Seven months after its entry in the register of the Andalusian Parliament, the PP and Vox bill to expand irrigation in the Doñana area is already in the oven, ready for approval by the plenary session of the Chamber on the 27th. coinciding with the first day of voting for the investiture of Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The Andalusian government, which has hidden behind the parliamentary groups to avoid the collection of technical reports that it would inevitably have had to request if the proposal had been treated as a bill, can claim victory, albeit with little progress. The incumbent central government will launch a “damaging” challenge to the law at the Constitutional Court once it is published on grounds of abuse of power.
The Development Commission of the Andalusian Parliament approved this Tuesday the opinion on the draft bill, with the same support with which it was submitted: the vote of the 67 deputies who make up the absolute majority of the PP (53) and Vox (14), and the Rejection of the 37 left-wing groups (PSOE, Por Andalucía and mixed group Adelante Andalucía). Apart from some legislative technical corrections, the initiative maintains its goal of changing land use and classifying drylands as irrigable agricultural land. The proposal does not specify the hectares, but the government says it will be around 700 hectares. These hectares were left out of the so-called Huelva County Strawberry Plan, approved in 2014 and which regulated around 9,400 hectares in one fell swoop.
There is no water for these 700 hectares unless its owners steal it (or continue to steal it) from the aquifer that feeds the national park, one of Europe’s most important wetlands, which is at an “unsustainably critical point,” he said the experts. Scientists at the Doñana CSIC Biological Station. These crops are irrigated with surface water from the diversion of the Tinto, Odiel and Piedras rivers, not with water from the Doñana aquifer, which is “overexploited.” However, this transfer of almost 20 cubic hectometers is already established for the areas with water rights. And the transfer work was not carried out. And these lands will have no water, but the law will increase their value in the market.
The law will be repealed immediately, as announced by the Secretary of State for the Environment of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Hugo Morán. In an interview with eldiario.es published on the 16th, he assured: “Submitting an appeal to the Constitutional Court will be disastrous.” Parliament’s lawyers assure that while the powers of an incumbent government will be limited to dealing with ordinary matters must, however, it is possible to lodge an appeal on grounds of urgency and public interest when the three-month period available to it approaches and there is no new possibility Government.
The date chosen by the PP for the final approval will coincide with the media focus that lies on the Congress of Deputies for the inauguration of Feijóo, although everything that concerns Doñana is covered by the European Commission, UNESCO, the executive central government and the scientific community is persecuted. everything against the expansion of irrigation in the natural area.
The promotion of the standard coincides with UNESCO’s notification to Spain that it will establish new indicators to determine the consideration of Doñana as a World Heritage Site. The UN agency demanded from the government a review report on the situation of Huelva National Park based on the criteria used to add it to the list of world heritage sites in 1994. Eva Saiz reports.
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These criteria are VIII, IX and X (according to which places or monuments with a special environmental character are examined). The first focuses on the unique feature of the swamps, forests, beaches and lagoons; The second relates to the formation of different ecosystems and their special features, such as the formation of very dynamic dune ranges; The third part refers to the great diversity of flora and fauna, especially birds, and lists the species and specimens that are threatened worldwide. “With the update of the criteria 20 years later, UNESCO must now establish new indicators to determine whether they continue to meet the requirements for inclusion on the list of protected cultural heritage,” explains Juanjo Carmona, WWF spokesman in Huelva.
In the debate, the socialist Mario Jiménez alluded to UNESCO’s warning and called for the law to be withdrawn for the umpteenth time. “In Doñana there is no other way than dialogue. “This law damages the environmental credibility of Andalusia and the reputation of the strawberry because you have imposed your vision and despise that of others,” he said. He also accused the PP of “cheating” farmers in the area: “They promised them water and that is a lie.”
The spokesperson for Por Andalucía (Sumar’s Andalusian brand), Inma Nieto, explained that this law “puts the finishing touches” on Doñana. “They consider countries that have done things illegally to be legal. It will give a green card to farmers who have not done their job well and have provided unfair competition to farmers who have justified every liter of water. “It’s worrying,” he stressed.
The spokesperson for the mixed Adelante group, Maribel Mora, called the proposal a “deviation and a disgrace because it legalizes dry areas for irrigation and grants an amnesty to people who tap water.”
The popular Manuel Andrés González reacted angrily to this accusation. “No farmer will be given amnesty. Those who granted amnesty are others. “They are lying, they did not promise water, but compensation for the enormous damage that the PSOE governments have inflicted on hundreds of families.”
The left-wing groups have not participated in the amendment process because they believe that the law does not contain any corrections and the only thing that can be done is to withdraw it.
WWF spokesman Juanjo Carmona described Andalusian President Juan Manuel Moreno as “absolutely irresponsible” and assured that “the amnesty law for illegal irrigators certifies that the corrupt practices carried out in Doñana have been admitted and are “there” is a call for them to continue Production.”
In parallel with the final phase of the law, the Andalusian government is continuing the purchase of 7,500 hectares of the Veta la Palma farm south of the reserve for around 70 million euros. The Ministry of Finance has approved the operation, which will be financed 60% from European funds and the rest from the Board’s own resources. The fish farms of this farm hosted the largest bird population in Doñana, with 27,455 specimens last year, 34% of the total, according to data from the Doñana Biological Station-CSIC, since it is not affected by the lack of rain since its flood comes from the river.
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