A MORATORIUM ON THE EUCALYPTUS TREE IN BIZKAIA?

Last year the report commissioned by the Basque Government on the effects of eucalyptus trees was published. The report drawn up by a group of experts from the University of the Basque Country and Aranzadi Society of Sciences made it very clear that the eucalyptus plantations have a very negative effect on the soil, rivers and biodiversity of areas where they are present. One of the professors responsible for writing up the report, Arturo Elosegi, has been particularly active in making known the results of this report and in this short video he explains the main lines of this report.

This year the Bizkaia Provincial Government announced that it had refused permission to plant mainly eucalyptus trees on private land in El Regato, Barakaldo. In an article published in the Sestao Botanical Sciences blog on 21st March, this group explains its reasons for remaining sceptical about the news and asks why an Environmental Impact Assessment is still not a necessity every time that someone wants to put a plantation of eucalyptus trees on their land. In fact, the traditional forestry sector has been insisting that such a report is not necessary and the Basque Government has been preparing a law to be debated in the Basque Parliament, a law which would not make it necessary to have an Environmental Impact Assessment for such plantations.

So it`s clear that there are reasons to be sceptical about changes in forestry management. However, a reason for possible optimism are the recent declarations by the President of the Bizkaia Provincial Government in which he announced a possible moratorium on the planting of eucalyptus trees in Bizkaia as an annex to the Norma Foral de Montes until a policy on eucalyptus plantations has been established in a new Norma Foral de Montes. It was done in Galicia but will it be done here? What is clear that no major changes will be incorporated without the pressure of the people and groups such as Kolore Guztietako Basoak which have been advocating the need for native trees as the best way of preserving our biodiversity. One of its most prominent members has been Keko Alonso who has given many talks on the subject, one of which can be seen here. The reasons for limiting the planting of eucalyptus trees are numerous and while we wait for a radical change in the legislation we must continue to protest and give our support to projects such as that of Lurgaia which have been actively planting native trees with the support of hundreds of volunteers.

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