Development in the drought

The incompatibility of the Ebro water transfer with sustainable development in the Southeast region of Spain

Development in the drought -The incompatibility of the Ebro water transfer with sustainable development in the Southeast region of Spain- WWF/Adena Gran Vía de San Francisco, 8-D 28005 Madrid Tel.: + 34 91 354 0578 Fax: + 34 91 365 6336 www.wwf.es info@wwf.es www.panda.org/dams Texts: Meinke Schouten Edition: Meinke Schouten April 2003 WWF/Adena thanks the reproduction and the circulation of the contents of this publication by every type of media, always when the source is mentioned.

INDEX

INDEX ............................................................................................................................. 2

PREFACE ....................................................................................................................... 3

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................ 4

2. THE WATER TRANSFER IN THE SOUTHEAST REGION OF SPAIN.......... 7

3. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTHEAST REGION OF SPAIN.......................................................................................................................................... 9

3.1 THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE SOUTHEAST REGION OF SPAIN....................................... 9 3.1.1 Water disappears........................................................................................... 10 3.1.2 Elimination of the natural landscape ............................................................ 18

3.2 THE ECONOMY IS GROWING, BUT WITH VICTIMS.................................................... 24 3.2.1 More production, less benefits ...................................................................... 24 3.2.2 Society is changing ........................................................................................ 25

4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................. 28

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PREFACE The Spanish National Hydrological Plan1 consists of two principal components: a new transfer of 1050 cubic hectometres of water per year from the Ebro river basin to the river basins of Catalonia, the Júcar, the Segura and in the South and a “pack” of 889 public water works (reservoirs, water transfers, etc.) listed in Annex 2. WWF/Adena has analysed the problems caused by the growth of tourism and agriculture in the Southeast region of Spain, the region that will receive the major part of the water. With this report, WWF/Adena intends to demonstrate that the economic, ecological and social situation is very complex, that the unsustainable development has created a structural water deficit and that the transfer will not solve the existing problems. This report is based on the following information sources:

• Official data from databanks of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and the autonomous regions;

• Estimations realized by WWF/Adena and other NGO’s; • Examples and studies of specific cases.

1 Spanish National Hydrological Plan (SNHP): approved by the Law 10/2001, of the 5th of July of 2001;BOE no. 161, of the 6th of July of 2001

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Southeast region of Spain2 is changing. Only 20 years ago this region was one of the poorest in Spain (in 1980 the Southeast region contributed nearly 6% to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP). At this moment, the region, with only 8% of the national population, contributes 15% of the GDP.3 These economic changes are reflected in the landscape: large surfaces of agricultural terrain, urban development and advertising signs and less natural landscape. The economic growth of the past few years has produced severe impacts in the Southeast region of Spain, which will be described further on. The Spanish government focuses in their analyses only on the water offer problems and pretends to solve them by means of the Ebro water transfer. This solution, however, does not slow down the non-sustainable growth of tourism and agriculture and therefore the growth of the water demand will not be eased. On the contrary, the transfer stimulates the non-sustainable development in the Southeast region of Spain. Water becomes scarce The economic growth is linked to a major demand for water. Meanwhile, water resources are disappearing, which is, among others things, caused by climate change. Water use has increased without control and in an illegal way, and as a consequence, water availability decreases every day. The most important non-natural cause of reduction of water resources is the continuous growth of irrigated agriculture, in spite of the fact that the implementation of new irrigation is prohibited since the Water Law of 1987. In only three years, from 1997 to 1999, the percentage of irrigated surface has grown from 40% to 44%. Moreover, farmers use more and more irrigation for production of originally dry agriculture. At this moment, there are 2500 legal boreholes in Murcia. Groundwater experts estimate that there are half a million illegal boreholes in the river basins in the Southeast region of Spain. There is an absolute lack of control on the boreholes that are fed by the aquifers and their exhaustion is one of the principal arguments for executing the Ebro water transfer. According to the Spanish National Hydrological Plan, 45 % of the transferred water can and should be used for urban consumption. There is an increase of urban water consumption due to the increase of tourism and not due to the growth of local population. The modern tourist demands quality and this is translated in Spain into pools, gardens and most importantly golf courses. It is estimated that annually nearly 90 hm3 of water (7% of the capacity of the Ebro water transfer and equivalent to the consumption of a city with over 1 million inhabitants) will be used in 2012 to irrigate the golf courses in the Southeast region of Spain. The decrease of the water resources will not only affect groundwater. The Segura River is on top of the list of deteriorated rivers in Spain due to contamination and lack of water. The main pressure on the river system comes from the agricultural sector (pesticides and irrigation) and the inefficient treatment of wastewater. The Segura discharges only 4% of its flow to the sea. Due to the overexploitation of the resource,

2 In this report the Southeast Region of Spain is defined as the provinces of Alicante, Murcia and Almería. 3 INE: www.ine.es

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downstream the river stays dry. In this way, the river loses its self-cleaning system of rivers with sufficient discharge. The contamination of the Segura could be transferred to the humans and generate risks for public health. The natural landscape disappears The natural landscape is threatened from two fronts. From the coast, tourist urbanizations are spreading and from the inner land, agriculture is expanding. Desertification and erosion are severe problems in the Southeast region of Spain. The overuse of groundwater could easily produce overexploitation of the aquifers, resulting in desertification. Nevertheless, in Murcia and Almería there is still irrigated agriculture inside areas with high risks of erosion, which accelerates the process of desertification. The land occupation by tourism and agriculture forms a threat for the protected areas. Part of the tourist constructions in the Southeast region of Spain occurs inside or near zones with a high ecological value. In this way, 14.000 hectares of protected areas in Murcia have been changed into building land. The landscape of Almería is transformed into a sea of plastics. Nearly 40% of the agriculture is already taking place underneath plastic. According to data from the Regional Ministry of the Environment of the Region of Andalusia, about 30% of the newly constructed greenhouses are illegal and do not comply with sanitary and environmental standards. The society is changing The Southeast region of Spain is a very rural zone with families working in agriculture. However the traditional family agriculture is being substituted by an industry of agricultural production by large companies which see the employees as expenses that should be reduced as much as possible. Moreover, the system of subsidies leads every year to problems of overproduction and the downfall of prices. The farmers’ incomes remain constant, but the expenses rise. As a result, the farmers save on the personal costs by contracting cheap workforces like (illegal) immigrants. A non-sustainable development WWF/Adena comes to the conclusion that one of the principal causes of the above problems is the lack of sustainable development4 in the Southeast region of Spain:

• Lack of an equilibrated economic growth, because the agricultural incomes are not stable and because of the pressure on the landscape caused by tourism;

• The natural resources are not used with prudence, nor is the environment being conserved: the aquifers are overexploited, there are desertification problems and the protected areas are threatened by the expansion of agriculture and tourism;

• There is lack of solidarity within the society: many immigrants work in inadequate circumstances and there are not sufficient houses for them, while another part of the population enjoys the benefits of economic growth.

