GONHS and ESG support Remain In EU Campaign
Joint Press Release 20th May 2016
The Environmental Safety Group (ESG) and The Gibraltar Ornithological & Natural History Society (GONHS) have for decades lobbied for a clean, healthy and biodiverse environment.
We fully recognise the importance of our membership of the European Union to the environment, so that our legislature continues to meet the standards set in Brussels.
Indeed, EU Directives are in many ways considered the gold standard in environmental legislation.
The EU Habitats and Birds Directives protect our most vulnerable species, habitats and ecological formations. Gibraltar’s extensive network of protected areas is due to the Habitats Directive, whereas European Law protects some of our most emblematic species, from the Barbary Partridge to the Gibraltar Funnel-web Spider.
The quality of our air and water is monitored regularly and should meet EU standards. The EU aims to ensure that the air that we breathe and the water in which we bathe are healthy and clean. Gibraltar’s intended Sewage Plant is also due to a EU Directive. Its Waste Policy and Legislation provide targets for recycling and waste management that Member States must meet, whilst it’s Renewable Energy Targets compel us to combat human-influenced climate change.
The EU seeks to tackle the most pressing environmental issues of our time, and it sets an example for the world to follow.
Gibraltar’s environment does not exist in a bubble. However intractable and politicised environmental issues can become at a transborder level, impacts and solutions can only be addressed via European Directives.
Our exclusion from the European Union would significantly set back environmental progress and protection at every level, within and beyond our borders.
GONHS and the ESG therefore strongly support remaining in the EU. In doing so, we join major environmental organisations such as Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the UK’s own Wildlife Trust in calling for a ‘Remain In’ vote.
We urge all Gibraltarians to vote ‘IN’ on June the 23rd. Our environment and health demand it.
