The 2024 Black Flags report was published on Wednesday, June 12. Ekologistak Martxan annually grants a black flag in Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia for pollution and mismanagement. In the case of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve and the Santa Clara Island of San Sebastián, for the second consecutive year.

The Guggenheim project that the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and its municipalities are carrying out in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve has received a black flag for the pollution it produces in Gernika and Murueta. According to the Banderas Negras report, three are the main reasons: the lack of transparency in project information, the rejection of the local population and the high cost to pay. Neighbours and environmental groups from Gernika and Murueta have on many occasions requested information on the project from the Government and local authorities, but all the information they have received has been made possible by the media. Citizens and environmental groups have held numerous demonstrations and have come to the courts in defence of the Biosphere Reserve. Although the total cost of the project is not clear, the architectural studio Cooper Roberston in New York has placed the cost around 127 million, without taking into account soil decontamination. The Member says that she wants to finance with public money the purchase and decontamination of the land needed for the project, but the report points out that these land should already be public, as the concession granted to the shipyards would be completed.

Ekologistak Martxan has also underlined the pollution caused by the macrofarm which has been launched 3.6 miles northeast of the port of Getaria. The macro-farm for the fattening of bluefin tuna and brown tuna is the current one, but the association notes that “more facilities are very likely to be carried out in the coming years.” The macro-farm means “the privatisation of common natural resources and the provision of marine resources to private interests”, leaving aside the conservation of the environment.

The Lamiako marsh in Leioa is the only marsh area left in the Nervión estuary. On 26 June 2020 the City of Leioa approved the reconstruction project of the area. The report points out that with this agreement the City Hall intended to bury the subway lines from Leioa to Lamia, create a large green area next to the estuary and reshape the mouth of the Gobela River with a new design. According to the report, the town hall and the neighbors agreed that the area that should belong to the marsh “has been reduced to less than half to build one of the many parks of Leioa”, thus failing to comply with the agreement and the law.

The Island of Santa Clara of San Sebastian has received a black flag for the second consecutive year, as the growing turistification “harms the enclave and the native fauna and flora”, according to Ekologistak Martxan. The report recalls that the construction of the sculptural work Hondalea on the island caused the breakage of the interior and flysch of the lighthouse house, and the dumping of tons of land in the adjacent prairie: “It affected the habitat of some of the island’s flagship bird species and endemism.” Until 2022 the island could only be visited in summer, but from 2023 the island began to receive tourists in spring with the intention of exploiting it for international tourism.

Proposed solutions

Faced with these problems, solutions are proposed for each case. In the case of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, they propose that the project be abandoned and that “a process of reflection on what the region needs and a serious socio-economic plan be drawn up” to take into account the interests of citizens and the defense of the environment.

In the case of the macro-farm of Getaria, they propose the creation of Protected Marine Spaces, in the short and medium term, which can contribute to the “sustainable social, cultural and economic development of coastal peoples” and the re-enhancement of local fisheries cofradías.

In the case of the marshes of Lamiako in Leioa, they ask that the law not be breached and that the whole of the flood or intertidal area “be used to recover the marsh”.

As for the island of Santa Clara in San Sebastian, the solutions have been divided into three points: Compliance with the criteria of calendar, capacity, times and limitations committed by the City Hall of Donostia-San Sebastián and the company promoting the Arena, the protection and recovery of the nature of the island and the abandonment of guided visits to the island during the nesting of seabirds.