“From our department we do not want the term sustainability to remain just a concept, but we understand it as the correct path to adopt in any area of life, because it is through sustainability that we are going to achieve maintenance of the quality of life and the well-being of the entire society. Any contrary decision will be left at the risk of uncertainty and is doomed to failure.
With these words, José Antonio Víquez Ruiz, territorial delegate of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy of the Junta de Andalucía in Malaga, began his speech during the closing of the Sustainable Andalusia Meeting, an event organized by EXPANSIÓN, with the sponsorship of Unicaja, the Marbella City Council, the Provincial Council of Málaga, Costa del Sol Málaga, Hidralia and Cepsa.
Víquez’s intervention, which dealt with the need for a public sustainability policy that promotes collective and sustainable practices, placed special emphasis on the “long and sometimes tortuous transition” towards its achievement, within the framework of the public policies imposed by the Union. European.
“60% of our delegation’s activity focuses on carrying out strategic environmental evaluations and sometimes we have citizen complaints that they take too long or that the mechanisms to reach a solution in any file are not understood,” said the delegate. . “Among other things,” he explained, “because it requires working with different administrations, organizations and citizen groups. The ultimate goal is to guarantee operation and good practices towards sustainability, but we cannot help but wonder if this period is sustainable for private companies.” , for example, for a port project”.
The delegate explained that “the spectrum of political measures that promote sustainability is extensive” and covers “public and private investments directed towards sustainable practices such as renewable energies.” In this sense, he highlighted the more than 60 projects, especially photovoltaic, that will be carried out in Malaga in the coming years, or those related to sustainable mobility or land conservation.
In regulatory matters, he recalled that Andalusia has the Circular Economy Law, in force since May 1, 2023, a “non-coercive law, which pursues the agreement between the private company and the public sector.” He also mentioned the Sustainability Law of the Territory of Andalusia, “of an integrative and transversal nature, which tries to provide the sectoral policies that intervene in the territory with a common strategy.”
He stressed that this law takes into account several aspects: “The social viability of all actions, based on the general interest and sized based on foreseeable demand; and the environmental and landscape viability, given that the proposed planning must ensure the protection of the environment and biodiversity”. To these conditions he added “the sustainable occupation of land, the rational use of natural resources, energy efficiency, resilience, economic viability and governance in decision-making in territorial and urban planning.”
José Antonio Víquez concluded by assuring that the Andalusian Government is focused on promoting “public-private collaboration, basic for our Administration, energizing the territory and attracting any type of investment that may be interesting and positive for the community.”