4 Following the principals of sustainable development defined by the Ministry of Environment.

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The transfer will worsen the problems WWF/Adena thinks that the experience with the previous Tajo-Segura transfer should serve as a lesson to avoid making the same mistakes5. The volumes of transferred water of the Tajo-Segura water transfer have increased over the years due to the increase in consumption in the Southeast region of Spain. It was not until the 90s that the transfer provided water in its legally available amount. The real cause of this increase in transferred volumes is not very clear. It may be this is due to the increase in the surface of irrigation in the region. However, not all available irrigation permits are used, which contradicts this fact. NGOs have been claiming for a long time that flows are diverted to tourist water uses, like recreation, golf courses and urbanizations, and theme parks like Terra Mítica, which could be an explanation for the increase of transferred water. The main environmental impacts of the Tajo-Segura transfer are:

• The occupation of land by irrigated agriculture and new urbanizations affecting thousands of hectares of protected areas;

• Saline natural zones are dulcificated and aquifers are contaminated by nitrates; • The Tajo-Segura transfer has an indirect influence on the overexploitation,

contamination and salinization of the water resources in the Segura river basin. WWF/Adena considers that the Ebro transfer will create more problems than it will solve, including in the beneficiary regions. On one hand, the greater water offer stimulates the non-sustainable development in the coastal zone. On the other hand, the transfer has already created and will create more conflicts between different groups of Spanish society, including:

• Traditional farmers and agricultural industries that intensify irrigation; • Farmers and constructors of tourist urbanizations (with golf courses); • Regional governments and beneficiary groups in the Southeast region of Spain

and the opponents to the transfer in the same region; • The provinces in the Southeast region of Spain (Murcia, Almeria and the

autonomous region of Valencia) and the regions of the Ebro river basin (Aragón and the Ebro Delta).

WWF/Adena proposes sustainable development as a solution An essential condition for the solution of the problems in the Southeast region is adequate control of the land and water demand. The three autonomous regions (Valencia, Murcia and Andalucia) should initiate a process to design sustainable development in the Southeast region of Spain. This process should include all stakeholders. WWF/Adena considers that the European Union and the Ministry of Environment should stimulate this process. A process of sustainable development will benefit in reality all the stakeholders:

• The tourist and agricultural sectors will continue to develop in a healthy way with not only profit today, but also in the future;

• The environment will have the opportunity to recuperate; • The immigrants will have a chance at a worthwhile life.

5 WWF (2002): Informe Final sobre el trasvase Tajo-Segura. By Miguel Ángel Hernández Soria.

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2. THE WATER TRANSFER IN THE SOUTHEAST REGION OF SPAIN The most relevant SNHP project bringing water to the Southeast region of Spain is the water transfer from the lower Ebro river. The total of 1050 hm3 per year (equivalent to 1/3 of the urban water consumption of Spain) will be distributed in the following way:

• 190 hm3 (18%) to the internal river basins of Catalonia; • 315 hm3 (30%) to the Júcar river basin; • 450 hm3 (43%) to the Segura river basin; • 95 hm3 (9%) to the southern river basins.

According to the SNHP Law, the use of the transferred water has some restrictions:

• Alimentation or complementing of the existing and working water supply systems to guarantee the actual and future uses of urban water supply in the receiving river basins;

• Improve the environmental conditions of these ecosystems, fluvial stretches, aquifer sectors or elements of natural water habitats, which actually suffer an intense degradation;

• Consolidate the water supply to the legally existing irrigations according to the Hydrological Plan of the river basin;

• Eliminate actual unsustainable situations of overexploitation in the aquifers of the receiving river basin;

• Additionally, the Ministry of Environment has proposed in the National Water Council that the transferred water cannot be used to irrigate golf courses (though this does not exclude that the water is used in the water supply for the urbanizations next to the golf courses).

On paper, this argument looks very equilibrated and reasonable. However, this is contradicted by the reality of water management in the receiving river basins, especially by the fact that there is no control on water uses. Various experts calculate that there are between 500.000 and 1.500.000 illegal boreholes in the Southeast region and that the Confederaciones Hidrográficas do not dedicate sufficient human and economic resources to resolve the situation.6 In spite of exposing in the SNHP a clear difference between the future uses of the transferred water, the practice of water management and the scarce transparency of the official documents produce a smoke screen over the real beneficiaries of the Ebro transfer. At this moment the following issues remain:

• The recognition of water saving opportunities in urban uses as a solution for the water problems in the Southeast region of Spain;

• The ecosystems will not receive the transferred water directly for their restoration, but they will receive the drainage waters from irrigation. It is not assured when, how much and in what state the water will arrive;

• With this highly subsidized irrigation water (from the Ebro water transfer) the government improves the already good economic situation of a few farmers in

6 Heraldo of 15th of December 2002

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the Southeast region of Spain7, but at the expense of the whole Spanish and European society;

• The transfer does not help to eliminate the situation of unsustainability. To the contrary, the lack of water currently impedes unsustainable development. In other words, the transferred water will stimulate unsustainable development in the Southeast region of Spain.

7 WWF (2002): Socio economic analyses and valoration of the in the SNHP foreseen transfers from the Ebro. Written by la Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua

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3. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTHEAST REGION OF SPAIN In the last few years the economy of the Southeast region of Spain has grown more than the Spanish national average, 43% compared to 39%, especially in agriculture and tourism. Agriculture contributes nearly 7% to the Gross Added Value (GAD) of the Southeast region of Spain. 13 % of the active population works directly or indirectly in agriculture (10% in whole Spain). The tourism in the form of hotels contributes also 7% to the GAD of the Southeast, but only 5% of the active population works in hotels (6% in whole Spain).8 This data only gives a vague idea of the importance of the tourism sector, because this sector is more than hotels.

