Spain's economic growth "unsustainable"

Spain’s recent rapid economic growth has been extremely environmentally unsustainable, the Spanish sustainability observatory (OSE) said in a new report on Monday.  Between 1995 and 2005 new building doubled and primary energy consumption rose by almost five per cent annually, says OSE, an academic body backed by the environment ministry.  The gap between Spain’s ecological footprint and its "biocapacity" grew by 34 per cent.  A region-by-region breakdown shows tourism has been a major factor in this development.  The Balearic region, for example, consumed resources at nearly six times its biocapacity in 2005.  See OSE and report summary presentation.

• Space/land
• Sustainability
• Water