A PETITION to scrap a law reform which allows forest fire-damaged land to be reclassified for development has netted 155,000 signatures.
It was set up on the campaign site Change.org after an inferno devastated the Sierra de Gata mountain range in Acebo, north of Cáceres in the land-locked western region of Extremadura, having been burning for over four days after it started on August 5 and led to 3,000 residents being evacuated.*
Last month, Spain's government amended legislation which has been in place for nine years and which established a ban on reclassifying fire-damaged land enabling it to be built upon for 30 years after the blaze.
It can now be legally developed immediately, as long as the promoter of any building work can justify the plans being 'in the public interest', which in practice, is not difficult whatever type of construction is in the pipeline.
Extremadura resident Francisco Ortiz, who set up the petition – found on Change.org by searching Stop ley piromanos ('stop arsonist law'), is among hundreds of thousands of members of the public in Spain who fear the legislation change will encourage unscrupulous development firms to set fire to 'green belt' or 'rustic' land, buy it at a rock-bottom price, apply for it to be reclassified and then construct a residential complex, hotel or golf course on it.
This is said to have happened on a number of occasions pre-2006 when the 30-year ban came into force.
Ecologists in Action, a 'green' pressure group, fears the risk of this recurring is high.
And Francisco, who lives just 60 kilometres from the Sierra de Gata, says he has many friends and acquaintances who were directly affected by the fire, including farmers who lost livestock and crops when the blaze wiped out 7,800 hectares.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com