Wetlands threat

Up to 1,000 illegal wells could be ‘regularised’ at Doñana National Park

THE Junta de Andalucia has ignored the European Commission to approve introducing a bill that may see 1,000 illegal wells bordering the protected Doñana wetlands made legal.

In a moment of political theatre during a recent debate in parliament, leftist politician Maribel Mora Grande dumped a jar of sand from Doñana on the parliamentary seat of the regional premier, Juanma Moreno Bonilla of the conservative Popular Party (PP), in protest.

The legislation won the backing of the governing PP and far-right Vox, with 72 votes in favour from a total of 109 seats.

But Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has vowed to do everything he can to save Doñana from the ‘hands of the PP and Vox, who want to plunder the environment’.

Teresa Ribera, the minister for environmental transition, said that she was ‘very

On alert

ANDALUCIA has been put on fire alert 15 days sooner than normal.

The prolonged drought has led the Junta to bring forward the forest fire contingency alert which is commonly implemented around May 1.

Some 2,500 firemen and 120 vehicles have been placed on standby to tackle potential blazes as part of the plan.

A ban on agricultural burning has also been extended to April 24 from its original 10 day prohibition starting on April 1. In the first three months of the year some 46,255 hectares have already burned to the ground across Spain.

By Simon Hunter

angry’ with regional premier Juanma Moreno, saying that an increase to the watering of crops in the area would be ‘an outrage’ on the basis that there is not enough water there to do so.

Under the plan, agricultural land that is currently illegal would be regularised. Environmental NGO WWF estimates that there are around 1,000 illegal wells in the area that are being used to supply these farms.

The water levels in the aquifer are at their lowest in decades, while the reservoirs are currently at 25% due to

THREATENED: Millions of birds stop at Doñana illegal wells, drought and the water supply for the nearby tourist destination of Matalascañas.

Doñana is a wintering site for half a million waterfowl and a stopover spot for millions

FOR a long time, many politically correct vegans and vegetarians have been expounding the virtues of a meat-free diet based on moral and ethical beliefs.

Science now supports this concept as cows produce massive amounts of methane (from both ends!), a gas that has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere. Even though CO2 has a longer-lasting effect, methane sets the pace for warming in the near term.

At least 25% of today’s global warming is driven