After the environmental deterioration of the Mar Menor, social movements of resistance emerged in 2015 demanding a change to an ecocentric paradigm with the search for solutions based on nature. With the success of a Popular Legislative Initiative (Mar Menor ILP), these social mobilizations achieve the approval of Law 19/2022, of September 30, a historical milestone at the European level that grants rights of nature through the recognition of legal personality to the natural space of the Mar Menor and its basin. The importance of this law resides in the conceptualization of the Mar Menor as a living being that must be protected, conserved and with the right to exist per se before any other intervention in this tourist destination._x000D_
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This communication investigates the analysis of the governmental narratives and the counter-narratives of the social movements of resistance that emerged in the tourist destination of the Mar Menor as a response of social resilience to the crisis of this natural space, and seeks to understand how the problem, its causes, solutions and reasons to act in a context of digital activism. To do this, the Benford & Snow (2000)’s Social Action Framing Theory is applied in the content analysis of 53 videos on the YouTube social media. What value is given to tourism, the presence of eco-feminist concepts, the role of sense of place and emotions are investigated. _x000D_
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The reasons for the emergence of social movements of resistance lie in the lack of effectiveness of the existing legal and political-administrative mechanisms to solve the ecosocial crisis of the Mar Menor. Tourism appears as a strategic sector in the area and is the object of concern, especially in the counter-narratives. The research serves to understand how social movements of resistance are shaped in a digital environment as a resilient response to environmental and socioeconomic problems in a relevant tourist destination._x000D_
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Francisco Jerez Legaz
PhD Candidate in Tourism – Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

 
ID Abstract: 594