Previous IBA Campaigns

Spanish Hydrological Plan, Ebro Delta

More than 7,000 people signed a petition on the BirdLife web site protesting against the controversial Spanish Hydrological Plan. The proposed plan would have seen water from the Ebro River diverted more than 1,000 km to Spain's south-east region, leading to potential devestation for one of Europe's most important wetlands. However, in June 2004 the new Spanish government called a halt to the plan, instead proposing a package of measures including desalination plants and water conservation. Although this is great news, the Delta is still at risk from dams and irrigation projects along the Ebro. More »

National Park destruction in the Balearics

In December 2003 the government of the Balearic Islands (Spain), proposed drastic cut-backs to two of the islands' protected areas, the Parc Natural de la Peninsula de Llevant (Mallorca) and the Parc Natural de Cala Hort (Ibiza). Despite strong protests from BirdLife and its Spanish Partner SEO, as well as GOB, a local NGO, Peninsula de Llevant was subsequently reduced from 21,507 ha to just 1,586 ha. Cala d’Hort has been reduced to a mere 234 ha (from its original 2,773 ha). Despite this outcome, BirdLife and its associates would like to thank the many hundreds of people who supported the protest, including more than 700 people from all over the world who signed a petition against the proposals. More »

Proposed windfarm at Balchik, Bulgaria

In late 2003 the BirdLife Partnership, led by BSPB (BirdLife in Bulgaria), urged the Bulgarian authorities to stop plans to site a wind farm at the coastal town of Balchik in Bulgaria. The proposed development lay directly on a migration route used by many thousands of birds, which could obviously suffer numerous casualties if they were to collide with the giant turbines. More than 2,300 people from 70 countries signed a petition against the proposed development, which was granted approval by the Bulgarian Government in October 2003. Further developments are expected in mid-2004. More »