EUTROPHICATION

MAR MENOR: THE GREEN DESASTER
​In this interview, the lawyer and environmental activist Teresa Vicente (Spain) explains the origin of the law that grants legal personality to Mar Menor and compares the legal discrimination that natural ecosystems are suffering to those that women suffered during the last century in Europe.

Eutrophication is the massive growth of algae that occurs in aquatic ecosystems as a result of excessive nutrient input, such as nitrogen and phosphorus. These nutrients mainly come from the use of fertilizers in agriculture and other human activities such as industry, urbanization, and livestock farming. The excessive growth of algae in rivers, lakes, and coastal areas leads to increased production of organic matter that, when degraded, consumes dissolved oxygen in the water. This phenomenon, exacerbated by global warming, can result in episodes of hypoxia, massive death of aquatic organisms, water pollution, and decay. Eutrophication is a global phenomenon that unfortunately affects inland and coastal waters worldwide.  A particularly dramatic case is that of the coastal lagoon Mar Menor, where women like law professor Teresa Vicente are tirelessly fighting to halt the degradation of this ecosystem. Teresa drafted the proposed law that grants legal personality to the Mar Menor. With its approval, after a long and intense popular battle, the Mar Menor is considered legally on par with human beings, equating human rights and those of nature for the first time in Europe, which represents an international benchmark in environmental conservation.

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Climate Vulnerability

Ecofeminism

Droughts and floods

Salinization

Eutrophication

Water pollution

Biodiversity loss

Water as energy resource

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