Somewhere in the city of Malaga, a controversial 15-ton block of iceberg awaits its turn in a huge container refrigerated at -22°C: before long, it will be on display for all to see, behind a window of the rue Larios – the Champs-Élysées of the city of Picasso – or another spot of maximum visibility. The objective: to let it liquefy little by little in front of the population to sharpen its awareness of the accelerated melting of glaciers, and therefore of their finiteness.
The leader of the polar expedition behind it, local explorer Manuel Calvo, explains the aim of this unique exhibition: “Bringing an iceberg to Spain will serve so that, right here, we can see something which it is even difficult to witness at the pole”, confides the one who was able to see a “thousand-year-old glacier disintegrate in the space of only five years”.
And added: “Everyone will be able to contemplate with their own eyes the imposing, pure, extraordinary character that this treasure of nature offers us. » The block of ice was transported as part of an expedition to Greenland that he led during the second half of July, along with five teenagers who had overcome cancer. They traveled a total of 592 kilometers, mainly by rubber dinghy, along the Qooqqut and Qaleraliq glaciers, sometimes hosted by Inuit.
Funded by the Dingonatura foundation – a natural food company for dogs and cats – and the region of Malaga, the crossing was also intended to collect biological samples for laboratories studying the climatological alterations of these northern territories.
Since the end of August, the prospect of seeing this big piece of iceberg melt has been controversial. If it arouses general curiosity, this kind of “performance” also provokes reservations, even pronounced rejections. The most vehement repulsion has come from environmental organizations, particularly Ecologistas en acción for whom this initiative is counterproductive. Transporting 15 tons of ice by boat would constitute an “energy waste,” a source of contamination and educational nonsense: “Exploiting an iceberg, already damaged, is not raising awareness about climate change,” denounces Librada Moreno, member of this NGO. “It’s a bit like trying to raise awareness about animal abuse by organizing a bullfight! Clearly, it’s greenwashing,” adds Carmen Segura, another environmental leader.
Opposite, among the initiators of this “Operation Iceberg” – which is in the eighth annual edition of the Arctic Challenge with young people – we are trying to play down the drama. “Fifteen tonnes from a piece of glacier is the equivalent of what evaporates every second in Greenland. It’s a drop of water in an ocean. And, if this can serve to mobilize awareness, we will have moved forward,” reacts Manuel Calvo defensively. The explorer also points out other similar experiments which have not, according to him, sparked such controversy. Like a 4-tonne iceberg exhibited in Glasgow on the occasion of COP26 or these pieces of ice exhibited by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson in Paris, London or Copenhagen for the same purpose of raising awareness on global warming climatic.
If, in the Málaga region, the affair meets with much reluctance, it is because the expedition and transport of the tip of the iceberg were mainly financed by public funds – which does not fail to cause cries of home to political opposition on the left, the region being governed by an alliance between conservatives and the far right. The Dingonatura foundation’s promise to compensate for the energy expenditure by financing reforestation projects was not enough to calm people’s minds. In particular because the Andalusian port and the surrounding municipalities are particularly affected by heat waves, drought and related water restrictions.
“To be aware of climate change, there is no need to transport an iceberg thousands of kilometers, the proof is before our eyes! » enrages a local radio speaker. Andalusia’s water reservoirs are at 22%, the worst level in its history; as for Viñuela, the embalse east of Malaga that irrigates subtropical crops of mangoes and avocados, it is only at a critical 8.4%. The last lagoon of Doñana, the Spanish Camargue, has just dried up. Earlier this week, Andalusian President Juan Manuel Moreno warned his fellow citizens that they should “expect painful measures to come.” Meanwhile, the people of Malaga are about to watch 15 tonnes of a Greenland iceberg melt in real time.