Un espacio protegido por del Derecho ambiental europeo en el Norte de África: las Islas Chafarinas

Abstract

A TERRITORY PROTECTED BY EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW IN NORTH AFRICA: THE CHAFARINAS ISLANDS

The archipelago of the Chafarinas Islands is the easternmost of the Spanish territories in North Africa. It shares with the rest of the rocks and islands the fact that it is outside the framework of Spain’s decentralised territorial administration and depends directly on the central State administration. Like the rest of Spain’s territories in Africa (including Ceuta and Melilla), it has been the subject of territorial claims by Morocco since its independence. Its maritime areas, like the rest of the Spanish territories in Africa, have not been formally demarcated in the Spanish domestic legal system.

In short, it is a territory with a special vulnerability that is the subject of legal disputes and recurrent political crises with Morocco.
Unlike the rest of the Spanish territories in Africa, whose titles are based on derivative methods of acquiring the territory, its incorporation into the national territory was carried out by virtue of an original method, occupation.

A special singularity of this small archipelago derives from the fact that the whole of it is a protected area under European environmental law. Recognition by the Commission in some ways reinforces Spain’s position. At the same time, the environmental values of the territory provide opportunities for cross-border cooperation with Morocco, with the possibility of using potential instruments for building mutual trust, which should be based on the possibility of each party being able to safeguard its initial legal positions.