The Organization of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) wants to urge Spain to take urgent measures for the recovery of the Doñana aquifer (the Almonte-Marismas detrital aquifer). The organization warns that if the deterioration of the aquifer is not reversed, it «could create the conditions for the inscription of the property on the World Heritage List in Danger.»
This is expressed in the draft of the 47th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage of Unesco that is taking place in Paris (France) and will continue until June 16. As indicated by the coordinator of the Doñana Office of WWF, Juanjo Carmona, the final approval of the text will take place on Wednesday.
In the text, to which Europa Press has had access, the international organization has stated that it «observes with great concern that three of the five underground water masses of the Doñana aquifer are still in a quantitatively poor state due to continuous overexploitation.» Among other things, Spain has been urged to urgently implement measures related to the «evaluation of groundwater recharge rates and the establishment of enforceable and sustainable extraction thresholds» based on a functional and public hydrogeological model that should already be in place.
Additionally, it has emphasized that the recommendations of the 2020 Unesco, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Ramsar mission must be «fully» implemented. These include the urgent implementation by the Andalusian government of the Special Plan for the Regulation of Irrigation Areas located north of the Doñana Forest Crown and the drafting of a Doñana Climate Change Adaptation Program to be developed by the Andalusian administration.
WWF’s Doñana Office coordinator, Juanjo Carmona, represents the organization at the Paris meeting, where the NGO participates as an observer. In statements to Europa Press, Carmona has pointed out that although the text is a draft, there is a «99% chance» that it will be approved as it is, as far as WWF knows, «there is no one interested» in opening a discussion on the matter.
«This resolution is now taken to the Heritage Committee, which has two options: it can approve it as it is, without changing a single comma, or open the discussion. The discussion is opened if a country from the Committee requests it. Normally it does so on behalf of the corresponding country. For example, since Spain is not on the Committee, it would have to be done by Greece, Belgium, etc. (…) One of them would have to open it. Either because an organization, such as ourselves, as observers, requested it, or because one of the states requested it,» he explained.
FUENTE
