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Nabarralde | Nabarra Papers
Avian
mortality at wind power plants in Nabarra
Mila Parot Zubimendi.
After several
days of heavy fog in Nabarra
earlier this month, members of the ecologist group Gurelur searched
for dead birds near the turbines of several wind power plants
in the region's mountaineous area. They found eight dead vultures.
The casualties have raised concern at Gurelur who thinks that
"some dead vultures may had been already removed by the wind
plant workers or eaten by other birds of prey in the area, thus,
the number of dead birds is by no doubt higher."
"The wind plants
located in areas of high use and dense concentration for birds
of prey are ending the lives of dozens of vultures and other
raptors," according to Gurelur. The birds are killed when they
collide with the turbines - due to the lack of visibility in
adverse weather conditions - but also when the birds fly through
the turbines, Gurelur said.
Izko is the
wind plant causing more vulture mortality "given that it is
located, as the company owner and the Environment Department
know it, in an area with the highest concentration of vultures
in Europe," according to Gurelur. The vulture is a large, short-tailed
bird of prey, with long, broad wings.
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Picture courtesy of P. Dubois. |
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The ecologist
group stressed that "behind the sterile efforts of the Environment
Department to criminalize the vulture, as the first step to
remove it from the list of endangered species, is the attempt
to minimize this mortality." Gurelur calls for immediate measures
to prevent more deaths and asked for a moratorium on the construction
of new wind power plants until research is conducted on bird-wind
plant interactions in Nabarra.
The government
of Nabarra, led by the "moderate" UPN Miguel Sanz, has been
undermining the law for the protection of endangered species.
The vulture leonado, a victim of the wind power plants,
was recently removed from the Endangered Species List.
The Sanz administration
has taken the old game of sacrificing endangered species for
politics that put business before biology. The focus on delisting
it's all part of a bigger trend. The administration has been
refusing to identify and list imperiled species as threatened
or endangered, denying these species the benefits of protection.
The administration is prematurely removing species from the
treatened and endangered species list, and subjecting the species
to increased habitat destruction and hunting.
The government
has ignored calls for developing basic protection measures for
imperiled species and allowed dam/reservoir, wind power plant,
and road developers to continue destroying wildlife habitat.
In addition, the government has ignored calls to designate critical
habitat areas for listed species. Since the existence of plants
and animals depends on the integrity of the habitat they need
to survive, protection of that habitat is crucial.
The government's
Department of Environment ought to immediately establish a reassessment
of critical habitat as a tool to conserve threatened and endangered
species, and to open a public debate period which should host
workshops to discuss the issue. The loss of habitat is the leading
cause of species' imperilment and its conservation is absolutely
critical to survival and recovery of threatened and endangered
species.
Therefore,
the highest priority is the undertaking of critical habitat
determinations and designations to provide the greatest conservation
benefit to as many species as possible.
January 2000
Translation
by Gigi Bidarte
Mila Parot
Zubimendi is a law student and an environment activist.
She's currently living in Miarritze.
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