The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Morenoannounced this Saturday that the regulatory bases for aid to farmers in the area of Doñanawhich will mean an amount close to 70,000 euros per hectare. “Bases that are fundamental to promote renaturalization and propose new crops with less demand for water, so we should congratulate ourselves on this announcement,” he adds.
This is what he expressed this Saturday, at the San Telmo Palace in Sevilleafter a meeting with the third vice president of the Government of Spain and minister of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesenin a joint appearance before the media, on the occasion of the first anniversary of Agreement for Doñana that the head of the Andalusian Executive signed with the then Minister Teresa Ribera in Almonte (Huelva).
By virtue of said agreement, of which all 14 municipalities would benefit of the area of influence of Doñana, the Board and the Government of Spain committed to investing more than 1,400 million – more than 700 million each administration – in Doñana and its surroundings, in measures aimed at protecting the Park and promoting agriculture, fishing , livestock, industry, crafts, renewable energies and hydraulic works.
“The publication of the regulatory bases for the complementary aid to farmers that were pending is an important step, highly anticipated by some of them“added Moreno, while praising the work of the Ministry in this regard. “It was not easy considering the European directives and the basic legislation that the State itself has,” he maintains.
Moreno recalled that the origin of the agreement was also to solve a problem that “for decades” they have suffered many farming families and that there has been a “good will” to find a solution to it. In this sense, the publication of these bases “is important so that from the Board we can also issue the call that complements this aid in the part that corresponds to us within the agreement we signed,” added the Andalusian president.
“In this first year, almost 80% of the actions that depend on the Board it’s already started. The agreement is until 2027, so we will more than comply with all the agreed measures,” he assured. Regarding the status of execution of the “most relevant” actions that are underway, Moreno has indicated that those in the fishing sector are 37%, the mobilization of 107% of those destined for the agricultural sector, while those for livestock has reached 39% and the measures linked to the forestry and natural environment sector, 100%.
The regional president has also stated that if an agreement described as “historic” was reached a year ago, which made us “disprove the reason of those who said that the Doñana agreement was impossible, we can say today that we are fulfilling a fundamental part of it. “So we achieved the squaring of the circle, with great audacity and intelligence and today we fulfilled the word given in the commitment to the implementation of these bases: so for me it is a happy day.”
Both leaders, in this joint press conference, have insisted on two concepts when referring to the Agreement for Doñana: “institutional commitment and loyalty“; this, “despite the difficulties”, as the minister has highlighted, “I understand the uniqueness of Doñana and that respect for the environment and economic and social prosperity must go hand in hand.”
The Third Vice President of the Government has also announced that her ministry will launch two new orders starting this Saturday within the Doñana Framework of Actions, one of them, endowed with 11.5 million euros for innovative projects in agriculture, livestock and the forestry sector, while the second is about aid to encourage the renaturalization of agricultural surfaces and has 28 million euros.
Likewise, Aagesen, who this Friday met with the mayors of the 14 municipalities of the Doñana Area of Influence, recalled that two years ago the Doñana Framework of Actions was approved, which “has 356 million”, by the Government of Spain. , of which “180 million euros that are already committed to restore that wetland Doñana is so important, with singular actions or with the closure of illegal wells or that put the water supply for Doñana in a complicated situation.
In this sense, he stressed that More than 1,100 illegal wells have been closed since 2019 and remote sensing systems have been implemented for more efficient water management. In addition, several bodies of water have been declared at risk and user communities have been established in La Rocina, Almonte and Marismas.
One year of the ‘Agreement for Doñana’
The Andalusian president and the minister of the sector have carried out a “very positive” balance of the aforementioned agreement, now that it has been one year, and they have stated that “we are facing an example that agreements can be reached and fulfilled. This generates credibility in the institutions on the part of the citizens. When the administrations understand each other, we go much furtherfaster and, in addition, we generate positive synergies,” Moreno explained.
Finally, Moreno has stated that he hopes that with the new minister a “fluid relationship and dialogue“, since he has stressed that cooperation between the different institutions is “vital to advance and fulfill commitments.” Moreno has clarified that the Agreement for Doñana It was signed under two fundamental premises such as the protection of the natural space and the economic and sustainable development options of the area to respond to more farmers who were left out of the 2014 regulation of the Strawberry Plan.
In this way, he has highlighted that the agreement contemplates mobilize a significant amount of resourcesa total of 1,434 million euros, 706 million corresponding to the central government and 728 million to the Junta de Andalucía.
They have also been present at the meeting as advisor to the Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue and Administrative Simplification, Antonio Sanz; the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco; the Minister of Sustainability and Environment, Catalina García, and the Government delegate in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández.