Statement

The European Committee of International Union of Socialist Youth calls for the protection of Doñana’s Natural Park, as well as other European parks that face the same issues, as a generational duty.

The Doñana Natural Park, located in southern Spain, is one of the most valuable ecosystems of European biodiversity. This environment is home to unique and seriously endangered species, as well as a transit, breeding and wintering enclave for a significant number of European and African birds.

The situation caused by the climate emergency and the irresponsible attitude of political forces of the Spanish right and extreme right are generating an ecological disaster in a space classified as a priority by national and international legislation. The deterioration suffered by the national park could be irreversible for the rich biodiversity that they host and that is disappearing at a forced march, as denounced by the scientific community.

The Doñana Park houses an aquifer of 2409 square km, essential to maintain the lagoons of this natural space. Irrigation has increased by more than 30% in less than 10 years, with a large percentage of illegal and unauthorised water collections. Consequently, the proliferation of more than 1,000 illegal wells in the aquifer is overexploiting the reserves and accelerating the disappearance of a large number of flora and fauna, generating the elimination of amphibians, native turtles, insects, fish, and aquatic plants.

The popular party (EPP) and Vox (European Conservative and Reformist Party) have approved in the regional parliament of Andalusia (Spain) to regularize and institutionalize this unsustainable practice and expand the irrigated area with the terrible consequences that will further deepen the problem. The CSIC, WWF, the Government of Spain and the European Commission have questioned this new legislative reform that threatens the ecological balance of an environment declared a World Heritage Site and recognized internationally.

For all these reasons, from the European Committee meeting of IUSY in Berlin on April 20, 21 and 22, 2023 we demand:

1. That the Andalusian regional government stop this bill that is harmful to European biodiversity and only responds to the lack of commitment in the fight against the climate emergency that we are already suffering.

2. That the European Commission and the Government of Spain protect the environment of Doñana, as well as other European important spaces for the environment, with more actions, making impossible future laws aimed at destroying a very important reserve for the continent.

3. That our organizations intensify awareness of the climate emergency and the duty to protect biodiversity as a generational task.