Last week the Andalusian Junta (PP) and the Government signed peace after two years of confrontation over the autonomous law that expanded irrigation along Doñana, now withdrawn. Ramón Fernández-Pacheco (Barcelona, 40 years old), Andalusian Minister of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy, as well as spokesperson for the Board, is proud of the pact and rejects that with the rule his Government has sought to forgive illegal farmers who They deplete the reserve’s aquifer with illegal wells, with environmental deterioration downhill.
Ask: In the agreement for Doñana, the Board announced 728 million in measures that were already planned. How does the Lepe treatment plant, located 62 kilometers away, benefit the park?
Answer: Well, I think that everything that has to do with water reuse is positive. Andalusia is still paying fines from the European Union for the socialist Government’s failure to comply with water purification.
Q. But his Government has included in the Doñana package that treatment plant that discharges into the Atlantic Ocean without any link to the reserve.
R. We have proposed a series of investments that have to do with the Doñana environment. If we limit ourselves only to the National Park and the Natural Park, we would have to take [del plan firmado esta semana] not only our proposals, but many of the Ministry’s.
Q. Faced with the massive theft of water in Doñana and illegal irrigation, the Administrations have ended up implementing a 350 million plan, instead of applying the law. Doesn’t society suffer a discredit of its institutions and the failed compliance with the laws?
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R. I do not believe that the law has not triumphed, which is clear. The agreement says nothing about laws having to be touched.
Q. But it is evident that this social plan came about because farmers had a problem with illegal wells.
R. The Junta de Andalucía has enforced the law within the scope of its powers, those of water are the ministry’s. We have reached a good agreement that perfectly ensures that the law is not only complied with, but that it continues to be complied with in the future without any type of retroactivity or amnesty.
Q. He claims that the 2014 Strawberry Plan was unfair to some families. How?
R. It was unfair because the cartography was poorly done. When they ask me if we will apply the strawberry plan, I answer the Galician: Why didn’t the PSOE apply it from 2014 to 2018?
Q. Is that an excuse for the PP’s five-year delay in applying it?
R. No, no, no, but the plan was poorly made and all the technicians agree that it needs a review, which is now great news.
Q. If these families had irrigation rights with historical rights, why have the courts not recognized them?
R. Probably because the plan was approved. There are politicians who review the role of judges, I will not go into that. There was a social problem and we have solved it.
Q. Why have they never made public the exact number of strawberry growers and the location of their farms?
R. Because the cases are so different that it requires a case-by-case study and for these farmers to present documentation. The rigor involved not publicizing a figure at the fly of a pen, but studying case by case.
Q. And is it not unprecedented to make a law expressly without knowing the number of beneficiaries?
R. The bill proposed in its articles a case-by-case study in order to obtain a land qualification.
Q. The Board will review the 2014 Strawberry Plan, supported, among others, by the large European supermarket chains. Have you assessed what reaction they may have after asking the Andalusian Government by letter to develop said plan?
R. I think nothing is happening, the Board is reviewing the Territorial Planning Plan for all of Andalusia (POTA). We will review to correct errors, we should not be afraid to review a regulation that is practically 10 years old.
Q. Some farmers along Doñana have systematically ignored the rules and now the Administrations pay them to abandon those lands. In the Barbate basin [con los embalses al 14%] For example, within its jurisdiction, does the Board advocate enforcing the law with an army of inspectors and avoiding violations?
R. Evidently. No Board leader has ever advocated amnestying offending farmers or encouraging non-compliance with the rule.
Q. The farmers of Huelva asked that Portugal give up the waters of its Guadiana swamps, and now the Board is negotiating with the neighboring country. Will it mean a conflict with Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha, which allow the waters to pass through, so that Andalusia can later rescue them?
R. It is an issue that we have to talk to the Ministry because it is its responsibility, but we should not be afraid to open that melon. Andalusia does not pose any territorial conflict with anyone: neither with Portugal, nor with Extremadura, nor with Castilla-La Mancha. It seems reasonable to study the possibility that if there is surplus water, it can be put into service for the people who need it.
Q. Andalusia will be a region with much less water in the coming decades. Is your Government considering starting a debate on sustainable agriculture and the growth of super-intensive crops such as almond trees, olive groves or avocados, which need so much water?
R. The debate is more complex than all that. In the end, faced with an evident lack of rainfall, the debate has to be about consumption and also the availability of water, and this can be optimized via infrastructure. The complete debate must combine the two criteria so as not to leave it orphaned.
Q. Now that we are in the middle of the climate summit, does the Board contemplate raising its emissions reduction ambition to match that of the European Union, 55% compared to 1990?
Q. We, in fact, have a greater ambition than that of the Government of Spain. Through our own regulations, we have decided to increase the level of ambition regarding the reduction of missions.
Q. The Andalusian Mission Compensation System (SACE) receives criticism for being “green smoke” and for the lack of transparency and credibility of the projects. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called these practices “environmental whitewashing.” What do you think of those criticisms?
R. I think we are on the right track. In fact, there are many companies that have registered with SACE. Do they all want to whiten and make greenwashing? I don’t think so, really.
Q. In this polarized political environment, is the Doñana agreement exportable to other areas?
R. Of course, as long as the Government’s attitude is to raise issues beneficial to the whole of Andalusia, the Board will have its hand extended.
Q. To what areas would you export it?
R. To everyone, to everything that is good for Andalusia, we will sit down and talk.
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