The park of a thousand controversies

• Environment: Doñana, year II: The time for restocking is here

In the summer of 1969 there were three simultaneous events, which result even premonitory. The Government declared the urbanization of Matalascañas of tourist interest; FAO gave its approval to irrigation in the Rocío environment; and the Doñana national park was created. Today, 50 years later , the lyrics have changed, but not the hornet's music that results in this coexistence between development and sustainability. A group of people who manage the territory in one way or another reflect on the socio-natural ecosystem that is Doñana.

"Once, I accompanied a biologist from Kazakhstan and, already in the Doñana Palace, in the heart of the park, he asked me when we were going to arrive in Doñana: I did not see the virginity he imagined," recalls Juanjo Negro, former director of the Biological Station Doñana is the creation of man and, at the same time, ecological paradise . The human pressure of the environment makes "unnatural" a space that struggles to maintain itself as an example of conservation in its four ecosystems. The effort is titanic and full of conflicts.

One of the sectors that humanize the space is the farmer. Some 1,700 cows and horses graze inside. The secretary of the Marismeño Livestock Association, Sergio Nogales, believes that Doñana "has a very complicated management, is of large dimensions and with varied uses, even drug entry occurs." This complication stems from the crossing of interests. "For those who think as farmers or exploit the environment, Doñana is a limitation; who looks at ecotourism, Doñana is a gold mine."

In an unknown corner, where the rice field ends and the river and national park meet, Veta la Palma is located. This spectacular space for natural aquaculture has the biologist Miguel Medialdea as manager. "We must convince the environment that not only economic is the impetus for conservation . Conservation is a continuous struggle without any pretense of winning the battle immediately," he says in a 'factory' with visits of 250 species of birds, property of the giant Ebro Foods.

"Doñana is more than a simple economy, it has a multitude of cultural, biological values ​​... what does FC Barcelona mean for Barcelona, ​​only money? No, there is a compendium of non-quantitative values", reflects from Veta la Palma.

Doñana's values ​​include cultural ones. No one debates this. But in the nuances is the conflict , something so 'natural' here. Juanjo Negro states that "cultural aspects over natural ones predominate, and there is an almost pathological interest in crushing these. It seems that the only ones who can speak with Doñana property are strawberry farmers, older brothers or those who live there and, everyone else, were invaders. "

Hermelindo Castro was the general director of all Andalusian protected areas from 2000 to 2004, and then coordinator of Doñana 2005. "Doñana is still in his labyrinth, everyone disguises himself as an ecologist, scientist, politician ...- and when he arrives in Doñana, which is like a super-lit amphitheater , he is already his character, people become 'doñaniza'. "

Castro has lived out escorted by the Civil Guard of the City Council of Villamanrique. Hundreds of exalted people shouted 'neither cats nor ducks' to make it clear that the rural road to Rocío, where six lynxes had been run over in months, would be paved as a road yes or yes.

"A shared space of what each of the sectors think is always lacking in Doñana. As everyone disguises themselves as their guild, the possibility of seeking consensual proposals is very difficult, Doñana's outbreaks are brutal," adds this renowned expert, also former president of Europarc Spain.

A certain pessimism also seizes Doñana's oldest director, Alberto Ruiz Larramendi, 12 years in command. "The conflict will be its stigma almost always, it has no solution for something simple: it is embedded in a completely transformed territory: in a radius of 100 km there are more than 2 million people and the most vital area of ​​Andalusia in the economic."

Larramendi considers that the internal problems, of management, "have practically disappeared, there is a good agreement with the territory, for example with the cattle; the tensions derive from the external uses, in particular the agricultural ones. They must be maintained, because many people live; but Doñana too, is a heritage of all.

If someone has experience in command is Francisco Bella, mayor of Almonte for 20 years, respected in his village and criticized outside. "The thing has worsened," says who has won the elections again after creating his own party. "We have not advanced and conflicts reappear because of the distance with people, such as agriculture, tourism, and especially social."

He continues in his main thesis: " Almonte suffers sacrifices , it is evident; here someone should think what to do that does not harm and generate benefits, people have the feeling that they have taken away use of the territory, that they are considered enemies of space when, for example, there is no doubt that the fire of 2017 stopped thanks to the farmers. "

Bella, who is not mayor after a pact of all against him, believes that "the structure of the national park is autistic, the Council has not appeared, and there are municipalities that think that Doñana will give a lot of money and, if there is not , they go".

Juanjo Negro has his own points in this landscape. "The worst are the barbarities of scientists that have been sold, which is a perverse form of prevarication; they express non-scientific opinions that attempt to impersonate such interests." Hermelindo Castro regrets reminding "some managers who acted as researchers, and some researchers who wanted to act as managers; they all felt morally strong so that their opinion became management, the roles were overlapping."

In Doñana there are those who do not love Doñana . "There are people here who disagree with the existence of the park because it limits them; I do not share that idea, but I can understand it," says the president of the cooperative that makes the visits, Gonzalo Dorado.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Civil Guard
• FC Barcelona
• FAO
• Spain
• Barcelona
• Andalusia

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