Confluence of European Water Bodies

Mar Menor

The Mar Menor is a 135 km2 coastal lagoon in southeastern region of Murcia in Spain. It is the largest saltwater lagoon in Europe, separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a strip of land called La Manga del Mar Menor. The Mar Menor is in a serious state of eutrophication due to the nutrients it receives, mainly from intensive agriculture in the surrounding area. Other impacts also contribute to its deterioration: excessive construction on its shores, mineral inputs washed in by rainfall, a large number of marinas that act as barriers to marine currents and filling in of artificial beaches. In 2016 the waters of the Mar Menor turned dark green due to a phytoplankton bloom. In 2019 and 2021 tons of fish were found dead on the shores of the Mar Menor due to anoxia. These episodes led tens of thousands of people to demonstrate in the streets of Cartagena and Murcia calling on the regional and central governments to take measures at source to prevent the lagoon from collapsing. Although some actions have been initiated to stop the problem, since spring 2022 there has been a huge development of filamentous algae which is a cause for concern.

Legal Personality for Mar Menor

The petition for Legal Personality for the Mar Menor (Iniciativa de Legislación Popular, ILP) was initiated by law professors Teresa Vicente and Eduardo Salazar and supported by a number of different groups and voluntary organizations in Spain. The Banderas Negras organized in the streets collecting signatures and holding demonstrations. Now that the law to grant the Mar Menor legal personality has been enacted they formed the association AMARME. The Pacto por el Mar Menor is a platform for various professionals to inform the public about the ecology of the Mar Menor and put pressure on the government with legal complaints.

ECOLOGISTS IN ACTION#

Ecologists in Action of the Region of Murcia has been fighting tirelessly for decades for the conservation and recovery of the regional territory in general and of its valuable threatened ecosystems in particular. For years, the NGO has been working hard to counteract, among other things, the administrative negligence in environmental matters and the fallacies surrounding the pathetic management of water – and other natural resources – in the Region.

Ecologistas en Acción carries out its work within the framework of what is known as Social Ecologism, broadening the focus to social problems that are associated with environmental problems, since both have the same origin: the unsustainable and predatory model of globalised development. The organisation, which was formed by the union of more than 300 small local groups, always seeks the confluence between the movements that fight against environmental problems.

De Noordzee

De Noordzee is geologisch gezien een jonge zee. Ze ontstond aan het einde van de laatste ijstijd, het Weichselien zo ongeveer 11.000 jaar geleden. Tijdens deze ijstijd waren de Noordzee en veel van de Britse eilanden bedekt met gletsjerijs en lag de zeespiegel ongeveer 120 m lager. Aan het einde van de laatste ijstijd werd het klimaat warmer, het enorme gewicht van het ijs nam af en de zeespiegel steeg.

Kale woestijn

Hard substraat is harde ondergrond. Veel zeeleven is afhankelijk van dit harde substraat. Vroeger in de Noordzee kwam het harde substraat voor in de vorm van bijvoorbeeld stenen, oesterbanken, klei en moorlog (oud veen). Er was wel zo’n 27.000 km2 aan oesterrif. Op dit moment is nog 1.5 % van de Noordzee hard substraat en dat bestaat uit boeien, wrakken, boorplatforms en windmolens. Dat is artifcieel hard substraat dus en essentieel voor veel zeeleven. Ze gebruiken het harde substraat als aanhechtingsplaats of als huis. 50% van de biomassa in de Noordzee zit op of rondom hard substraat.

De Noordzeebodem heeft vooral de laatste 60 jaar onder invloed gestaan van intensieve visserij. Met als gevolg dat het benthos (het leven in, op en net boven de bodem) hoofdzakelijk bestaat uit pioniergemeenschappen en de Noordzeebodem is veranderd in een kale woestijn.

De belangen van het zeeleven

Ondanks dat de Noordzee 60% van het Nederlandse grondgebied beslaat en daarmee de grootste publieke Nederlandse ruimte is, is de zee nauwelijks deel van ons Nederlandse en Europese sociale en politieke bewustzijn. Tegelijkertijd staat de Noordzee steeds meer onder druk. Niet alleen door bestaande fossiele brandstofwinning, transport en visserij, maar ook door toekomstige projecten als windmolenparken en energie-eilanden die allemaal hun deel opeisen van de Noordzee, zonder dat de zee daar zelf zeggenschap over heeft. In 2022 gaat de biodiversiteit van de Noordzee verder achteruit en is minder dan 1% (0,3%) van haar oppervlakte daadwerkelijk beschermd.

