Spain Opens Process to Expand Aigüestortes National Park by a Proposed 2,259 Hectares
Spain's Council of Ministers approved on November 3 the initial proposal to expand the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, opening the enlargement process for the park in the Pyrenees of Lleida province, Catalonia.
The proposal would incorporate 2,259.10 hectares of the park's current peripheral protection zone into the park itself, in the municipalities of La Torre de Capdella and Sort, and would add 3,577.43 hectares of new peripheral protection zone in La Torre de Capdella, Vilaller, Rialp, Espot and Vielha e Mijaran. The proposal is made jointly by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Government of Catalonia.
Under Spain's national parks law, an expansion must ultimately be enacted by a law of the Cortes Generales, and the process includes public consultation and reports from the competent bodies, so the proposal is not yet in force.
Aigüestortes, famed for its high-mountain lakes and glacial landscapes, protects one of Spain's most emblematic alpine ecosystems. The ministry said the expansion would extend protection to ecologically connected areas currently classed only as peripheral protection zone.
Source: Ministry for the Ecological Transition (MITECO
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：艾格斯托特斯国家公园（资料图）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons（CC BY-SA 3.0），作者：Diliff。 / Photo: Aigüestortes National Park (file photo). Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0), by Diliff.
