Political decisions –be they at local, island, regional, or national level– have a strong impact on the state of the sea: They can either accelerate its conservation or worsen it. In 2023, elections will be held in the Balearic Islands at municipal, insular, and regional level. Taking advantage of this upcoming electoral cycle, we have initiated a process of collecting proposals so that political parties can incorporate them into their electoral programmes; proposals to improve and strengthen marine conservation policies.
‘Balearic citizens have many ideas for improving the marine environment of the Balearic Islands, but sometimes these proposals are not put on the table where they should be’, says Aniol Esteban, director of Marilles Foundation.
This advocacy process will consist of three phases:
- Collection of proposals. We are collecting proposals from organised citizens, organisations working in marine conservation, and forums, to draw up a document with specific proposals to improve the state of the sea and the Balearic coast.
- Presentation of the proposals to the political parties. At Marilles, we believe that marine conservation is a cross-cutting issue that should be common to all political parties, regardless of their politics. We will meet with each party so that they can include the proposals in their programmes.
- In early 2023, we will organise a series of debates to present the main policy proposals.
‘With this advocacy process, we have the opportunity to achieve important commitments to marine conservation on the part of the managers’, says Sandra Espeja, the driving force behind the Marilles advocacy process.
As a starting point, and with the intention of classifying the proposals by theme, hawse have drawn up a document to serve as a structure.
At the last Marine Forum, held in Ibiza 3 and 4 November, we presented our proposal for a Blue Pact in the Balearic Islands and invited the attendees to share their proposals. More than 70 people participated with 65 proposals related to various topics. Among them:
- Regulation of anchorages.
- Improvement of wastewater treatment and control of outfalls.
- Expansion of marine protected areas: 30x30 commitment and 10% of integral protection.
- Decrease in tourism.
- Coordination between municipalities.
- Reduction in waste and plastics.
- Environmental education.
