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Nabarralde | Nabarra Papers
Important
Victory on the
Untxin Marsh
Mila
Parot Zubimendi.
If you ever visit
Urruña and walk along the trail at the edge of the Untxin
marsh you'll be fascinated by the sights and sounds and solitude.
With hundreds of birds calling and chattering as they feed along
the mudflats, the marshland plants in the wind, one can sense
what it must have been like if Untxin had been developed.
We are fortunate
to still have politicians who care about the environment and
are willing to challenge those who try to destroy it in pursuit
of economic benefits.
The political group
Herritarrak (citizens) has defeated the local government scheme
of urbanization in the Untxin marsh in Urruña, Lapurdi,
and convinced a Pau court to instead reboke the construction
permit, thus leaving the marsh unharmed.
After three years
in a nasty legal battle, victims of blackmail and threats, a
group of Herritarrak councillors have won a litigation against
the mayor of Urruña, Daniel Poulou, in a case involving
the construction of attached houses in the area known as Putilenia
in Untxin.
This week an appeals
court slammed the door on Polou's attempt to obtain review of
a court decision that reboked the construction license and paralyzed
the project.
The Legal Battle
The conflict began
in March 1996 when a majority of the right-wing groups in the
local government approved the construction project in Untxin
and acquisition of the land. Two Herritarrak councillors opposed
the project arguing that Untxin is a marsh that ought to be
protected and that most likely the project would not get the
required authorization for the construction of sewers given
the current problems the town has because of the inadequate
treatment of municipal wastewater.
Mayor Poulou refused
to consider Herritarrak's objections and purchased the Putilenia
land for 653,000FRF (102,685USD).
Herritarrak then
took Polou to court. A Pau court paralyzed the project while
investigating the case.
The mayor accused
six members of Herritarrak of causing a loss to "the people
of Urruña" who he said "invested their money" in the
Putilenia land. Polou used this argument to appeal the court
decision to reboke the construction license and stop the project.
Poulou went even
farther and tried to blackmail Herritarrak. He denied Herritarrak
a permit required for the construction of a Basque school (Ikastola)
in Urruña --unless the political group withdrew its demands
in the Untxin case. Poulou's attitude provoked a popular reaction
in the Basque nationalist community which then held a succesful
fundraising for the future Basque school.
This week an appeals
court in Pau ruled in favor of Herritarrak and reaffirmed the
previous sentence that reboked the construction license. The
court sentenced the local government to pay a 5,000FRF (786.255USD)
summon to Herritarrak.
But don't hold your
breath. Herritarrak still has to wait for an appeals court to
decide on Polou's demand that Herritarrak pay the local government
653,000FRF --the same sum of money his government paid for the
Putilenia land.
In any case, urban
construction in Untxin has not been possible - an important
victory on the marshes.
Urruña,
a Nature's Paradise
Urruña is
at the heart of the Basque coast in the Atlantic ocean. Its
magnificent location, between the Errobi and the Bidasoa rivers
makes Urruña a nature's paradise.
To give you an idea,
the town sits on the ridge of the Ibardin mountain. If you stand
on the left hand side of the main street, you get an spectacular
view of the Pyrenees. From its right side, you get a breathtaking
view of the ocean, and of Donibane Lohizune and Miarritze.
Urruña has
the Florenia botanical gardens, a unique site in Europe, in
18 hectares of land in a hidden valley. Florenia has 30,000
trees and one million flowers, and marshes and ponds covered
with aquatic plants which can be admired from a 3 km long nature
trail.
The Untxin marsh
like other marshes near the Basque coast are special habitats
where the pressence of water influences plants, animals and
soils. Untxin's marsh plant life consists of grasses, flowers
and trees.
Unfortunately, many
of the original marshes are gone as the human population on
the Basque coast has burgeoned, and the quality of the remaining
marshes may be in jeopardy. Adaptable species, such as some
gulls, can move to new areas or change behavior as habitats
are changed. Other less-adaptable species are the most likely
candidates to become rare, threatened, endangered and/or extinct.
They are at the mercy of human intervention.
Marshes not only
serve important functions in their own right, but they help
keep the Basque Country's rivers, lakes and streams clean and
healthy, according to environmentalist Helene Sagarri, a member
of the grassroots group Ibardin.
"Marshes act as
natural filters, trapping sediment, pathogens and other pollutants
from waters that flow through them. Every time a marsh is destroyed,
it makes it that much harder, and more expensive, to keep our
water clean for drinking, swimming, fishing and other uses."
Urbanizing Untxin
means greater levels of pollution and thus more contaminated
drinking water sources, highest costs for drinking water treatment,
and loss of jobs dependent on clean water. When marshes are
lost, these costs are passed on to taxpayers, local communities
and the public at large. The developer of the marshes, however,
walks away with most of the profits.
February
1999
Mila Parot
is a law student and environmental activist.
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