Climate change protest in Palma, Mallorca

Extinction Rebellion held a gathering on Saturday. | Emilio Queirolo

Andrew EdePalma19/02/2023 13:28
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The Citizens' Assembly for the Climate in Mallorca is a Balearic government-backed initiative that was launched in October last year. Letters were sent to 10,000 people on the island. From this 10,000, the idea was to select sixty to take part in five information and discussion sessions between November and February. The key question to be addressed was - What does Mallorca need before 2030 in order to face up to the climate emergency effectively and fairly?

At the time, Dr. Pau de Vílchez Moragues of the University of the Balearic Islands public law faculty said that this was an historic milestone for Mallorca, as there hadn't previously been such an initiative at regional level in Spain. "The assembly will serve to bring the climate crisis closer to citizens, to find out what it implies and, above all, to find solutions to this threat together."

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The minister for the presidency, Mercedes Garrido, stated that "it will enable us to continue positioning the Balearic Islands as a pioneering region in the fight against climate change, as has already been the case with the waste and climate change laws".

The last of the five sessions was on Saturday. Fifty-six proposals were approved. These included limits on the number of visitors, vehicles and cruise ships. The university, which has been coordinating the sessions, is due to publish all the proposals on February 27, but it was noted after the Saturday session that a limitation on tourism had been one of the most highly rated. It is reckoned that 90% of these proposals will have the support of the Balearic government and the Council of Mallorca.

To coincide with the final session, Extinction Rebellion held a gathering in Palma's Plaça Espanya to voice support for the assembly and its deliberations and to criticise a lack of media coverage.