By Emma Randle
A new report published this week by a UK environmental action group has identified “serious threats” to the Sorbas nature park, backing residents’ claims that the environment is being destroyed by overexploitation.
Researchers found “the Río de Aguas at dangerously low levels, species on the edge of survival, EU priority habitats close to extinction and EU legislation ignored”.
The New Environmentalist Society spent more than a year compiling the report on the nature park, which is one of the most important gypsum landscapes in the world and defined as a “biodiversity hotspot” for its unique ecosystems and many protected species of plant and wildlife.
Among the “serious threats” endangering the park it details agriculture, water overexploitation, infrastructure development and gypsum quarries, confirming residents’ fears that nearby intensive olive farms are contributing to the reduction of their natural water supply.
