The Platform ‘Sierra Bermeja, National Park’ demands that politicians fulfill their commitments with Sierra Bermeja after the serious fire that has hit this natural area with such important ecological value. Today, finally, the nightmare is over. Our greatest gratitude is to the extinction services that have contributed to this, but we also want to express our condolences for the deceased worker, “they added from the platform.
Likewise, they have highlighted that It is not the first time that the sierra has been burned and “nor will it be the last”, adding that 99% of fires are related to human action, “a recurring fact that unfortunately is part of the dynamics of this mountain.”
From the platform, they have indicated that there have been more extensive recent fires than the current one, such as the one in 1975, “which left deep wounds in the mountains from which it has been recovering.” After the great fire of 1966, which put the Spanish fir at risk, the mayors of the region requested the declaration of Sierra Bermeja as a National Park, thinking that this would help preserve its uniqueness. However, they did not succeed. Nor did you succeed in the subsequent requests for the declaration of a National Park that followed one another over time.
Since 2007, a wide series of institutions and groups have repeatedly requested this request, which has been denied, according to the platform, with “totally unjustified” reasons. Subsequently, the Board developed a proposal for a National Park for a sister mountain of Sierra Bermeja: Sierra de las Nieves, “incorporating, although without naming it, 36% of Sierra Bermeja in its delimitation, but leaving out its western part, the most valuable from the environmental point of view and the one that has been burned ”.
“Faced with this situation, the Platform ‘Sierra Bermeja, National Park’ proposed something more beneficial for both natural spaces: a national park that would add the two mountains, Nieves and Bermeja. This proposal was not supported by either the PSOE or the PP, despite the broad social and scientific support from the town councils in the area, the Costa del Sol Association of Municipalities and the Malaga Provincial Council ”.
The association has affirmed that the response of the two majority parties has always been the same to this situation, for them, unfair: «It is time for the Sierra de las Nieves project, but as soon as the National Park is approved, we will begin to work in its extension to all Sierra Bermeja ». Therefore, now they ask that it be fulfilled: “The time has come to fulfill what was promised”, demanding that they act with extraordinary measures, coordinated and without hesitation or partisan excuses.
“The moment is now. Sierra Bermeja needs you more than ever »
Since the Sierra de las Nieves National Park was approved, the association affirms that no pronouncement on the matter has been heard from the regional and state officials: “The two majority parties, which had committed to expanding, keep silence even in today’s difficult circumstances.
The platform ensures that the expansion of the National Park including the entire Sierra Bermeja will not put out the fire but it will mean more vigilance, more control, more resources for prevention and faster decision-making: «In addition, more possibilities to stop the depopulation process of the Genal Valley, closely linked to this mountain. In the midst of the current desolation, it would provide a light of hope for Sierra Bermeja and the assurance that there will be no lack of means to manage its future.