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ARCHIVED - Brussels warns Spain against expanding irrigation around Donana National Park in Andalucia
Water levels are already running dangerously low in the aquifer in the Huelva wetlands
Brussels has demanded this week that Spain ensure the “strict protection” of the Doñana National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site, after the regional Andalucían government revealed plans to rezone more farms in the wetlands so they can expand irrigation.
Previous plans to expand irrigation in the area of Doñana were left on hold but the scheme has been put back on the table ahead of the municipal elections on May 28.
Water supplies on the 74,000-hectare site in Huelva are already drying up thanks to a combination of illegal tapping of the aquifer by farmers and the scorching summer of 2022, which resulted in drought alarms being raised up and down the country.
In a letter sent from the head of the EU’s Directorate General for the Environment to the Spanish government, Florika Fink-Hooijer insisted 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.”
The Superior Court of the European Union has already reprimanded Spain in the past for neglecting Doñana and demanded its commitment to preserving this natural area, and Andalucían detractors have warned that the community faces fresh fines if the plans go ahead without EU authorisation.
"What the European Union has done again, in addition to making us blush, is to warn that if the bill prospers, the corresponding sanctioning measures will be taken and they will return to court for repeated non-compliance," cautioned local government delegate Pedro Fernández.
Spain’s Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, described the warning letter from the European Commission as obvious and full of common sense.
“Those responsible for the environment cannot authorise the depletion of its resources," she summed up.
Image: Technische Fred via Wikimedia Commons
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