Natural Contract LAB

NCLs research focusses on four bodies of water: Sebkhet Sejoumi (TU) Tejo river (PT), Rhone River (SW)  and Senne River (BE)

The multidisciplinary collective was founded in 2021 by artist Maria Lucia Cruz Correia in collaboration with Marine Calmet (rights of nature), Brunilda Pali (restorative justice), Lode Vranken (design/philosophy), vinny jones (sensory scenography) and Evanne Nowak (ecological grief). With the confluence of the Tejo River Margarida Mendes (research/sonic guidance) joined the collective in 2022.

How do we design a process of care based on reciprocity, accountability and interdependency with the river ? Do we need other ways of making justice and gesture of care for rivers?

Natural Contract Lab is a multidisciplinary artistic practice, an ecology of care that aims an active and sustained dialogue with bodies of water under deep ecological transformation. The artistic format is hybrid and unfolds in itself as a response to each river as an exchange and social encounter with a common concern: to make justice to the loss of water ecosystems. Inspired by restorative justice practices, we have designed a protocol of reciprocal care with the aim to weave together new forms of relationship with water, as river guardians. Together we develop a body of care, researching forms of water justice through practices of reciprocal care, such as walking-with, performing rituals, ecocide hearings, restorative justice and ecological grief circles, somatic and audio scores and other actions that move along with the riverine’s flow and its communities. Read more here…

SpreeBerlin

In the context of the climate crisis and the accompanying social change, SpreeBerlin explores the relationship between Berlin and the Spree. How can the river be given its own „political“ voice and what can help to create more awareness about the Spree and the influence of humans?

The Spree suffers from sewer overflows, unfavourable river architecture, use of the waters by shipping and traffic, tire wear from cars, fertilizer input from agriculture, sulfate pollution from coal mining, and climate change. The SpreeBerlin Projects raises the awareness of the citizens. On the one hand, more care can be taken in direct action, and on a systemic and urban level, political requests can be made.

The buoy

With the help of a buoy developed in the project, the water body draws attention to pollution. Digital tools and media such as measuring devices and app record the actual state of the river and communicate this to citizens in an accessible way. Exciting historical and current narratives are also communicated. During hot summers, the buoy pumps oxygen into the river to help the Spree and its creatures. The planet-centric approach provides a holistic and „green“ solution to the various problems and ensures a healthier balance between the stakeholders involved.

The process to build SpreeBerlin happens from the desire to promote the dialogue on OpenKnowledge, OpenDesign and OpenTech. The findings, knowledge and designs that emerge in the development processes of the project are always available to the public and inspiring for replication.

SpreeBerlin envisions a future with climate-resilient cities where intact ecosystems ensure a stable and healthy urban climate, and encourages a shift from a human-centric way of thinking and acting to a life / planet centric.

Vistula River (Wisła)

Rivers Sisters is a Poland based collective of women activists and artists formed by artist Cecylia Malik in 2018. She created an idea in which Rivers Sisters would come together to save and support Poland’s largest river, the Vistula. Each member of the collective represents her beloved river and aims to give it a voice.
The first women’s call was created as a happening. It turned out that the topic of rivers and waters was so urgent that in five years time, the art project developed into an art-activist community. The Rivers Sisters defend the wild and unregulated rivers of Poland and Europe. They create social campaigns, happenings, actions, protests, art workshops and exhibitions.

Rivers Sisters

There is a unique river in the heart of Europe, largely still free and wild, with a vibrant ecosystem – the Vistula, a European treasure. More than half of Poland’s area is in the basin of the Vistula, the longest river (1,047 km) in Poland. Despite the construction of dykes and regulatory structures, along a stretch of several hundred kilometers, it has retained the natural character and dynamics of a free-flowing waterbody. The Vistula Valley, characterized by its high biodiversity, has been recognised as a sanctuary for endangered bird species and an ecological corridor of international importance.

Meanwhile, instead of protection, attempts are still being made to develop the river and transform valuable water areas into a cascade of fenced and regulated reservoirs. The Siarzewo barrage dam, contrary to propaganda, will not ensure protection against either floods or droughts. Rivers Sisters is protesting the dam in Siarzewo and encourages thousands of women in Poland to get involved in protecting the river, as well as other rivers.