3.1 The environment in the Southeast region of Spain Illustration 3.1 shows, very simplified, the principal environmental processes. The main driving forces are (grey):

• The development of golf courses; • The construction of tourist houses; • The amplification of the agricultural surface9.

Each driving force has an increasing (+) or decreasing (-) effect on several factors (water availability, water quality, etc.) resulting ultimately in three main impacts (squares with fat borders):

• The costs to obtain water; • The surface of protected areas; • The erosion and desertification.

Surface of agriculture

Water level in aquifer

Tourist housesSurface of

protected areas

ErosionDesertification

Golf courses

Water availability

Water quality Use of fertilizers and

pesticides

Costs to obtain water

-

-+

+ -

--

-+- -

-

+

+

+

Water in protected areas

+

+ Illustration 3.1 Scheme of causes and effects

8 The Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE): Regional accountability of Spain. Base 1995, series 1995-2001. Year 1999. 9 The differences between dry and irrigated agriculture are not diferentiated in the illustration. Agriculture always needs water. Generally, dry agriculture has less impacts on the water resources than irrigated agriculture. Irrigation is like a catalizator and increases the effects on the water resources.

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3.1.1 Water disappears The economic growth has been accompanied by a major water demand. Meanwhile, the new water resources dry out, among other reasons because of climate change. The water use has risen without any control and in an illegal way. As a consequence, the availability of water reduces every day. Inefficient irrigation still exists by means of inundation or gravity in the Southeast region of Spain At this moment there are three irrigation methods10:

• Surface irrigation (gravity). The water runs by canals in the earth or the whole surface is inundated. This form of irrigation produces water losses by washing out and evaporation, because it is difficult to perfectly control the water dose.

• Irrigation by dripping. Water is applied to a determined zone of the area and not to the whole area. This is the most technical method and with this method it is very easy to apply the water in an efficient manner.

• Irrigation by sprinklers. With this method water is applied to the grounds in the form of rain by using sprinklers. The water consumption is moderate and the efficiency is acceptable.

Illustration 3.3 shows that the methods mostly used in the Southeast region of Spain are drip irrigation and gravity irrigation. Gravity irrigation is with respect to water use, the least efficient method, as shown in table 3.1.

Illustration 3.2 Flood irrigation in Orihuela, Murcia11

0

20.000

40.000

60.000

80.000

100.000

120.000

140.000

160.000

180.000

Murcia Alicante Almería

Thou

sand

s of

m3

OthersGravityDrip irrigationSprinklers

Illustration 3.3 Irrigation methods in the Southeast region of Spain12 Irrigation method Global efficiency (%) Gravity 20-60 Sprinklers 50-80 Drip irrigation 60-95

Table 3.1 Mean values of global efficiency13

10 www.elriego.com 11 Credit: Guido Schmidt/ WWF-Spain/ADENA 12 INE: Censo agrario 1999 13 Hispagua: hispagua.cedex.es/Grupo1/Revistas/op/37/

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The surface of agriculture grows without control Although the water resources are decreasing through overexploitation and climate change, agriculture in the Southeast region of Spain is expanding. The official data shows an increase of the agricultural surface, especially in Almería.14 On top of that, new (illegal) land reclamations are still appearing all over the region of Murcia, as claimed and testified by the forest guards and SEPRONA (the nature protection service). Only Alicante has a clear reduction of the agricultural surface over the last few years (1996-2000), according to official data.

Increase of the surface of (1996-1999): • Dried pulses15 (nearly 200% in

Alicante and Almería); • Vegetables (30% in Almería and

Murcia); • Olives (30% in Almería and

Murcia). Reduction of the surface of (1996-1999):

• Vineyards (7000 hectares in Alicante and Almería).

• Cereals (30% in Almeria and Murcia)

Table 3.2 Evolution of agricultural surfaces (hectares)16

Southeast region Alicante Almería Murcia1994 342070 3693251995 319106 3514071996 868672,23 189730 325666 3532761997 922841 192519 369198 3611241998 892615 181927 379796 3308921999 908384 176189 382428 3497672000 170963 349822

Absolute change 39711,77 -13541 56762 -3509Relative change 5% -7% 17% -1%Relative change last year 2% -3% 1% 6%

The amount of irrigated crops increases

Evolution of the irrigated surface in the Southeast region

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

1997 1998 1999

Hect

ares

Southeast region Dry

Southeast regionIrrigation

Illustration 3.4 Evolution of the irrigated surface in the Southeast17

In the Southeast region of Spain irrigated agriculture has increased and dry agriculture has decreased, like broccoli or lettuce, and the use of irrigation for dry crops like olives or oranges has increased to augment the production.18 In only three years, the percentage of irrigated surface has grown from 40% to 44%. The majority of these new irrigations belong to big companies and capital linked with agrobusiness and to other large commercial operations, like real estate19.

14 Conselleria d'Agricultura, Pesca i Alimentació, DG de Relacions Agràries amb la Unió Europea, Cª de Agricultura y Pesca de Almería y Consejería de Agricultura, Agua y Medio Ambiente, Dirección General de Agricultura e Industrias Agrarias de Murcia. 15 Like lentils or beans. 16 INE Censo Agrario 17 INE Censo Agrario 18 INE Censo agrario 19 Ecologistas en Acción, Sequía y regadíos ilegales, la trastienda de un discurso hipócrita.

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Farmers use more and more irrigation to increase the production of traditionally dry crops, like olives20. In only three years the percentage of irrigated surface of olives has increased from 30% to 39%. The motor behind the reduction of the “dry” surface is the major profitability per hectare of irrigated lands and the agricultural funds of EU (CAP).

Evolution of irrigated olives in Murcia and Almería

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1997 1998 1999

Dry olives

Irrigated olives

Illustration 3.5 Evolution of irrigated olives21 An increase of lettuce and broccoli production can also be observed.22 These crops need more water than traditional dry crops like olives or oranges.

