Strawberry farm amnesty threatens Spanish World Heritage Site

The Doñana wetlands provide a sanctuary for millions of migratory birds and endangered species

The Doñana Natural Park in Spain is a protected nature reserve featuring a wide variety of ecosystems and wildlife, including several endangered species. Wildlife campaigners fear government plans to grant an amnesty to illegal strawberry farmers will cause irreparable damage to one of the most important biospheres in Europe. AFP
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The World Wildlife Foundation has berated “shocking” plans by Spain to pass a law that it says will threaten the conservation of one of the “greatest natural wonders.”

Located where the Guadalquivir River reaches the Atlantic Ocean, the Doñana wetlands are considered one of the most valuable marshlands in Europe, but government plans to allow more unlawful strawberry farming there would irreparably damage the “critical” biosphere, say campaigners.

“This shocking law would protect illegal strawberry farms rather than the irreplaceable Doñana wetlands, which are critical to restoring nature and strengthening climate resilience in Spain,” said Stuart Orr, manager of global freshwater at WWF. “It would also reward the illegal occupation, deforestation and conversion of public forest land into strawberry farms.”

Situated within the Doñana National Park, the marshlands provide a sanctuary for millions of migratory birds and endangered species, such as the Imperial Eagle and Iberian Lynx.

The nature reserve was established in 1969 after the government and WWF jointly purchased a section of marshes to protect it. However, mining, farming, tourism and infrastructure development have continued to pose serious threats to the area.

New legislation proposed by the regional government of Andalusia in southern Spain would grant an amnesty for another 1,460 hectares — equivalent to 2,000 football fields of strawberry farming on the public forest land.

Activists fear the farms' pumping of water to irrigate their crops is drying up the aquifer that sustains Doñana and posing a “grave threat” to the estuary, which is both a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance and a World Heritage Site.

“We are calling on the authorities to do the exact opposite of this proposed law and focus instead on closing all the illegal farms and restoring Doñana, which will boost biodiversity and build climate resilience,” said Mr Orr. “Doñana is part of our shared heritage. It is too important for people and nature to be sacrificed for some illegal strawberry farms.”

Last year, the European Court of Justice ruled that Spain had broken EU law through the “excessive extractions of groundwater” in the Doñana for the intensive cultivation of strawberries. In the same year, Unesco, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands issued 15 recommendations to safeguard Doñana.

The WWF says the proposed amnesty contradicts the Spanish government’s official endorsement of the Leaders Pledge for Nature, the commitment by 93 countries to take urgent steps to reverse nature loss and create a nature-positive future by 2030.

“If the Spanish authorities do not halt this destructive law, it will send a very clear signal that the government is not serious about its pledges to halt nature loss and conserve critical ecosystems,” said Mr Orr. “Worse, it will embolden others to illegally drain, divert, pollute and destroy the rivers and wetlands that sustain communities, economies and wildlife.”

Updated: January 25, 2022, 6:57 PM