After a two day international conference in Palermo, the representatives of twenty important cultural and environmental organizations, artists and academics, in the presence of Honourable former President of the French Republic, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, at the invitation of the Honourable President of the Sicily Region, express their great concern about the ongoing devastation of the European rural landscape caused by wind power plants.
The European landscape in its beauty is a treasure of European culture, and has been entrusted for centuries from one generation to another. It is the responsibility of our generation to leave it not devastated by industrial instruments.
The beauty of the European landscape is not only a cultural heritage, but also a space of remembrance and identification. To destroy the rural landscape would also mean to deprive the rural regions of their economic base tourism.
We draw attention to these facts knowing that the lobby of wind power plant investors is very strong and aggressive, and great sums of money are involved.
We are aware that ways have to be found to contribute to the production of non-carbonic energies. But we are convinced that wind power plants are not the right solution.
Considering all this, we ask, with great concern, that the European Commission, National Governments, Parliaments, Regional and Local Authorities, take immediate steps to safeguard the European landscape.
We recommend that the European Union establish a Moratorium on the installation of wind power plants, in order to take adequate time to achieve the following objectives:
Finally, we implore the leaders of all nations to be deeply concerned about their constitutional responsibilities related to the impact of massive wind development on the environment, the landscape and, not least, biodiversity.
Download original document: “The Charter of Palermo [1]”
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/charter-of-palermo/
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[1] The Charter of Palermo: https://docs.wind-watch.org/charter-of-palermo-31marzo.doc