BRITAIN'S RSPB BACKS MOVE TO STOP THE SON BOSC GOLF COURSE PROJECT

PALMA
THE Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has waded into the battle to stop the controversial Son Bosc golf course being built next to the Albufera Natural Park on the outskirts of Alcudia.

The RSPB is a British charitable organisation which works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment through public awareness campaigns, petitions and through the operation of nature reserves throughout the United Kingdom, has written to the President of the Balearics, Francesc Antich and the Minister for Environment and Transport, Gabriel Vicens, expressing its support for the campaign to block the golf course project.

According to Tim Stowe, the Director of the RSPB's International Operations Department, the construction of the golf course would “affect all Europeans.” The Albufera Natural Park is considered by bird watcher and earth scientists as one of the most important areas of wetland in Europe and, apart from attracting bird watchers from all over the continent, is also used as a research centre by scientists and Cambridge and Oxford universities.

In the letter Stowe expressed the desire of the RSPB, whose patron is Queen Elizabeth, that the Son Bosc estate becomes included in the natural park and therefore protected from any further development.

Apparently, in 2003, the estate was incorporated into the park but then, according to Stowe, withdrawn by the Jaume Matas-led government.
In the letter, Stowe also stressed the natural importance of the Son Bosc estate and warned that its development would significantly damage the environmental and ecological balance in the area.