Loire

The Loire watershed covers a surface area of 117,800 km2, which is 1/5 of mainland France. The Loire, the last natural river in europe  – 1,006 km long – is a complex ecological system that naturally links a diversity of territories and their inhabitants, from the mountains where it rises (Mont Gerbier des Joncs) to its estuary (Saint Nazaire – Atlantic ocean). Its droughts and floods, the decline in the number of species migrating up the river, the deterioration of its environments and its water quality are all signs of the ecological and environmental warnings.

parliament of Loire

The Parliament of Loire (ao Maud le Floch) is a fictional institution (or an institutional fiction). This narrative curated by the POLAU-pôle arts & urbanism and developed with the writer Camille de Toledo in 2019-21, aims to give the Loire a voice to defend its interests, to create a shared culture around the Loire river, to return perspective by regarding others than human concerns. It is committed to better understanding these relationships by mobilizing everyone’s imaginations and experimenting the workings of a potential institution.

In 2022, the collective Vers un parlement de Loire was created to open up, amplify and extend this approach to the entire Loire watershed. This collective, made up of Loire Valley actors (University, Mission Unesco, planning agency, Loire school, cultural actors…) puts Loire as a living entity at the heart of its actions, in an approach that integrates arts, sciences and the specificities of the territories. Each member of the collective, through his activity, aims to develop a Loire culture, like representations, research works, art residencies and territorial experimentations.

Verhalen uit de Venetiaanse Lagune

In november 2022, nadat de meeste toeristen de stad inmiddels hebben verlaten, brengen afgevaardigden van de Ambassade van de Noordzee een bezoek aan de Venetiaanse Lagune. Tijdens dit bezoek delen haar bewoners hun kijk op de relatie tussen mensen en niet-mensen, de rol van kinderen en het belang van intergenerationeel leren, en de liefde voor het ecosysteem. Carolijn Terwindt van de Ambassade van de Noordzee doet verslag van deze bijzondere reis en de vele menselijke en niet-menselijke ontmoetingen. Lees het verslag hier.

Wettekst Mar Menor

In september 2022 kreeg de lagune Mar Menor in de Spaanse provincie Murcia de status van een rechtspersoon. Spanje is hiermee het eerste Europese land dat rechten aan de natuur verleend. We selecteerden enkele passages uit de wettekst die door het Spaanse parlement werd goedgekeurd. Download hier de gehele Spaanse wet Mar Menor (Nederlandse vertaling)

NB – Niet te gebruiken voor officiële doeleinden. Deze vertaling is niet door een beëdigde of gecertificeerde vertaler goedgekeurd.

‘’De erkenning van de rechten van het ecosysteem van de lagune van de Mar Menor en zijn bekken houdt in dat wij onze internationale verplichtingen nakomen, zoals de Overeenkomst van Parijs van 2015 over klimaatverandering, en om te kunnen voldoen aan de eisen van de nieuwe geologische periode waarin we leven die onze planeet is ingegaan, het Antropoceen.’’

‘’In overeenstemming met het voorstel voor een ecocentrische interpretatie van ons rechtsstelsel, waarop zowel het Spaanse Hooggerechtshof als andere rechtsbeoefenaars hebben gewezen, is het noodzakelijk om de categorie van rechtssubjecten uit te breiden tot natuurlijke entiteiten, op basis van het bewijsmateriaal uit de biowetenschappen en de aardwetenschappen. Deze wetenschappen maken een opvatting van de mens als integraal onderdeel van de natuur mogelijk, wat ons verplicht de confrontatie aan te gaan met de ecologische achteruitgang van de planeet Aarde en de bedreiging die daarvan uitgaat voor het voortbestaan van de menselijke soort. De verklaring van rechtspersoonlijkheid van de Mar Menor en zijn bekken zal een autonoom beheer van de kustlagune mogelijk maken, opgevat als een ecosysteem dat als zodanig bescherming verdient. Dit is een juridische nieuwigheid die de tot nu toe gegeven behandeling versterkt: de lagune verandert van een louter object van bescherming, herstel en ontwikkeling tot een ondeelbaar biologisch, ecologisch, cultureel en spiritueel subject.’’