Strawberries for Germany threaten Spanish natural paradise

The cultivation of strawberries, which are mainly eaten in Germany, threatens a natural paradise in Spain and causes a heated argument. The conservatively governed region of Andalusia announced this week that it would expand the permitted area under cultivation for the water-intensive “king fruit” by around 800 hectares directly on the Doñana wetland, which is threatened by drying out and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the south-west of the country.

“The scandal must be stopped”

Environmentalists and researchers are sounding the alarm, the EU is threatening sanctions, and Unesco is warning of the Doñana National Park being removed from the World Heritage List. The left central government in Madrid is also going on the barricades. “Doñana will not be touched!” Was the first reaction from Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. On the sidelines of an event in Bilbao, Sánchez reiterated his opposition: “If science, Unesco, the European Commission and Spanish and European court decisions say so (…), the scandal must be stopped”.

The dispute between politicians in Madrid, Seville and Brussels, between ecologists and farmers came to a head over the weekend. The Andalusia government hinted that Madrid was considering placing the region under receivership, as had only happened once in the Spanish democracy, at the end of 2017 with Catalonia because of its independence efforts. This initially caused a stir. But the representative of the Spanish Ministry of the Interior in Seville, Pedro Fernández, denied such plans on Saturday. However, Madrid does not want to remain inactive and has already threatened, among other things, with a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court.

Endless beaches and wetlands

The Doñana National Park was established in 1969. Together with an area protected as a nature park and a “buffer zone”, it covers a good 122,000 hectares and is therefore about half the size of Saarland. The Costa de la Luz wetland along the Guadalquivir River has a unique diversity of ecosystems. It is home to rich fauna and flora, including critically endangered species such as the imperial eagle, Iberian lynx and spur tortoise. And also shifting dunes, endless beaches, forests, bushes and swamps.

But the groundwater level has been falling dramatically for years, as WWF and other environmental protection organizations complain. The reason: Legal and illegal wells are used to divert large amounts of water, especially for fruit and vegetable plantations, but also for tourism.

Ecologists also blame man-made climate change and the lack of rain for the misery. According to the latest report from the biological station in the national park, almost 60 percent of all lagoons have dried up in the last ten years. In addition to legal irrigation, around a thousand new illegal deep wells have been dug in recent years, according to the WWF.

A kilo of strawberries, 300 liters of water

According to the WWF, around 300 liters of water are used to produce one kilo of strawberries. Animals and plants urgently need water. The WWF launched a signature campaign against Andalusia’s project, which had already been signed by almost 70,000 people on Saturday.

Strawberry cultivation also increases nitrate pollution in the water. The situation is becoming more and more dramatic, reported station manager Eloy Revilla. “We will be without Doñana, but also without agriculture and tourism,” he said in an interview published by the digital newspaper “Público” on Friday evening.

Spain had only received a serious rebuke in 2021 for neglecting one of the most important wetlands on earth. At the time, the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg upheld a complaint by the Commission and said that Spain had to make more efforts to protect it.

Germany’s strawberry hunger

But there is a major conflict of interest: Agriculture is the engine of the extremely underdeveloped Andalusian province of Huelva. Strawberries play a key role in this: According to the Interfresa association, the fruit provided 100,000 jobs in 2021 and almost eight percent of the gross income in Andalusia. Of the 360,000 tons produced in Spain in 2021, almost 324,000 tons came from Andalusia. Around a third, 113,000 tons, went to Germany, the world’s largest customer.

A solution is not in sight. On the contrary, ahead of the regional and local elections on May 28 and the general election later this year, the strawberry threatens to become another major confrontational issue. Conservative opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo accused Sánchez of ignoring the problems faced by peasant families in Andalusia. Madrid wants to profit from the conflict in the form of votes. “No one believes that the government is really interested in Doñana. She hasn’t bothered about it for years.”