Hugo Morán: "The PP and Vox plan to legalize irrigation in Doñana is an aberration"

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, is very critical of the bill promoted (and approved) by the PP and Vox in the Andalusian Parliament to “order” irrigation in Doñana. We had this conversation with him after the Doñana participation council was held on Monday, in which the scientists warned of the critical situation that the state of conservation of this natural space is suffering.

Why do you reject the PP and Vox bill to legalize irrigation in the Doñana area?

What we are seeing is that the scientific community, the scientists who are on the Doñana Participation Council, say that this is an aberration; that this proposal supposes a greater pressure to the natural space of Doñana. It cannot be, at this point, knowing what the evolution of the Doñana natural area has been throughout all this time, that measures are put in place that go against what the scientific community, those who best know the space and its load capacity, guarantee. That is the biggest problem.

Why is it not acceptable to you?

When someone makes a solid proposal on the availability of natural resources, which are scarce, it is reasonable to have technical and scientific information, with the data of those who have that information in order to build their proposal on that. The PP and Vox say that this is a proposal that does not affect Doñana or the water of Doñana. But it touches Doñana’s spinal cord squarely

What flaws do you see?

These groups argue that it is a question of territorial planning, of defining the soils that are likely to be irrigated. I would put a simile. When a council draws up an urban redevelopment plan, everyone knows that there is a mandatory and binding report that must be issued by the authorities that have jurisdiction over water to determine whether or not that plan is viable in terms of availability of water resources.

And what is missing?

A territorial planning plan of these characteristics cannot be put into operation that has not been submitted to the mandatory report procedure, in this case of the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation, it is ignoring powers that belong to another Administration. It is evident that they enter into matters that exceed the area of ​​competence of the autonomous community.

Would the Government present an appeal of unconstitutionality?

The third vice president has already announced it. If the Andalusian Parliament goes ahead with the processing of this bill and completes it in its terms, the Government of Spain is obliged to present an appeal of unconstitutionality.

How many irrigated hectares does the PP want to legalize? They have spoken of 750 hectares and 650 farms…

The proposal speaks in generic terms of 650 families, which is the same number that appeared in the previous bill (presented last year and then withdrawn); however, since the same number of families is affected, the number of hectares is modified, which leads to considerable confusion. The mayors’ complaint is that the autonomous community has not transferred the cartography to the municipalities to be able to identify whether or not these lands actually are.

The municipalities do not know it, well…

Indeed, another serious starting weakness is that those who have jurisdiction over land use planning, which are the town halls, at this point do not know what the affected land would be and, therefore, the people who would be affected by the application of the law. This was revealed by the mayor of Moguer; He said that he did not know if he agreed because he did not know how this proposal was translated into real terms in his municipality.

From the point of view of the Ministry, what solution does this problem have? The basis of the agreement continues to be the Forest Crown Plan…

We cannot ignore that there is a ruling from the Court of Justice of the EU on which the European Commission has been demanding that Spain justify compliance with some measures that appear in that plan, which was approved by the way in the participation council of Donana.

The PP says that this plan does not respond to real needs…

The PP also launches the mantra that this was a plan prepared by the PSOE and that it did not respond to the needs of the territory; as if it were a plan linked to a specific ideological position. But the truth is that this plan was approved, agreed upon and accepted by two governments of different colors, that of the autonomous community of Andalusia, chaired by Susana Díaz, and the central government, chaired by Mariano Rajoy. And now the government of Andalusia and the government of Spain sit on the Doñana participation council. And that plan aroused, with its nuances, the approval of the participation council. And that is the starting point, whereas now the order of things is being reversed. “Instead, now it is intended to impose a plan unilaterally by the Board,” they say.

Given opposition aroused among scientists, among other sectors, the representatives of the Andalusian Government did not back down on Monday in the Doñana participation council…

We did not see that will, despite being asked. We ask that you withdraw that initiative and start a dialogue process.

The Andalusian government complains that the Spanish government refuses to talk.

We have just completed the processing of the preparation of the Guadalquivir hydrological plan. It has also been submitted to the consultation process of all administrations over the last 4 years until its approval by the Council of Ministers. And, throughout all this time, the government of Andalusia at no time, either actively or passively, formally or informally, requested or suggested a modification of the Guadalquivir hydrological plan in order to incorporate a larger irrigated area.

And what does the Guadalquivir Hydrological Plan say about all this?

The Guadalquivir hydrological plan established that not one more square meter of irrigable land can be enabled. And if throughout all this time there has been nothing in this sense, how is it possible that, once the planning is approved, a parliamentary initiative is placed on the table, a law, from which powers are deduced for the Confederation Hydrographic of the Guadalquivir, when that is already impossible? The current plan for the Guadalquivir is valid until 2027. Any modification that one wants to make should already be for the next planning period. Why an urgent proposal? It is out of time to be raised. It should be done in any case for the next planning period. You can not raise last bull.

The central idea of ​​the aforementioned Doñana North Crown Forest Management Plan agreement was to make a clean slate, so that only irrigation with a date prior to 2004 was legalized. But the problem generated by the large number of people with soils of Illegal irrigation is of such magnitude that, without accepting the fait accompli, it will be necessary to provide a pragmatic answer or solution, right? Which one?

The pragmatic solution involves, first of all, each of the administrations incorporating their powers of action in the territory, each one ours. I told the Andalusian counselor that the tools that each administration is in a position to ensure should be brought to the Doñana participation council. What we are saying is that we are promoting an action plan for Doñana¬ -which we are going to take to the participation council- endowed with more than 350 million euros of investment, attending to our powers in terms of water management. Of that sum, more than 150 million are destined to reduce the extraction of groundwater, to actions that basically go to surface water supplies that replace groundwater; to purchase land with rights; to reuse water for other uses, and to improve urban supply systems. And another 150 million go to sanitation and purification, to improve the conditions of the water that feeds Doñana and to improve the capacity to reuse that water. That is the line of action under our powers.

And what should the Junta de Andalucía do?

The Board has powers in matters of agriculture or industry. Is it not feasible to approach a plan in which the capital gains from a primary transformation activity can remain in the territory? Why do you have to focus all the activity on the exploitation of the product of the primary sector, when this has already exceeded the capacity of cargo, if an industrial transformation activity can take place in the very environment of that territory perfectly, to generate employment?

To what extent is the Doñana crisis a consequence of variable weather and climate change, or the result of this excessive water extraction or factors?

Obviously there are several factors. It is true that probably the one that generates the greatest impact is the use of water for economic uses, for its different economic uses. And there the tourism sector draws on the different supply needs, either for urban uses or for golf courses. But it is true that the bulk of the economic activity that makes use of Doñana’s water is the agricultural sector. And then, logically, there is an impact caused by the variation in climatic conditions that we suffer in general and that in Doñana is especially visible.