Evolution of lettuce in Murcia y Almería

10.00011.00012.00013.00014.00015.00016.00017.00018.00019.000

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Hect

ares

Illustration 3.6 Evolution of lettuce in Murcia and Almería

Evolution of broccoli in Murcia y Almería

0

1.000

2.000

3.000

4.000

5.000

6.000

7.000

8.000

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Hect

ares

Illustration 3.7 Evolution of broccoli in Murcia and Almería

20 Consejería de Agricultura y Pesca of Almería and Consejería de Agricultura, Agua y Medio Ambiente of Murcia 21 Consejería de Agricultura y Pesca of Almería and Consejería de Agricultura, Agua y Medio Ambiente of Murcia 22 Consejería de Agricultura y Pesca of Almería and Consejería de Agricultura, Agua y Medio Ambiente of Murcia

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The implementation of new irrigation is forbidden since the publication, in 1986, of the Water Law, which is supported by all posterior legislation and especially by the Spanish National Hydrological plan. Irrigation has been created and are still created often at the limits of the existing legislation. Clear numbers on irrigated surfaces do not exist, although satellite technology makes it possible to control the use of irrigation in agriculture. According to Ecologistas en Acción, between 5000 and 10000 hectares of new illegal irrigations per year are implemented in Murcia.23 192.000 hectares of irrigation are legal, but nobody has been able to verify exactly the size of the illegal part. SEPRONA discovered in 1999 over 1000 illegal hectares, nearly all in protected areas. The White Book of the Ministry of Environment says that some 2200 exploitations of surface water could be found in the Segura river basin in 1997, of which only half was legal; the situation of groundwater exploitations is very obvious: of 20.000 exploitations, only 4500 were legal.

Illegal boreholes Groundwater experts confirm that in the river basins in the Southeast region of Spain exist as a minimum of over half a million illegal boreholes and this number could reach 1.500.000 (in Murcia there are only 2500 legal boreholes). The absolute lack of control on the boreholes filled by aquifers, whose depletion is one of the main arguments to realize the Ebro water transfer, is published by Pedro Brufao and Luis Martinez, who work at the Marcelino Botín foundation. They demonstrated that the most affected area of this type of illegal water supply can be found in the regions of Murcia, Valencia, Andalucia and Castilla la Mancha.24

The lack of control on water extraction causes overexploitation of aquifers

Illustration 3.8 Irrigation of almond trees at the “El Chopillo” farm25

Excessive exploitation of groundwater is causing groundwater levels to drop, the progressive salinization of many aquifers and the disappearance of wells and diverse wetlands. Also, the natural discharges of the watercourses and temporal rivers have practically disappeared.

23 “Interviú” of 23rd of November 2000 24 Heraldo of 15th of December 2002 and direct communication. 25 Credit: Guido Schmidt/ WWF-Spain/ADENA

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El Chopillo, an example of lack of control26 In 1994, the “El Chopillo” farm (Moratalla, Murcia), as others nearby, suffered from the greatest forest fire in Spanish history (over 30.000 hectares destroyed). Months later, the farm owners received European and regional aid to reforest these lands. Later, this same farm received aid for the modernization of irrigation works. According to the public prosecutor, the farm was never reforested and the subsidies were dedicated to the construction of irrigation works, and there has never been any agricultural activity (a condition which is required to receive these subsidies). The presumed fraud, which could add up to 500 million pesetas (3 million euros), is being investigated in Madrid, because European funds are involved and because neither the Murcian judges nor the regional government had taken action on the numerous claims (nearly 100 only from the Guardia Civil). The public prosecutor declared that “the documents give clear proof of the participation or knowledge of the responsible public authorities”. He says that the General Director of Irrigation, Julio Bernal, is “family and friend of the accused”. The prosecutor also declares that the regional environmental and agricultural authorities haven’t received any accusation, although the forest agents have made many and SEPRONA of the Guardia Civil (the environmental department) processed 97. The public prosecutor came to the conclusion that there had been a fraud regarding the communitarian budget and falsification of documents. The excessive water extractions lead to the progressive disappearance of wells and springs like those of El Chopillo, Architana, the spring of Guarunos and others, with related damages to the environment and in the historical rights of small traditional irrigations associated with these springs. 27 The Segura River, a clear example of the bad state of the waters in the Southeast region of Spain The Segura River is on top of the list of deteriorated rivers in Spain due to contamination and lack of water. The main pressure on the river system proceeds from the agricultural sector (pesticides and irrigation) and the inefficient treatment of wastewater.28 The use of pesticides and fertilizers in Spain has increased clearly during the last years.29 The use of these products has the following impacts on water quality:

• Recycling of water with high levels of pesticides and fertilizers without treatment causes an accumulation of chemical materials in the agricultural products, which leads to threats for human health.

• Due to the high quantity of nutrients from fertilizers, there is eutrofication of surface waters, for example in the Mar Menor.

26 Heraldo de Aragón 29th of December 2001 27 Ecologistas en Acción: Desertificación y uso no sostenible del agua en la Región de Murcia. Roturaciones y nuevos regadíos en Espacios Naturales Protegidos y áreas afectadas por incendios forestales como causa de degradación del territorio. 28 La Verdad of 24th of April 2001 29 INE Censo Agrario

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The Mar Menor (Murcia) suffers an invasion of jellyfish caused by discharges of nutrients30 The contribution of nitrates coming from irrigation and the residual waters from the villages, has made Mar Menor a paradise for jellyfish, which feed on these nitrates. The time when the highest concentration of jellyfish can be found is in August, coinciding with the time when the area has the highest number by tourists (in 2001 there were 70 million jellyfish in the 130 km2 of the salt lake). The jellyfish took the Mar Menor in 1996 and are not likely to leave. They arrived from the Mediterranean, attracted by the great quantity of nutrients that is discharged in the lake due to the use of fertilizers in the intensive agriculture of Campo de Cartagena. The jellyfish clean the water from algae fed by these nitrates, but the tourists (over 500.000) don’t appreciate them. The director of the Mar Menor office of the Spanish Oceanographic Institute (IEO), Julio Mas, confirms that the jellyfish only form “the symptom of the problem”. The problem is the presence of food that led them to install and reproduce themselves in the largest coastal lake of Spain: residues from agriculture in Campo de Cartagena, especially nitrates from fertilizers dissolved in water. At this moment, Campo de Cartagena is a fertile plain on the Mar Menor coast. It stopped being a dry area in 1979, when the water from the Tajo-Segura transfer arrived. Now it is a zone of intensive agriculture, greenhouses included. A study estimated in 1997 that 2650 tons of nitrogen arrive at Mar Menor per year, especially via the watercourse of Albujón. The Ministry of Environment declared Campo de Cartagena a vulnerable area in December 2001 for contamination with nitrates. The majority of the groundwater samples surpassed the EU limit of 50 milligrams per litre.

