Environment

Balearic government declares climate emergency

Climate change protest in Palma in September. | Pere Bota

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma09/11/2019 16:17

Yesterday, the government approved the declaration of a climate emergency in the Balearics. The vice-president and minister for energy transition, Juan Pedro Yllanes, said that the whole of the administration is to be involved in this initiative. All ministries will therefore be making their contributions in the fight against climate change.

Yllanes explained that measures can’t immediately be adopted but will be developed during the course of the current administration (until 2023). High on the agenda are the use of renewable energy and the rapid deployment of provisions in Balearic legislation on waste and climate change.

The government is to have “active participation” at the Madrid climate summit next month.

Yllanes noted that, with “lamentable exceptions such as the president of the United States”, there is majority political acceptance that the planet is at “a point of no return” and that action is needed to slow down the change in climate.

The vice-president observed that the situation is particularly serious in the Balearics. The “fragility” of the islands places them at special risk.

The declaration, which doesn’t have a timetable as such or a financial evaluation, will promote alternatives for fuelling air and marine transport, the improvement of energy efficiency in the home, and agriculture that is both local and resilient.

The government plans to diversify agriculture, conserve marine ecosystems, adapt tourism infrastructure to climate change, and foster strategies for the circular economy.