Unesco is "concerned" by the changes in the irrigation regulations in the Doñana area and its World Heritage Committee will study the situation at its next meeting, with the inclusion of the park in southern Spain on its heritage list in danger among the options to consider.
Unesco sources told EFE this Thursday that, although it is still very early and this kind of process requires several preliminary steps, the inclusion of Doñana on the list of World Heritage in Danger is "one option among others" that could be discuss at a meeting to be held in Saudi Arabia at the end of the summer.
"In September, the World Heritage Committee will re-examine the state of conservation of the site. During this meeting the Committee will be able to take any necessary decision, including the possibility of inscribing the site on the List of World Heritage in Danger," the sources said. .
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization also recalled that, in recent years, this same committee has been "constantly expressing its concern about the overexploitation of the Doñana aquifer and its possible repercussions", since the park It was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1994.
"The increasing drying up of the water masses in the area is directly affecting the populations of aquatic birds and is aggravated by the recent exceptional drought and puts the exceptional biodiversity of the Doñana Natural Park at serious risk," the sources stressed.
That is why Unesco "is concerned about the reports on possible changes" related to the "Special Plan for the Management of Irrigated Areas located to the North of the Doñana Forest Crown", since recently the conservative government of Andalusia has approved the procedures for a law, which plans to formally expand the irrigated area where Doñana is located.
Already in 2021, the Heritage Committee had already asked Spain to implement its policies to close all illegal wells. "We continue to work with the State party (Spain) to guarantee that this is done and the universal value of the place is protected," the sources stressed.
Declared a Biosphere Reserve park by Unesco (1980) and a World Heritage Site (1994), Doñana is one of the best-known protected areas in Europe that covers a dozen municipalities in Huelva, Seville and Cádiz through two formal figures: the National Park (1969) and Natural Park, created in 1989 and expanded in 1997.
In addition to the confrontation between the Spanish government and the Junta de Andalucía (of opposite political signs) over plans to formally expand the irrigated area in Doñana, the European Union has also expressed its concern to the European Commission, despite the fact that the Andalusian authorities They maintain that it will not affect the aquifers.