Illustration 3.9 Jellyfish31

Unclean discharges are the second reason for the low quality of the Segura River. In the Hydrological Plan for the Segura river basin32 880 discharges are identified, classified as domestic, urban and industrial. At this moment, 192 wastewater treatment plants have been inventoried in very diverse situations and with variable function characteristics. The most contaminated river of Europe still suffers 150 violations every month, because of the impotence or “let it be” attitude of the responsible authorities.33 The Segura River arrives at the sea with only 4% of its total discharge. Due to the overexploitation of the resource, downstream the river is dry. In this way the river looses its self-cleaning system of rivers with sufficient discharge. According to a report by the Department of Ecology and Hydrology at the Murcia University, the contamination of the Segura generates risks for public health. The presence of nickel and cadmium, both of which should not be present in any level at all, the presence of chrome above the legal limit and the existence of microbial pathogen organisms in the river waters, are not only an environmental, but also a sanitary danger. The contamination indices of the Segura river exceed the legal limits, as stated by the Real Decreto de Domino Público Hidráulico and by the Hydrological Plan of the Segura river basin. Together with the implications for public health it can be observed that the

30 El País 24th of June 2002 31 Credit: http://whyfiles.org/coolimages/images/csi/jellyfish.jpg 32 Plan Hidrológico de la cuenca del Segura, 1998 33 La Verdad of 13th of March 2003

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river water is not acceptable for irrigation or for industrial uses, because of the high levels of sodium, magnesium, calcium, bicarbonates, sulphates, chlorine, dissolved solids and boron found in the Segura river.34

Table 3.3 Substances found in the Segura River35

Substance Coming from Impact Chrome Industrial waste Increases risk of cancer Sodium Conserves industry Decreases permeability of the ground Magnesium, calcium y bicarbonates

Industrial waste • Inhibits the action of soap and detergents • Damages industrial machines

Chlorine Industrial waste Damages the conductions and structures Boron A threat to public health Pesticides Agriculture A threat to public health

Tourists invade the coast and need water The tourist sector in the Southeast region of Spain has grown 50% in the last five years (see illustration 3.10). Furthermore, the three provinces (Alicante, Almería and Murcia) foresee a strong growth of their tourist market in the future. Murcia plans to double its tourist potential in the next ten years. The objective is nearly one million hotel places and 100.000 new residences.36

Growth of tourism in the Southeast region

25

30

35

40

45

50

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Gues

t-nig

hts (

mill

ions

)

Illustration 3.10 Growth of tourism in the Southeast region37

There are three types if tourists in the Southeast region of Spain:

• The European who comes for a few weeks of holidays. He normally stays in hotels or aparthotels, especially during the two months of summer.

• The European who comes to enjoy his pension in a nice climate. He buys his own house with garden. He is often in the region during winter from September till March.

• The Spaniard with a second house on the coast, villa or apartment. The Spanish stay during the two summer months and the weekends from May till September.

The so-called residential tourism is the segment with the greatest growth potential in the tourist industry. Of every one hundred constructed houses in Alicante sixty go to the market for second houses buyers. The foreign tourists (80% from Germany and Great Britain) have 240.000 houses in the province of Alicante; many times these are pensioners with strong financial power and ready to pay between 180.000 and 240.000 euros to acquire a house. For this reason, with 108.193 persons (of a total of 499.661 in whole Spain), Alicante is the top province in Spain with numbers of residents coming from other countries of the European Union.38

34 No 34 of La Economía de la Región de Murcia 35 No 34 of La Economía de la Región de Murcia 36 Consejería de Turismo of the Murcia region 37 INE: Economic activities 38 INE: Censos de población y viviendas 2001

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The tourist growth puts a big strain on the water resources, especially during summertime, when the population in the Southeast region is four times as big as during winter. As a consequence, water demand increases at least four times. This means that water supply systems should have a capacity dimensioned on these few months per year.

Amount of tourists in Almería 1999

0

1.000.000

000.000

3.000.000

4.000.000

5.000.000

6.000.000

7.000.000

1st trimestre 2nd trimestre 3rd trimestre 4th trimestre

2.

Illustration 3.11 Amount of tourists in Almeria39

The modern tourist demands quality and this is translated in Spain into golf courses. It is expected that the number of golf courses in the region of Valencia will triple in the next ten years to 50 and in the region of Murcia in ten years there will be 39 golf courses. This means that the amount of Spanish golf courses will be doubled.40 The annual water consumption of a golf course is about 1 million cubic metres, or the equivalent of a city of 12.000 inhabitants. In other words, the annual consumption of these 89 golf courses is going to be 89 cubic hectometres, or the equivalent of the consumption of a city of over a million inhabitants (for example the amount of inhabitants in Alicante and Valencia together). It has been said many times that golf courses consume treated wastewater. The high salinity of these wastewaters often means it is not used to irrigate the “green”, which is subsequently watered with a mix of drinking water or groundwater in proportions sometimes up to 50%.41 Urbanizations of villas with gardens and swimming pools need significantly more water than apartments with terraces (in Madrid the difference in water use between these types of dwellings can reach 100%).42 Furthermore, according to the University of Alicante, one hectare of apartments consumes 13 times more water than one hectare of irrigation.

Water consumption A family consumes almost 200m3 per year. A golf course needs between 10.000 and 15.000 m3 per hectare per year. The surface of a golf course lies between 50 and 150 hectares, which means that the annual consumption of a golf course of around 1 million cubic metres per year. A swimming pool of 25 by 4 metres needs around 1200 m3 of water per year. 2001 Water consumption 43 Murcia 145 (140) Almería 183 (180) Alicante 166 (164)

Table 3.4 Water consumption in litres per inhabitant per day

39 INE: Encuesta de ocupación hotelera 40 Diario Información 7-11-2002 41 Ecologistas en Acción del País Valenciano, October 2000. www.eapv.org/camposgolf.htm 42 Study on the water demand for urban use in the region of Madrid, Canal Isabel II, May 2000. 43 INE. Encuesta sobre el suministro y tratamiento de agua. Litres/inhabitant/day in 2000 and between parenthesis in 1999

