One of Europe’s largest and most endangered saltwater lagoons is facing a less fetid future after Spain’s senate voted to grant the threatened ecosystem legal status as a person.
The Mar Menor, a protected area off south-east Spain separated from the Mediterranean by a 13-mile sandbar, has been polluted by poor sewage systems, fertilisers and discharge from mining activities. Six years ago, its waters turned green when algal blooms killed off 85% of the vegetation on its seabed.
