UNESCO-Listed Doñana National Park Aqueduct Damaged by Five Farmers in Illegal Water Extraction - Spain

A court decision revealed that five farmer siblings who extracted water illegally from an aqueduct serving the UNESCO-listed Doñana National Park in Spain, which is threatened by droughts and excessive water extraction, were sentenced to more than three years in prison.

Illegally Extracting Water

According to the judgment from September 18, the farmers--four men and a woman--were found responsible for crimes against the environment and inflicting harm by the "systematic and extensive extraction" of water-feeding Doñana National Park.

Doñana, one of the biggest and most biodiverse wetlands in Europe, is found in southern Andalusia.

If upheld by a higher court, it would mark the first decision involving a jail term for unlawfully drawing water from Doñana, a location that has come to represent Spain's increasing water shortage, which is sparking intense political discussion.

The groundwater supplies were left in "poor condition" as a result of the siblings' 19 million cubic liters of water extraction for their Hato Blanco Viejo property between 2008 and 2013, it added.

The permanent lagoons also became seasonal as a result of the siblings' reduced water levels.

The Guadalquivir Water Authority, the government agency in charge of managing local water resources, will also receive €2 million in compensation from the defendants, who have received over twelve fines for water-related offenses since the 1990s.

The five farmers are banned from growing crops for two years.

UNESCO-Listed Doñana National Park

Doñana, a complex ecosystem of lagoons, marshes, woodlands, and dunes covering 100,000 hectares, is home to numerous rare species, including the Iberian lynx, and is on the yearly migratory route of millions of birds.

Due to a protracted drought and the threat of intensive agriculture in the region, the park has been struggling.

With a draft law attempting to regularize berry farms that are watered by unauthorized wells, Andalusia's right-wing regional administration is striving to extend irrigation rights close to the park despite concerns from UNESCO and the European Commission.

Voting for the bill will take place in the coming weeks, and environmental organizations fear that if it passes, it might legalize the cultivation of 3,700 acres of crops and endanger the reserve's future.

In that case, the left-wing government of Spain has promised to file an appeal, and UNESCO has warned that the park risked losing its designation as a protected world heritage site.

The draft bill was crucial in the political campaigning leading up to municipal elections in May.

Drought in Spain

The largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the European Union is Spain, which is also the world's largest exporter of olive oil.

The drought is "suffocating" 80% of Spanish farmland, according to The COAG Union, and has already resulted in the "irreversible loss" of more than 12.3 million acres of grain harvests, it added.

The lack of rainfall, according to the organization, has almost destroyed all of the wheat and rye harvests in eight regions of Spain.

The 320,000 tons of annual rice production in the area is almost certainly going to end.

Vegetable crops and cotton output in the region are also anticipated to be badly damaged.

The famed olive groves of Andalusia are also in "extremely critical condition," with predictions that some regions may only see 20% of normal harvests. Almond trees that require a lot of water are in a much worse situation.