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ENVIRONMENT

Spanish minister slams ‘disgusting’ move to protect fossil fuels at COP28

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is pushing against proposals to target fossil fuels at the COP28 climate summit, drawing fury from Spain.

Published: 9 December 2023 11:06 CET
Spanish ecology transition minister Teresa has lashed out at calls to protect the fossil fuel industry at COP28
Spanish ecology transition minister Teresa has lashed out at calls to protect the fossil fuel industry at COP28 (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)

Spanish ecology transition minister Teresa Ribera lashed out Saturday at an OPEC bid to block any phase-out of fossil fuels at UN climate negotiations in Dubai, calling the move “disgusting”.

Spain holds the European Union’s rotating presidency and Ribera is its representative at the COP28 negotiations, where the EU is pressing for an exit from oil, gas and coal.

“I think that it is quite, quite a disgusting thing that OPEC countries are pushing against getting the bar where it has to be,” Ribera told reporters.

“We need to be quite clear, bold, crystal clear that the European Union will be aligning with… a large majority of the parties in this conference to ensure that we have (a) meaningful and productive outcome connected to this phase-out of fossil fuels,” she added.

OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais sent a letter to the group’s 13 members and 10 Russian-led allies this week after negotiators at talks in Dubai released a draft deal that included calls for a phase-out of fossil fuels.

In the letter sent Wednesday, Ghais urges the group to “proactively reject any text or formula that targets energy i.e. fossil fuels rather than emissions”.

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ENVIRONMENT

Spain’s endangered Iberian lynx population doubles in three years

The number of endangered Iberian lynx in the wild in Spain and Portugal has nearly doubled since 2020 to surpass 2,000 last year, the Spanish government said Friday.

Published: 17 May 2024 13:01 CEST
Spain's endangered Iberian lynx population doubles in three years

A total of 722 lynx were born in 2023 bringing their total number in the two countries to 2,021, a record high since monitoring of the species began and up from 1,111 just three years earlier, Spain’s environment ministry said in a statement.

This rise “allows us to continue to be optimistic about the reduction of the risk of extinction of the Iberian lynx,” it added.

Known for its pointy ears, long legs and leopard-like spotted fur, the species was on the brink of extinction just two decades ago due to poaching, road accidents and encroachment on their habitat by urban development, as well as a dramatic decline due to disease in wild rabbits numbers, the lynx’s main prey.

When the first census of the spotted nocturnal cat was carried out in 2002, there were fewer than 100 specimens in the Iberian Peninsula.

The ministry party attributed the boom in lynx numbers to the success of a captive breeding and reintroduction programme launched in 2011. Since then, 372 lynx born in captivity have been released into the wild.

“The recovery of the Iberian lynx population in Spain and Portugal constitutes one of the best examples of conservation actions for endangered species in the world,” it said.

The ministry said the Iberian lynx population has continued to rise since 2015, when the International Union for Conservation of Nature downgraded the threat level to “endangered” from “critically endangered — its highest category before extinction in the wild.

Most Iberian lynx can be found in the Donana national park and Sierra Morena mountains in the southwestern region of Andalusia, but the conservation programme has reintroduced captive-bred animals to the Spanish regions of Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Murcia, as well as Portugal.

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