Renewed plans by regional politicians in southern Spain to expand irrigation near the prized Doñana wetlands, which scientists and ecologists say are in danger of drying up will not be tolerated, the European Union has warned .
Florika Fink-Hooijer, the head of the EU’s Directorate General for the Environment, told Spain’s government that it is “necessary to immediately ensure the strict protection of Doñana’s exceptional natural treasures, especially taking into account that rainfall is increasingly scarce due to climate change” in a letter seen by reporters.
The Doñana wetlands are a UNESCO world heritage site and considered one of Europe’s key biospheres. They sit on an estuary where the Guadalquivir River meets the Atlantic Ocean, and their 74,000 hectares (182,000 acres) are a wintering site for a half-million waterfowl and a stopover spot for millions of other birds that migrate from Africa to northern Europe.
Read also: CITES sanctions Mexico for not protecting endangered porpoise
However, the park’s lagoons and marshes are shrinking under pressure from local farmers, some of whom use illegal wells to tap its underlying aquifer. A drought during a record-hot 2022 for Spain has also worsened the situation.
However, the conservative Popular Party that governs southern Andalusia is again pushing forward a proposed law that would rezone more farmland near the park as irrigable, a year after the party had shelved a similar initiative. Now they have it back on the agenda before municipal elections across Spain on May 28.
In 2021, the European Court of Justice condemned Spain for neglecting the wetlands. That was followed by a first letter from Fink-Hooijer who called on Spain to take improved action. The central government responded with a plan to speed up the closing of illegal wells near the park, a plan to reroute surface water from a nearby river basin, and by pledging 350 million euros ($377 million) to protect the reserve.
Fink-Hooijer warned in her second letter that Spain could face a fine this time if authorities continue to fail in their duty to safeguard Doñana.
Story was adapted from HDN.
