The Council of Mallorca is drafting a law to protect the cultural and ethnological heritage of the Tramuntana Mountains. This will give legal backing to the Unesco World Heritage Site declaration and will apply to the twenty municipalities covered by the mountain range.
The law will not affect planning and environmental regulations that have already been established by the Balearic environment ministry or town halls' general plans. It will instead focus on culture and heritage. The councillor for territory, Maria Antònia Garcías, says that there is a need to maintain elements of cultural heritage "which have made the mountains' landscape what it is today". For centuries "there has been transformation of the sustainable landscape due to human intervention". In this regard, she is referring to the dry-stone technique, the terraces for cultivation, the stone ways and the hydraulics system.
"These were built with long-ago practices and their preservation will be obligatory." Garcías notes that the Unesco declaration stressed the productive landscape that had been adapted by different cultures.
The Council's law will also make the granting of aid to owners and town halls by the Tramuntana Consortium that much easier. "The mountains need their own sustainability and for this to be supported financially."
The text of the law, once it has been finalised, will be forwarded to the Balearic parliament for approval.