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ISSUE NO. 1736
11 - 17 October 2018
Newspaper in Spain 2017 & 2018
COSTA DE ALMERÍA YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM
Poverty rise Rate increases by a third By Joe Gerrard THE amount of people in poverty in Almeria Province has risen over an almost 30-year period despite millions of euros spent trying to lower it, an official report said. The Junta de Andalucia’s Disadvantaged Zones report stated that the number of those living in poverty has risen by 33 per cent. Almost a quarter of people have no basic education or could not read and write in some areas. “The areas facing the most negative situations are generally small towns and most of them are concentrated in Almeria and Granada,” the report stated. A total of 11 areas in Almeria Province were named as being among Andalucia’s most disadvantaged. They were in Almeria City, Nijar, El Ejido, Roquetas de Mar and Vicar. The unemployment rate stands above 40 per cent in some parts of Almeria. Some of those areas were classed as in need of help to reduce poverty when the Junta published its first Disadvantaged Zones report in 1989. The El Puche area of Almeria City was named
NO CHANGE: El Puche was among the areas named in the report. among the 10 most disadvantaged areas in the region in measures designed to fight poverty in 1989. The same area was highlighted in the latest Disadvantaged Zones report as one still in need of aid. The report comes as the Junta unveiled measures to tackle poverty in the 93 disadvantaged areas in
Pollution warning
LEVELS of air pollution in parts of Almeria Province rose beyond safe limits and reached an amount harmful to health last year, according to a government report. The Evaluation of Air Quality in Spain, from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, also found there was no improvement on the rate of pollution in Almeria compared previous years. The report stated levels of pollution in Almeria were also
damaging to the tropospheric ozone, the layer of atmosphere closest to the Earth’s surface. The Ecologists in Action environmental campaigning group said the data was ‘worrisome.’ It claimed in its own analysis of the statistics that industrial areas such as that around the Port of Almeria City were particularly affected. The group’s report found le-
gal limits for pollution were broken on 54 days in the port area during 2017. “It is worth mentioning the high levels of pollution detected in the port. Such levels can have a severe impact on air quality in nearby residential areas,” the group said. The report comes as the Junta de Andalucia recently approved plans to improve air
Andalucia, including those in Almeria. The measures are backed by around €169.5 million in funding. They are designed to help areas that have issues with high unemployment, illiteracy rates and the provision of public services such as health and education.
quality in Cuevas del Almanzora, Almeria City and El Ejido. Juan Jose Amate, a climate science consultant, said high pollution was widespread in southern Spain. The Ecologists in Action group said high levels of pollution were linked to around 30,000 medical cases, including deaths, in Spain every year. About 1,600 of these were in connection with premature deaths, the group added.