Strawberries danger to environment - 17th June 2022

Doñana's a National Park in the south of Spain. It's one of the largest wetlands in Europe, but farming's putting its future in danger.

Flamingos and other birds usually live here. But now the wetlands are disappearing. Too much water's taken by strawberry farms.

The Andalucian government wants to increase how much water farmers can take.

Environmentalist Juan Romero works for Save Doñana.

Juan Romero: "Doñana is characterised as a wetland, and a wetland is the mouth of a river with water. And what we can see here is a dry land. A dry land is a desert. Doñana has no water, we've had a series of years of drought, it is true that it is a drought, but the waters of the aquifer, which are at surface level, maintained the lagoons. Those lagoons no longer exist in Doñana."

The Huelva area grows most of Spain's strawberries. Strawberry farming employs 100,000 people locally. People call strawberries 'red gold'.

The water problem's divided society. Farmers and politicians are against supermarkets and environmentalists, who want to look after Doñana's water supplies.

Juanjo Carmona's from the World Wildlife Fund. He's worried that there will be no water left for farmers.

Juanjo Carmona: "Agriculture has been based on taking water from the ground. If the groundwater runs out, agriculture dies. The only solution that the administration has proposed is to bring water from somewhere else. So, what we have to do is rethink the model in Doñana."

Some government politicians in Andalucia say the water problem is a lie. One of them's Rafael Segovia, president of the VOX party.

Rafael Segovia: "There is not a water problem. It's a lie, an artificial problem that has been created. Doñana is not in danger if we do these works."

International supermarkets disagree. They've written to the politicians and want a solution. Farmers worry that the supermarkets may buy strawberries from other places.