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3.1.2 Elimination of the natural landscape The natural landscape is threatened on two fronts. From the coast, tourist urbanizations are spreading and from inland, agriculture is expanding. The occupation of the grounds by tourism and agriculture is a threat for the protected areas and accelerates desertification. The expansion of agriculture leads to less fertile grounds Desertification and erosion are severe problems in the Southeast region of Spain. Murcia is the only area in Europe that is qualified as a very high risk for desertification, having 76% of the territory eroded and 44% annual ground losses higher than admissible. In Almeria, nearly half of the province has a high risk of desertification. The causes for this phenomenon are44: • Natural conditions; • Destruction of the vegetal cover; • Ploughing land with a strong

gradient; • Overgrazing; • Abusive timber cutting; • Misuse of fertilizers. Nevertheless, in Murcia and Almeria agriculture with irrigation is practised inside areas with high risks of erosion (the black areas in illustration 3.12 and 3.13). The irrigation accelerates the process of desertification by accumulation of salts (salinization). Illustration 3.12 Desertification and agriculture in Murcia

Fuente: www.um.es/~inuama

White area: high risk for erosionBlack area: irrigated agriculture

Fuente: www.um.es/~inuama

White area: high risk for erosionBlack area: irrigated agriculture

The use of groundwater can easily produce overexploitation of aquifers, resulting in desertification. Other factors of desertification are due to inadequate agricultural management of the grounds. Poor grounds can only be productive over a few years. Later, farmers abandon them and reclaim new sites causing the same problems and expanding the desertified areas.

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44 Heraldo 10-9-2002

Fuente: www.cma.junta-andalucia.es

White area: high erosion riskBlack area: irrigated agriculture

Illustration 3.13 Desertification and agriculture in Almería The expansion of agriculture reduces natural areas The two maps, illustrations 3.14 and 3.15, show that many protected areas (Sites of Community Interest and Special Protected Areas for birds: the white areas) are surrounded and threatened by irrigated agriculture and greenhouses. Sometimes, they can be found inside the limits of protected areas (black areas). Due to irrigation, there are local problems of drought. Greenhouses surround the Natural Reserve of Albufera de Adra in Almeria, forming the main threat for the survival of the area. Severe processes of eutrofication can be observed as a consequence of the fact that the aquifer receives nutrients from greenhouses.45

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45 45 www.copt.junta-andalucia.es

Fuente: www.cma.junta-andalucia.es

White area: SCI and SPABlack area: irrigated agriculture

Fuente: Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y INUAMA

Murcia

White area: SPA and SCIBlack area: irrigated agriculture within SPA or SCI

Illustration 3.14 Irrigated agriculture in protected areas in Murcia

Illustration 3.15 Irrigated agriculture in protected areas in Almeria

The urban expansion of the city of Murcia occurs in very fertile zones next to the Segura River

Houses constructed in the Garden of Murcia

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Illustration 3.16 Houses constructed in the Garden of Murcia46

The economic growth in the region of Murcia reflects itself in the construction of new houses in the “Garden of Murcia”. The construction of houses in 2001 doubles that of 1993. Most of the constructed buildings are villas with a garden that which occupy more ground than a building with several apartments. This is confirmed by the fact that the average of homes per building in the “Garden” is 2 against an average of 3 in the city of Murcia.47

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46 Colegio de Arquitectos 47 Ministerio de Fomento and Consejería de Obras Públicas, Vivienda and Transportes

Evolution of agriculture in the Garden of Murcia

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Illustration 3.17 Evolution of agriculture in the Garden of Murcia48 Illustration 3.18 The Garden of Murcia49

During the last few years, a clear decrease of land occupation by agriculture in the traditional Garden of Murcia can be seen (10% during in the last seven years). One could say that expansion of urbanizations produces a decrease of traditional agriculture in fertile zones. In many cases, farmers sell their irrigation rights to companies of agro-business, which use them for agriculture in drier areas with higher risks for exhaustion of the grounds and erosion. These grounds also need more irrigation, which means that this type of agriculture puts an additional pressure on the natural resources. Almería, a sea of plastics50 The low quality of the grounds and the extreme scarcity and irregularity of rainfall, combined with the few surface water resources and the frequent strong winds, determine the difficulty for agricultural use of many grounds in Almería. Its principal advantages are the relatively moderate temperatures and the everyday sunshine.

Evolution of greenhouse surface in Almería

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Illustration 3.19 Evolution of the greenhouse surface in Almería51

Distribution of the greenhouse surface in Spain

1999

Andalucia66%

Murcia12%

Valencia3%

Others19%

Illustration 3.20 Distribution of the greenhouse surface in Spain52

Greenhouses offer a solution with good results to these harsh climatic conditions. Almería is the area with the strongest development of greenhouses: nearly 40% of agriculture takes place under plastic (illustrations 3.19 and 3.20). According to data from the Regional Ministry of Environment of the Regional Government of Andalusia, nearly 30% of the new constructed greenhouses are illegal and don’t pass any sanitary or environmental control. The products that are used for fitosanitary treatment are not controlled either.

48 Consejería de Agricultura, Agua y Medio Ambiente. Servicio de Control, Estudios y Estadísticas. 49 Credit: Guido Schmidt/ WWF-Spain/ADENA 50 www.gem.es 51 www.gem.es 52 INE: Censo Agrario

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Greenhouses break the continuity and aesthetics of the landscape in an ugly way. To install a greenhouse disused land is reclaimed. The environmental change under plastic is translated in a major proliferation of plagues and illnesses. The great quantities of fertilizers and fitosanitary products are producing an increase in contamination of groundwater and wetlands. Furthermore, the spectacular development of greenhouses gave way to a higher consumption of water in irrigation, that has led to a drop in the water levels in the aquifers, leading to marine intrusion at certain points of the coasts. Although greenhouses have a higher efficiency in the use of water per hectare per labourer, the other costs are that much higher, that competing with lands like Morocco seems difficult. During summer, the greenhouse owners in the coastal zones of the South of Europe renew the plastics of their exploitations of intensive agriculture. A high percentage of these plastics are not transferred to the incinerator and recycle plants. They are left on the roads or burnt directly, spreading dioxin gasses. This practice, completely prohibited, is a severe environmental and sanitary problem because of the increase of the surface of greenhouses and the lack of control on them. At the east coast of Andalusia, the intensive agriculture under plastic generate 30 millions of kilos of waste every year, in majority plastics, but also organic materials.53

