Project Profiles - Spain

Doñana: A Place Too Precious to Lose
by Eva Hernández Herrero, World Wildlife Fund/Adena

Doñana, a 300,000-hectare region in southwest Spain, holds one of the most important wetlands in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. Seasonal wetlands are surrounded by mobile dunes and different types of Mediterranean bushland and forests, as well as by farmland, all of which contribute to the maintenance of exceptional biodiversity. Doñana provides habitat for 875 plant and 226 bird species, as well as numerous species of fishes, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. Because of its extraordinary ecological value, Doñana was declared a Wetland of International Importance (1982) under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and a Biosphere Reserve (1980) and World Heritage Site (1994) by the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, otherwise known as UNESCO.

Doñana is vital as an annual stopover point for over 6 million migratory birds, representing species such as Eurasian spoonbill, greater flamingo, glossy ibis, avocet, and greylag goose. Up to 60,000 greylag geese alone feed and winter in this area, arriving from The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and other European countries. Doñana also harbours the Iberian lynx—the world's most endangered feline—and the Spanish imperial eagle, also on the verge of extinction.

The World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) first encounter with Doñana, in the 1960s, was linked to a great threat: a proposal had been introduced to create an expansive tourist resort on the coast and to drain marshland for conversion to farmland. Increasing interest in preserving this region awoke among European naturalists, and decisive action taken by the WWF resulted in the reduction in area of the ambitious farming plan and in the creation of the Doñana Biological Reserve. In 1969, WWF/Adena, which represents WWF in Spain, acquired the Guadiamar Biological Reserve to create the Doñana National Park. Twenty years later, the buffer zone around the national park became the Doñana Nature Park, amassing a total protected area of more than 100,000 hectares.

Nevertheless, protecting the ecological integrity of Doñana continued to have its challenges. In 1990, a project known as “Costa Doñana” proposed turning a segment of coastline adjacent to the national park into a massive beach resort. Citizens took to the streets and managed to stop the project, which would have compromised the conservation of the protected area. The Regional Government of Andalusia then committed to incorporating the recommendations set forth by the International Experts Committee into Spain’s first Sustainable Development Plan for Doñana.

Then, in 1998, the protected area again faced a threat from outside its boundaries: this time, a catastrophic, toxic mining spill in Aznalcóllar. The spill poured 5.5 million cubic meters of toxic mud and about 1.6 million cubic meters of acid waters into the Guadiamar River, one of the tributaries that feeds into the Doñana wetlands. A fast response kept the polluted mud and waters from reaching the national park, although some species were affected due to feeding in the contaminated areas.

What had begun as a dispute among national and regional authorities as to whom was responsible for cleanup became a model for coordination in dealing with environmental crises. To reverse the impacts of the spill, regional authorities initiated the Guadiamar Green Corridor Project to restore the lands of the Guadiamar River. At the same time, national authorities spearheaded an effort called “Doñana 2005" to recover the natural hydrology inside Doñana National Park. The participation of WWF/Adena in the development of both projects was crucial to ensuring that the projects involved public participation, had a sufficient scientific foundation, and were complementary. As a consequence of the spill, WWF/Adena, with the support of the WWF offices in Holland and the United Kingdom, accelerated its efforts to promote a model of sustainable development that can be maintained over the long term in Doñana.

Although the soils around the Guadiamar River are not yet completely clean of pollutants, the area is being recolonized by a variety of birds and mammals, and fishes are again breeding in the river. All of the area affected by the spill has been declared Protected Landscape, and it will soon serve as a pilot-project area in which integrated management of its multiple land uses, for example, agriculture, industry, and transportation, and activities such as tourism and recreation, will be implemented.

The only way to conserve Doñana is to avoid aggression from outside the protected space. The main purpose of WWF/Adena’s work is, therefore, to help the people of Doñana become more aware of the treasure they have, so they will accept the challenge of protecting it.

For more information, contact Eva Hernández Herrero, Doñana Project Coordinator, World Wildlife Fund/Adena, Gran Vía de San Francisco 8, esc. D, E-28005 Madrid, Spain, +34 91 354 05 78, ehernandez@wwf.es, www.wwf.es.