The United Nations joined the battle to stop oil prospecting in Balearic waters yesterday when UNESCO called on central government to order a temporary halt to the project.
Palma.—The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation want the project postponed in order to allow a team of experts to establish if the prospecting is a threat to the marine meadows of Posidonia, or seagrass, in the area which is protected by UNESCOand considered World Heritage.
The Balearic government has already made it clear its opposition to the prospecting, as have the best part of 100,000 people who have signed petitions in Majorca and Ibiza, and yesterday, the President of the Council of Ibiza, Vicent Serra, said in Palma he is seeking international support to stop Scottish company Cairn Energy from prospecting in Balearic waters because the project will apparently have a negative affect on some 55 kilometres of seagrass meadows.