53 www.ideal.es/waste/invernaderos.htm

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Land occupation by tourism forms a threat for the protected areas Many of the tourist constructions in the Southeast region of Spain take place inside zones with high ecological value. In San Miguel de Salnias 27 millions of quadric meters - half of the municipal area - have been rezoned, part of it in areas with high ecological value, like the Serra de Escalona. Among the projects in this place figures the construction of three golf courses. In Rojales an urbanization inside the river basin of the Natural Park of the Laguna de la Mata has been approved. In Algorfa an illegal golf course and thousands of bungalows have been constructed, and even the wife of the General Director of the governmental department of housing is owner of part of the area, where they are planning to build thousands of houses. In Albaterra a golf course and bungalows for 4000 persons have been projected next to the Site of Communitary Interest of the Sierra of Crevillente, and in Pilar de Horadada local promoters have signed a convention with the mayor to pay 1,50€/m2 which should be rezoned in the new Spatial Plan.54 In Murcia, 175 real estate promoters that operate on the Murcian coast are preparing, in advance of the new ground law, dozens of urban projects on the coast of Mazarrón and Aguilas in the areas of Moreras, Percheles, Calnegre and Marina de Cope, exactly the same areas which have suffered the recent change of protected natural areas into building land (14.000 hectares)55. The regional government pretends, as explained by Ruiz Abellán in the newspaper “La Verdad”, to create a 50 metre wide beach along the whole “La Manga”. The required sand will be extracted from the lake, like stated in the plans of tourism56. There are comparable examples in Almería. In the Natural Park of Cabo de Gata-Nijar, Oyonarte is constructing an illegal urbanization on the Isleta del Moro. In the last few years the official surface of the natural park has decreased by 4000 hectares57.

54 Juan Manuel Carretero in www.ebre.net/article35.html 55 La Verdad 21-5-2002 56 La Verdad 18-12-2002 57 www.iea.junta-andalucia.es

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3.2 The economy is growing, but with victims The environment is not the only victim of the non-sustainable growth in the Southeast Region of Spain. The fast changes have their impacts on society, with both winners and losers. 3.2.1 More production, less benefits Overproduction is every year’s reality Overproduction is not only a threat, it happens nearly every year with one product or another. The process of overproduction is very simple: one year some farmers earn a lot of money with one product, like for example lettuce. The next year more farmers produce lettuce. With a high production the prices go down. There is overproduction when the prices of the products are lower than the costs.

The “Tomatina” in Buñol (Castellón) The traditional “Tomatina” is a unique celebration in which over a 30.000 people throw tomatoes at each other on the central day of the festival in this village in Valencia. Wednesday, after ten o’clock in the morning various trucks start to launch ripe tomatoes to the public (see illustration 3.21).

The biggest crisis in the export of vegetables leaves more than 800 workers on the street58 Vegetable exporters recently dealt with a crisis of overproduction - the worst for the last 20 years. 60% of the harvest of lettuce, cauliflower and broccoli needed to be sold under the cost price to not lose the EU clients. Many companies were not able to withstand this financial situation. Abemar from Mallorca, one of the emblems of the agro-alimentary sector of the region, had suffered so much that he had to decide to dismiss over 800 people. This is only the first case. The agricultural organizations are warning that other companies will dismiss hundreds of workers during this month.

Illustration 3.21 Image of the festival in Buñol59 Growth of the market of second houses leads to unoccupied houses The census of houses in the province of Alicante this year reached for the first time one million units. A spectacular number if you take into account that the official population is only about 1,5 million inhabitants.60 Due to this growth of the second residence sector, the province of Alicante now has a park with over 150.000 unoccupied houses or houses only occupied between 15 or 45 days per year61. In Murcia and Almería equal trends can be noticed. The following table shows that Murcia and Alicante already have twice as many houses as households.

58 La Verdad 4-5-2001 59 Source: www.ananova.com/images/web/27278.jpg 60 El Periódico de Alicante 22-10-2002 61 Diario Informatión 31-10-2002

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Table 3.5 Relation between the number of houses and the number of households

2001 Number of houses62 Number of households63 Murcia 859.388 370.788 Almería 213.395 162.154 Alicante Ca. 1.000.000 485.689

3.2.2 Society is changing The population in the Southeast region of Spain is changing. According to official data, there is an important immigration flow. Almería has over 30.000 foreign residents and nearly 19.000 applications of working and living permits per year (8,4% of Spain). The situation in Alicante and Murica is very similar. In Alicante the immigration consists mainly of “tourists” from Germany and Great Britain. In Murcia and Almería the workers in agriculture are the major part of immigration.64 2001 Immigrants Percentage of

the population Spain 1.572.017 3,8% Murcia 69.556 5,6% Almería 39.220 7,3% Alicante 126.157 8,6%

Table 3.6 Immigration in the Southeast region65

Immigrants in the Southeast of SpainGreat Britain

Germany

Columbia

Ecuador

Morocco

Others

Illustration 3.22 Origin of immigrants in the Southeast region of Spain66

Agriculture enjoys the cheap labour of many legal and illegal immigrants In the Southeast region of Spain immigrants do most of the labour in the agricultural sector. According to the data of the Anuario de Extranjería of the Encuesta de Población Activa, in 1999, the foreign workers formed over 30% of the total workforce in agriculture in Almería and 21% in Murcia, although these proportions should be summed to the immigrants in illegal situations or in regularization process.67 According to the Office for Social Integration of Immigrants in Almería, nearly 92% of the agricultural workers are immigrants, of which 64% are from Morocco. In 1998, this office calculated that the number of legal immigrants was about 15.000 and the amount of illegal immigrants between 15.000 and 25.000.68 62 INE: Censos de población y viviendas 2001 63 INE: Encuesta continua de presupuestos familiares 64 INE: Censos de población y viviendas 2001 65 Dirección General de la Policía 66 Dirección General de la Policía 67 Vicente Gozálvez Pérez, Universidad de Alicante: Los inmigrantes: ¿Nos necesitan o les necesitamos? Los excedentes demográficos del desarrollo. 68 Explotación de inmigrantes en Europa, Nicholas Bell

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According to a report prepared for the European Commission69, the amount of illegal labour in Spain can be estimated to produce between 15 and 20% of the Gross Domestic Product of the country, strongly above the European average of 9%. The Southeast region of Spain is the region with the highest levels of illegal labour: Murcia 32%, Andalusia 29% and Valencia 24%.70 Nearly 11.000 day workers - the majority from outside the EU - work legally in Alicante in the agricultural exploitations of the province. According to “La Unió de Llauradors”, this number supposes 80% of the labour in the field; the rest consists of farmers in charge of coordination and control.71 The profile of the actual temporary worker is that of a foreigner, between 25 and 45 years old, just arrived in Spain with no experience in the national agricultural sector. Once established, his priority is to let his family move to Spain. The South Americans and the people form Eastern Europe are, in this way, the most willing to work on the land. In third place are the citizens from the Magreb - especially from Morocco and Algiers - and Africa.72

Twelve Ecuadorians die in an accident in which a train collided with a bus74 Fourteen people occupied the car, with the capacity for twelve. The temporaries were on their way to harvest broccoli at a farm in Lorca. One girl of 13 years old and the driver were the only survivors. The entrepreneur, for whom they worked, Victo Lirón, had received earlier 10 sentences by the social court of Murcia.

