Menorca wetlands film shows how families used water

Menorca, in the Balearic Islands, has 43 wetlands: a new film shows how families once used water from streams and wells for themselves and their livestock. The Menorca Biosphere Reserve Agency will screen it next Tuesday at the Auditorium of Ferreries, on Menorca. Journalist Pere Gibert and botanist Pere Fraga drew it from research into how people worked on these lands.

Memories from the wetlands

Gibert and Fraga spent a year gathering accounts from people who had worked in the wetlands or had close ties to them. They conducted 16 interviews, recording 11 on video and five as audio. The film brings together a selection of those memories.

According to the Balearic Islands Water Plan, Menorca’s 43 wetlands now cover just over 1,000 hectares. For many families, they were places to work as well as natural spaces. Farming and livestock keeping shaped the ways people used the water.

Why the old knowledge matters now

After the screening, the researchers and some of the people featured in the film will discuss their experiences. The island council says the project aims to preserve and share knowledge passed down through generations.

The council says changes in rainfall and temperature linked to climate change are affecting the wetlands. The interviews could help people understand these areas better and inform future work on the practices and infrastructure once used there.

Topics: Culture · Environment

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com