The national minister for the ecological transition, Teresa Ribera, has given the Balearic government the green light to expand the size of the Cabrera National Park and make it the largest of its kind in the Mediterranean. Work is expected to be completed in the space of a year.
Ribera visited the park yesterday - it is partly land and partly marine - and announced that the plan is to increase the size of the marine protected zone from the current 10,000 hectares to 90,000. The necessary legislation will be passed by Congress in October after the summer recess.
Ribera said that she is worried about the pressure being placed on nature parks (only Cabrera has national park status in the Balearics) and on the Mediterranean in general by yachts, cruise liners and shipping. She added that Cabrera has to be protected in order to conserve its environment - the land and the sea. The move has been welcomed by the regional government.