Spain’s environment minister has said that a landmark agreement to safeguard one of Europe’s most important wetlands underscores the importance of harnessing public opinion to drive the green transition and help mitigate the effects of the climate emergency.
The Doñana in western Andalucía – whose marshes, forests and dunes extend across almost 130,000 hectares (320,000 acres) and include a Unesco-listed national park – has been at the centre of a furious national and international row over recent years.
Available reports suggest that Water supplies to the park have declined drastically over the past three decades because of climate breakdown, mining pollution, marsh drainage – and the boom in soft fruit cultivation.
A deal reached in November by Spain’s environment minister, Teresa Ribera, for €1.4bn (£1.2bn) of investment to help protect the area and diversify the local economy away from its reliance on soft fruit however provided a ray of hope.
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Reports also show that It had been well over a year in which a plan from the Andalucían regional government for an amnesty for the farmers who have been illegally tapping its aquifer to irrigate strawberry farms in the area around the park had led to dire warnings from environmental groups, the European Union and supermarket chains.
Reacting, Ribera said that the deal had been the result of internal and external pressure, a change in public opinion, and a concerted effort to engage with people in the region to explain the need for urgent action.
“There’s more of a future than strawberries and raspberries,” said Ribera. “And anyway, if you don’t look after the water, there will be no more strawberries or raspberries. I think that this change of mentality needs a very clear understanding.”
Recall that a report earlier this year from Spain’s national research council noted that 59% of Doñana’s large lakes had not been full since at least 2013, and that the area was in a “critical condition”. For the past two summers, Doñana’s largest permanent lake dried up completely and the park was recently removed from the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s green list for failing to meet the necessary standards.
The proposed increase in irrigable land is said to have also led a group of leading UK supermarkets – including Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Lidl, Aldi and Morrisons – to write to the Andalucían regional president warning him that the move risked damaging “the reputation and the long-term development of the region”.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
