ADEGA

ADEGA

Focus	Environmentalism Human rights Defence of the rural areas.
Area served	Galicia
Members	14 comarcal groups
Website	adega.gal/web/portada.php

ADEGA, the acronym for Asociación para a Defensa Ecolóxica de Galiza (English:Association for the Ecological Defense of Galiza), is a Galician ecologist group born in 1974 and legalized in 1976. ADEGA works in the defense of the Galician and global environment. ADEGA has always been linked with the Galician nationalist movement. The organization has chapters in the comarcas of A Mariña, Santiago, Coruña, Costa da Morte, Lugo, O Carballiño, Ourense, A Paradanta, Barbanza, Ordes, A Ulloa, Pontevedra, Trasancos and Vigo.

History

Domingo Quiroga was the first president of the association. In the first board of directors there were several prominent characters: Francisco Bermejo, Professor of Analytical Chemistry; Xosé Bar Boo, architect; Xosé Luis Rodríguez Pardo, lawyer; Xosé Manuel Beiras, national spokesman of the Galician Nationalist Bloc for many years, and Fernando González Laxe, who was the president of the Xunta de Galicia between 1987 and 1989.^[1]

The organization gained prominence participatin in the Anti-nuclear movement against the construction of a nuclear power plant in the municipality of Xove. The movement, after a series of mass protests, finally had success and the plans to build the plant were abandoned.^[2] Again, in the 80s, ADEGA gained international attention for a campaign against the dumping of radioactive materials in the Atlantic, in collaboration with other organizations like Greenpeace. The campaign managed to block the dumping by putting Galician fishing boats alongside the boats that pulled nuclear waste. The catastrophe of the ship Casón, who caused a toxic cloud in Costa da Morte sparked another campaign of ADEGA. In the late 1980s ADEGA led successful campaigns against the building of new dams in the Eume and Navia rivers. Later the activities of the organization have grown and diversified serving numerous environmental problems. ADEGA also had a very important presence in social movements like Nunca Máis and, more recently, in the movement against mining stopped the gold mine of Corcoesto, in the municipality of Coristanco.

ADEGA publishes quarterly the magazine Cerna, born in 1986, where the organization deals with environmental global problems and their impact in Galiza. Since 2004 ADEGA has promoted the Proxecto Ríos (Project Rivers), an education and citizen initiative in defense of the Galician rivers, so that volunteers conduct inspections, make an annual report, conferences and cleaning campaigns when necessary in a river that passes through their municipality.

In 2005 a sector of ADEGA split and founded Verdegaia.^[3] ADEGA was criticized by Galiza non se vende (Galiza is not for sale, a network os social movements that has organized a series o mass protests since 2007.) for its excessive dependence of UPG and BNG.^[4]

References

• Beramendi, J. and Núñez Seixas, O Nacionalismo Galego, Edicións A Nosa Terra, Vigo, 1995.
• Various Authors, A Gran Historia de Galicia XIV: A Galicia autónoma (Dende a Transición), Edicións Arrecife, A Coruña, 2007.