- The Regional Environmental Education Council of Extremadura does not respect its meeting and work decree.
- Extremadura’s Ecologists in Action is asking for updated information on the agreements that have not been respected for almost four years.
In 2006, the Regional Council for Environmental Education was created in Extremadura, thanks to the preparation of the White Paper on Environmental Education by the Ministry of the Environment, in order to promote environmental awareness in the territory.
This council has to fulfill some functions, such as meeting twice a year and drawing up annual reports on the actions and work carried out, which has not happened since 2018, the date of the last council intervention. Ecologists in Action of Extremadura recently asked about the state of said council, but the Junta de Extremadura has not released a response.
Quoting verbatim Decree 192/2006, which established the Regional Department for Environmental Education, allocates public funds for the following works, still pending:
The conservation of nature and the protection of the environment are today a challenge for the whole of society in general, and in particular for the society of Extremadura. The public authorities, by constitutional mandate, assume the obligation to promote the necessary collective solidarity that guarantees respect for the heritage that belongs to all. […]
But no isolated action can be effective, it requires a network of political measures, technological development, education, … which support each other.
Administrations are the first to have environmental coherence in all its actions, using environmental education as a tool for the implementation of its policies and management plans, ensuring its real presence in the education system.
These words are another example of the ecology of the office promoted by the Junta de Extremadura, measures that sound good on paper but are not respected or reviewed, even if approved by law.
Once again ecology is forgotten, in the background, behind economic or political interests. Anyone living in Extremadura can realize that the care of the natural heritage that presumably belongs to everyone is being destroyed day after day with irrigation projects, macro-photovoltaic plants, logging or concessions for mining projects, without taking into account the serious hydrological situation that crosses us.
What kind of participatory environmental education has been working since 2006 if the general population is not aware of the serious crisis in which the ecosystems of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura find themselves? What drought adaptation or fire prevention plans are being submitted?
What can you expect from a body of work that hasn’t met since 2018?
