Samantha Mordi
SPAIN could be the home of the first national park to be classed as ‘in danger’.
Doñana park in Sevilla has lost its natural water due to marsh drainage and intensive agriculture.
It leaves Spain until December 1 to declare the greenery as ‘off limits’.
The wetlands are home to around 2,000 different species of animals, including flamingoes and the endangered Iberian lynx.
Around 80% of the water has been lost, with regulators from UNESCO urging Spain to disclose it as a national problem.
The land, which stretches 540 square kilometres, usually receives its water from the Guadalquivir and Guadiamar rivers which are now in short supply.
Eva Hernandez, a spokeswoman for WWF said: “Doñana’s biodiversity has eroded over the last 40 years and we are reaching a point of no return,”
“We could do things to recover the park – and some things are being done – but the pressures on it from private and public companies are becoming unbearable. We must decide whether it is more important to consume all of Doñana’s resources or to preserve its biodiversity and services to the people.”
No new ground here. Donana’s deterioration has been well documented for 30 years. Surrounded by agriculture on one side and unchecked condos and hotels inside the park … Donana has never met the classic test of a national park for 30 years.
Why bother nobody care these days it won`t be long till the earth is completely ruined all the animals dead and birds fighting for their survival we have become a world of uncaring people only interested in our own personal problems and self interest`s.
Bit defeatist Alan. Have a little low-down and come back fighting. Where there’s life, there’s hope. Give up the strawberries for a start.
Hope is for dummies on their way to the death camp – discard hope and grasp reality. Another classic example of all that’s wrong with the big business orientated EU. It would have been so easy for the EU to stop this happening, like bull murder in Spain and southern France. To stamp out most hunting across the EU countries. The slaughter of migrating birds in Malta,Italy,Spain and France – it will never happen.
So what precisely are you doing stefanjo – are you practising what you are preaching – of course not, otherwise you would have informed the forum.
Alan – sad but true.