The tourist industry wants more money. It doesn't care what to destroy in return. The Mayor of San Sebastian has announced that he wants to add guided tours to promote the Hondalea sculpture on the island of Santa Clara. Between 1 and 16 April they want to bring the necessary tourists to the island. Thus, once the summer season has stabilized, the City Hall also intends to expand the supply throughout the year, on demand. In view of this situation, the four groups that signed this document wish to denounce through this agreement that the City Council breaks the agreements on the limitation of visits on the island, once again warning that the tourist use generated on the island through the Hondalea installation has negative effects on the ecological and social environment of Santa Clara.
In 2019 and 2020, faced with Hondalea’s intervention in the lighthouse of the island, the four signatories held various meetings with the members of the municipal government, as well as with the members of the company promoting the sculpture. The objective of these meetings was to limit the expansion of tourist activity on the island and to reduce the negative impact of this infrastructure on the ecosystem, the two, the historical heritage and the use that the Donostiarras have given to the island. In fact, the time limits, the timetable and the number of visitors, as well as the reduction in the services and infrastructures associated with visits to the island were on the table.
Four groups want to denounce that with this decision the city council breaks the agreements on the limitation of visits on the island
Today, given the news of the enlargement of the calendar of visits, we see that what was agreed two years ago is unilaterally broken. Again, there is a commitment to a greater influx of visitors to the island, leaving more space every day to the tourist dynamics that threatens the natural spaces of the city.
The island is the house of seabirds, a time when its inhabitants nest on the ground during the month of April. A week of nesting, a month of incubation and a month and a half of childcare. All in a 5.4 hectare plot. It also contains species protected by Santa Clara, such as the brezo Frankenia Leavis, the island lizard (Podarcis liolepis), the wooded cormorant (Phalacrocorax aristotelis), the glossy seagull (Larus fuscus) and the Atlantic seagull (Larus marinus). In addition, a large colony of yellow seagull, Larus michahellis, lives and reproduces in this enclave.
According to the promoters, Hondalea of Cristina Iglesias, located in the lighthouse of the island, is “a symbol of the defense of ecological reasons and the preservation of the environment”. Far from reality, we can add artistic intervention to the list of threats that have historically affected the ecosystem of Santa Clara. Furthermore, the installation is discriminatory and violates the accessibility law for people with reduced mobility. In addition, it will need new rescue infrastructures to respond to health emergencies in the event of summer's opening outside the official season.
Beyond the negative effects on the Santa Clara ecosystem, Hondalea is a large-scale operation geared to the tourist machinery of San Sebastián
Beyond the negative effects on the island ecosystem, Hondalea is a large-scale operation geared to the tourist machinery of San Sebastian to satisfy the private interests of the tourism business. One more gear, to turn the sculpture of the lighthouse into a new tourist attraction, in a city where the tourist processes make the lives of the neighbors more and more precarious.
Although initially Hondalea was announced as a gift from Cristina Iglesias to the Donostiarras, it started with an initial budget of 1.5 million euros. This budget, which gradually reached 5 million public euros paid by the taxpayers of San Sebastian, led the prosecution to open a study. When the construction was announced, the developers assured that the intervention in the lighthouse would not affect the natural environment of the island, but would be used to promote the natural values of the island. These are precisely the areas that are still under threat today.
Therefore, we urge the municipal government to:
- Comply with the agreements with associations on seasons, forums, schedules, endowments, expansion of new services and infrastructure on the island.
- Avoid visits to the island during spring, a time of nesting of seabirds on the ground.
- Protection and restoration of the nature of Santa Clara.
Platform with neighbors, Haritzalde, Eguzki, Parkea Bizirik.
Bidali zure iritzi artikuluak iritzia@argia.eus helbide elektronikora
ARGIAk ez du zertan bat etorri artikuluen edukiarekin. Idatzien gehienezko luzera 4.500 karakterekoa da (espazioak barne). Idazkera aldetik gutxieneko zuzentasun bat beharrezkoa da: batetik, ARGIAk ezin du hartu zuzenketa sakona egiteko lanik; bestetik, egitekotan edukia nahi gabe aldatzeko arriskua dago. ARGIAk azaleko zuzenketak edo moldaketak egingo dizkie artikuluei, behar izanez gero.
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