Percepción social del riesgo ambiental sobre la salud en áreas degradadas por la minería metálicael caso del El Llano del Beal, (t.m. de Cartagena) en el sureste de la Península Ibérica

Résumé

The Sierra Minera de La Unión-Cartagena, located in the Region of Murcia, in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, has been an area of great activity and socio-economic development closely linked to mining and metallurgical activities. The stoppage of mining in the early 1990s has left behind a territory surrounded by Mining Environmental Liabilities (MAP). We are facing a socio-ecological conflict in which numerous territorial, socio-environmental, political-administrative and, in recent times, health crises have developed, where the main problem of the MAPs remains unresolved. In this research we focus on the whole social process that has arisen from the revelation, to public opinion, of the possible dangers to health, due to the presence of these mining wastes that surround the population centre of El Llano del Beal, located in the Diputación del Beal, in the municipality of Cartagena, taking into account the damage to people's health, derived from the exposure to heavy and transition metals, present in these mining wastes. A model has been developed to interpret the Social Perception of Environmental Health Risk (PSRAS) adapted to the social environment of the neighbouring community of El Llano del Beal, one of the villages most affected by mining and metallurgical activities in the Sierra Minera. Between 2017 and 2018, semi-structured interviews were conducted in 235 households in El Llano del Beal. In addition, the main social actors of the neighbourhood community, scientific experts and political-administrative leaders were interviewed. Two focus groups were also carried out in 2022. The information obtained was analysed through a mixed approach, using quantitative and qualitative methods. The main results of the research show how the Social Perception of Environmental Health Risk is structured on the basis of the established dimensions. It explores in depth those elements that determine whether or not the risks of mining are perceived by the subjects. The main conclusions highlight the need to improve and train the populations exposed to MAPs in order to minimise possible damage to health and to improve the information strategies of the competent administrations for the adaptation of the subjects to the particular socio-environmental environment.