Don't contaminate our Camino!
President of the Government of Galicia, Cabinet of the Government of Galicia, Spanish Government, Presidency of the European Parliament, UNESCO.
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Petition
We ask you to support this campaign against the reopening of the Touro mine. This is a project of Cobre San Rafael, a subsidiary of Atalaya Mining and Explotaciones Gallegas, that has recently been designated as Strategic Industrial Project and is located in the municipalities of Touro and O Pino (A Coruña- Galicia-Spain), very close to the French Way of the Camino de Santiago.
Why is this important?
The reopening of the mine represents a very serious impact and risk on the French Way of the Camino de Santiago and other cultural heritage elements, both tangible and intangible, in the affected municipalities, as stated in a report by ICOMOS - SPANISH NATIONAL COMMITTEE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON MONUMENTS AND SITES -Â [1] causing significant concern, rejection and social alarm.
This mine would be just a few metres from the protected area of the French Way as it passes through Pedrouzo, which would result in the loss of the tangible and intangible values that make this last stage, before entering Santiago de Compostela, a unique stretch.
Heavy traffic generated by trucks, the continuous movement in the vicinity of or along the Camino, light pollution and the presence of dust and other volatile components in the air are among many other issues which can also seriously affect the environmental qualities of a cultural space which is Galicia’s main calling card for travellers from all over the world.
All this goes against the preservation of the authenticity and physical integrity of this World Heritage site that encompasses a broad cultural, environmental and landscape context. The exceptional universal values that motivated its listing by UNESCO in its World Heritage List must be protected.
Between 1974 and 1986 this same area experienced what it’s like having a mine. In barely twelve years half a dozen rivers became permanently polluted by acid mine drainage, as much agricultural land became totally devastated and transformed into large minepits lacking any type of environmental restoration. Agricultural activities could never be resumed on these lands and numerous springs, wells and water sources were destroyed, rendered unusable or polluted in perpetuity.
In addition to all of the above, this project could cause serious damage to the watershed of the Ulla river and its estuary in the RĂa de Arousa by pollution with heavy metals. These are strong reasons to stop this project from going forward.
If you also want to preserve the genuine beauty of these lands, sign today and help us stop this atrocity!
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