Margalida Ramis and Amadeu Corbera of GOB. | Francesca Marí

TW

The president of environmentalists GOB, Amadeu Corbera, said yesterday that the current administration has failed to meet expectations. He believes that there has been a lack of dialogue over the past four years and that the government has lacked conviction.

There is, in his view, an "ecological emergency" but that this has not been a fundamental issue for Balearics policy. The tourist tax was a welcome innovation, but GOB have wanted revenue to be invested wholly in specific environmental projects.

The government has maintained policies which represent a continuation of the "failed model" for construction, tourism and road infrastructure. These are leading to "land, environmental and climate breakdown".

Corbera recognised that the government has made efforts but that it has not done enough in respect of, for instance, the number of tourism places. Positive developments have been the climate change legislation, the decision to close the Es Murterar power station, the declaration of the Es Trenc Nature Park, the posidonia sea grass decree, the broadening of bird protection zones and the increase in the size of the Cabrera National Park.

Spokesperson Margalida Ramis added that GOB support the mayor of Palma, Antoni Noguera, who faces legal challenges regarding the prohibition of apartment holiday rentals. The town hall, she noted, had introduced this ban following approval of a popular legislative initiative proposed by fifteen associations and with over 6,000 residents' signatures.