| The Autonomous Community has already issued urgent measures prohibiting agricultural burns near homes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic | The Department of the Environment recalls that the Autonomous Community prohibited since the beginning of last May the burning of plant remains from pruning in areas close to the urban centers of the municipalities as a result of the central government decreeing the state of alarm for the COVID-19, whose Order was extended until September 30. Agricultural burning is prohibited unless a phytosanitary risk is found; Therefore, the Ministry for Ecological Transition responded to a question raised by the Region of Murcia about the regulations that regulate the incineration of plant remains and indicates that Law 22/2011 on waste and contaminated soils stipulates that burning must be carried out without endangering human health and without damaging the environment, while these must be carried out to prevent the spread of pests. The Ministry also emphasizes that from a technical point of view and in relation to the burning of plant remains, it is advisable to minimize as much as possible the burning of plant remains that are carried out for phytosanitary reasons. The Autonomous Community decided, at the end of June, to extend until September 30 the Order that prohibits agricultural burning of plant remains from pruning in areas close to urban centers, according to a new order included in the Official Gazette of the Region of Murcia (BORM). The aforementioned Order initially limited its application to the validity of the state of alarm, but later it was decided to also extend it to the summer months. The autonomous government responded in its day to the request of the Murcia Region Prosecutor's Office regarding the need for public administrations -the regional and local- to take measures in relation to agricultural burns and their impact on health and environment. In the current context, the Autonomous Community allows burning, on an exceptional basis, in those suitably justified cases, which are previously valued and authorized by the corresponding city council, given the impossibility of elimination through other priority systems such as their recovery by an authorized manager.
, or its incorporation into the soil by grinding or chopping. In any case, the regional order indicates that the exceptional burning must be carried out avoiding inconvenience to the neighbors and previously informing the Local Police or the Fire Fighting Service, who will be able to give specific instructions on how to carry it out. The Ministry also recalls that burning is the only solution to certain drought pests, such as "scotylids and big-headed worms", which take refuge in the remains of plant material generated on the farm itself, constituting a reservoir for certain harmful organisms that serve for their dissemination to neighboring plots, hence the exceptionality.
