Ekologistak Martxan de Gipuzkoa delivers the 'Atila Prize' to Irun City Hall for putting Txingudi at risk
- On the occasion of World Environment Day, Ekologistak Martxan Gipuzkoa, like every year, has awarded the Atila Prize to those who have contributed most to the destruction of the environment in Gipuzkoa. In the 2021 edition the winner was the City Hall of Irun due to the increased urban pressure on the Bidasoa-Txingudi estuary, risking the conservation objectives of the protected natural space of Txingudi.
5 June is World Environment Day since the United Nations General Assembly established it in 1972 with the aim of promoting global action to raise awareness and protect the environment. From Hungarian King Atila, who conquered half of Europe in the first half of the fifth century, it is said that it was so devastating that his horse trampled the earth and no longer grew grass.
In 2021, Ekologistak Martxan gave the City Hall of Irun the 'Atila Prize' which competed between the institutions and authorities that exacerbate the environmental crisis with their decisions, by increasing the urban pressure on the Bidasoa-Txingudi estuary, jeopardizing the conservation objectives of the protected natural space of Txingudi. According to the ecologists in a note, "the City of Irun is carrying out and intends to carry out in the future urban projects that will increase urban pressure on a very sensitive area that will irreversibly destroy the Bidasoa estuary".
They reported that on 30 April last, the Irun City Hall adopted an agreement with the company Pasquier Recondo in which it undertook to recalify the land that this company has in Irun. As a result, Pasquier Recondo is preparing to sell to a real estate developer the 200 housing units and 245 parking spaces that have existed so far on industrial land: "This soil is part of Area IBA 037, Important Bird Conservation and Biodiversity Area, and it is limited by the ZEC Txingudi Bidasoa, the ZEPA Txingudi and the Wetland of International Importance RAMSAR Txdi," says Ekologistak Martinguan.
The two habitats of Txingudi Bidasoa that limit the land to be recalified for the construction of dwellings are already in an inadequate state of conservation in all the evaluated parameters, so the construction of this number of dwellings and parking spaces in the place would represent an irreversible ecological damage. Although the City of Irun justifies the decision not only by saying that it is not bad, but that it is an operation to improve and recover the area.
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