a law that establishes the obligation to achieve climate neutrality in the transport-mobility sector in 2040, with intermediate objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions for 2030 and 2035 in relation to the levels existing in 1990. It must consider measures that reduce mobility in the most problematic means, such as the delimitation of low emission zones in cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants or the suppression of short flights with rail alternatives.

More democratic and ecological economy

1. Water: protect and manage a limited resource. Reduce the use of water for irrigation by reducing intensive production and prioritizing crops of socio-environmental value. Establish a moratorium on new irrigation and downward revision of water concessions for modernized irrigation.
2. Changing the predominant agrarian model: just transition towards agroecology. It is urgent to develop a state strategy for a just agroecological transition towards multifunctional, rainfed and extensive agricultural systems, and guarantee fair prices and decent working conditions, promoting family farming and local consumption.
3. More fish for the sea and fishing. Adequately endow the National Plan for the Reduction of Accidental Captures in Fishing Activity with resources, including sharks, rays and chimaeras; and ensuring effective participation of the fishing sector, experts and representatives of civil society.
4. An urbanism detached from speculation and adapted to climate change. Approve the regulations that develop the Law on Land and Urban Regeneration, and other mechanisms that limit the transformation of land from rural to urban, ensuring the possibility that urban centers located in protected areas can meet their housing needs and basic facilities.
5. Respect the land and the territory. Prepare a National Plan to reduce the use of mineral resources, based on a study of current and prospective consumption linked to different demand scenarios and analyzing potential sources to understand their socio-environmental implications.
6. Economy and employment for biodiversity and the common good. Promote aid plans for workers in sectors in transformation, including basic income and training in new sustainable employment niches.
7. More global and ecological justice. At the end of the legislature, place the tax burden and green taxation at the average for the euro area (from 38.7% to 42.2% and from 1.8% to 2.4% of GDP, respectively), put a stop to to tax evasion and avoidance of large groups and estates and to permanently tax extraordinary profits.
8. Environmental democracy and governance. Maintain an environmental vice presidency in the Government, which has the power and resources necessary to effectively influence all government policies and decisions.

A healthy life

1. Guarantee the right to clean air. Promote an ambitious review of the air quality regulations, which establishes the WHO air quality standards as new limit values ​​to be reached by 2030, including limit values ​​for the protection of health and vegetation for tropospheric ozone, the contaminant that affects more population and territory in the Spanish State.
2. A healthy, sustainable and accessible diet. Guarantee access to healthy and sustainable food, based on agroecological products, implementing differentiated taxation policies for organic products, establishing specific aid for vulnerable populations.
3. Stop chemical contamination. Support the proposal of the European Commission for a Regulation for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides, establishing a binding reduction of at least 50% both in use and in risk of pesticides (phytosanitary products), based on criteria based on the toxicology of each one. of these substances.
4. More resources with zero waste. Approve without delay the Waste Prevention Plan established by law, including measures to move towards the elimination of single-use products with a strong environmental impact, to combat the toxicity of products by implementing the ban on phthalates and bisphenol A in packaging, especially food.
5. And happiness, for when? (as a corollary). Develop health and environmental plans to combat the deficit of nature, ‘eco anxiety’ and loneliness, strengthening public health with mental health and health of nature plans in primary care centers.

Reference report: https://seo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Programa-tierra-2023.pdf