Doñana national park is one of Europe’s largest protected wetlands. The berries grown around the park make a definite contribution to the economy of the Spain’s Southern region. The regional government intends to legalize 1,416 hectares of farms with no access to water for irrigation which has raised the hackles of environmental organizations.
The battle for water has never ceased in the Doñana area, but it is intensified by this Andalusian regional government's initiative of legalizing 1,500 more hectares of berries. It is a war between political parties, between environmentalists and the Andalusian government, and also between the growers themselves.
Ten years ago, WWF Spain reported "the abusive and unsustainable extraction of water in the Doñana area for the intensive cultivation of strawberries and other berries, in the face of total inaction and repeated non-compliance by the Spanish authorities, the local town councils, the regional government and the national government" to the European Commission. The EC finally took Spain to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) in 2019. In June last year, the CJEU concluded that "disproportionate groundwater abstractions" in Doñana were in breach of the Water Framework and Habitats Directives and instructed Spain to implement measures to restore the situation.
The parties supporting the current regularization justify their proposal on the need to normalize the situation of farmers with "historical rights who have been dedicated to strawberry cultivation for decades".
Previously, in 1988, a first plan regularized irrigated lands that not allowed by the 1978 Doñana Park Law. In 2004, another new plan wiped the slate clean, as happened in 2014 and is happening now in 2022.
The most optimistic calendar would allow the initiative to be approved within two months, before the Andalusian president dissolves the parliament to call elections in June, as is being considered. During the parliamentary procedure changes may occur as inter-party negotiating is possible.
The berry sector in Huelva
Huelva is one of the eight provinces of Andalusia and the one with the lowest GDP per inhabitant. The cultivation of strawberries and other berries represents 8.3% of its provincial GDP. In Andalusia, the agricultural sector represents 7.2% of the regional GDP and at national level it is 3%.
A former mayor of the area proposes the alternative of a desalination plant, as done in Almería, another intensive agriculture province. But, as WWF argues, the outflow of the brine outfall would be a serious ecological obstacle on the Doñana coast.