The direct labour relation between the company and the worker hardly exists. Flexibility is seen as something very important and is translated in contracting workforce by means of subcontractors or intermediaries leading to the growth of companies of temporary work. In the morning the people wait at central places to be contracted for one day. Buses take the workers to the field. This subcontracting means that the workers have a very weak or informal labour relationship with the company for which they work and lack any normal labour rights.73

30 immigrants loose their home in El Ejido75 Nearly 30 immigrants have lost their homes. The Local Police of El Ejido destroyed the slums in which they lived.

69 Undeclared Labour in Europe –Towards an integrated approach of combating undeclared labour-, S. Mateman and P.H. Rencoy, October 2001 70 La economía sumergida en relación a la quinta recomendación del Pacto del Toledo, Consejo económico y social, Madrid 1999 71 El País 22-4-2002 72 El País 22-4-2002 73 Andrés Pedreño, Universidad de Murcia: Esto es la huerta de Europa. 74 La Verdad 2-1-2001 75 Agencia EFE, 27-5-2001

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The immigrant workers lack also the most elemental social rights for a life with dignity. They don’t own a decent house, especially not the people from a Magreb origin. About 70% of the houses cannot be qualified as a real house.76

Low salaries, a real misery77 The assessors of the Sindicato Obreros del Campo (SOC78) have sued a company, whose owner threatened them and a journalist of La Vanguardia with death when they proved that the salaries of the workers from Eastern Europe in the farm were 25 euros per day (the legal salary is 28,75 euros). The Spanish workers were paid one euro more. The SOC had also received testimonies of immigrant workers assuring that some managers of farms in the area of El Rocío were offering work to immigrants for 10 euros, a place in a slum and food. In the zone of Moguer a farm owner has put some very strange living conditions on his workers. He doesn’t allow them to receive visits in their houses and the Magreb workers are obliged to be inside before dark.

76 Andrés Pedreño, Universidad de Murcia: Esto es la huerta de Europa. 77 http://Soc-andalucia.com/abuso.htm 78 Land workers syndicate

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4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The economic development during the last few years in the Southeast region of Spain has produced negative impacts on environment and society: water is getting scarce, the natural landscape is disappearing and the economy grows at the expense of social victims. WWF/Adena concludes that one of the principal causes of these problems is the lack of sustainable development79 in the Southeast region of Spain:

• Lack of an equilibrated economic growth, because the agricultural incomes are not stable and because of the pressure on the landscape caused by tourism;

• The natural resources are not used with prudence, nor is the environment being conserved: the aquifers are overexploited, there are problems with desertification and protected areas are threatened by the expansion of agriculture and tourism;

• There is a lack of solidarity within the society: many immigrants work in inadequate circumstances and there are not sufficient houses for them, while another part of the population enjoys the benefits of economic growth.

Without sustainable development and following the actual trend, it is possible to develop future scenarios for the Southeast region of Spain in which the landscape will be transformed in a desert, the tourists have left to visit other Mediterranean regions and agriculture is being developed in North Africa or other areas in Europe (for example, the countries in Eastern Europe). The Spanish government focuses in their analyses only on the water offer problems and pretends to solve them by means of the Ebro water transfer. This solution, however, does not slow down the non-sustainable growth of tourism and agriculture and therefore the growth of the water demand will not be ceased. On the contrary, the transfer stimulates the non-sustainable development in the Southeast region of Spain:

• Part of the transferred water will be used by a small group of farmers, benefiting economically this group at the expense of European society (the transfer will be financed by European public funds);

• The transferred water will stimulate the expansion by tourism and agriculture, being a threat for nature;

• The transferred water will reverberate in a overproduction in the agricultural and tourist sector.

79 Following the principals of sustainable development of the Ministry of Environment.

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WWF/Adena recommends initiating a process of sustainable development for the Southeast region of Spain, in which all administrative levels play a role. The European Union should stimulate sustainable development through financing sustainable solutions and through not financing projects contrary to the Water Framework Directive and sustainable development in general, like for example the Ebro water transfer.80 The government, especially the Ministry of Environment, should promote the rational use of water, energy and land. The Ministry has developed a very expensive communication campaign on sustainable development and could use this opportunity to bring it into practice. Moreover, the Ministry has an important role to create transparent participation and obtain more information, especially in relation to the limits between legality and illegality in use of water. The Confederaciones Hidrográficas, especially the one of the Segura river basin, have to stimulate and lead a debate on sustainable management of water resources, including water demand and offer. This debate will form part of the integral debate on sustainable development in the Southeast region of Spain.

Agenda 21: a tool to achieve sustainable development To be able to have a more environmentally sustainable city, an activity framework has been established, generally called Local Agenda 21. The municipality of Murcia has initiated a Local Agenda 21 process, which could serve as stimulation for the Southeast region of Spain. WWF/Adena believes that Agenda 21 on a regional and local level can be an effective instrument to establish a sustainable development in the Southeast region of Spain that not only deals with water, but covers the whole development in this region. WWF/Adena uses the following criteria to get a process with satisfactory results: • The regional and local government have to be the

principal driver and protector, being the persons with political weight.

• The associations, businessmen and citizens are not only informed and consulted, but are the active drivers of the process together with the regional and local institutions taking their responsibility in this process.

• The Local Agenda 21 considers equally the economic feasibility, social justice and environmental sustainability.

• In the Southeast region of Spain it is necessary that from this integrated perspective themes like agriculture and immigrants, water use and tourism are being tackled.

• It is necessary that the regional or local government leads the process and is prepared to establish the necessary channels so that the citizens, associations, businessmen and the local technicians are involved in the Action Plan of the Local Agenda 21.

• Local Agenda 21 is a continuous process in time, which never finalizes.

The three autonomous regions (Valencia, Murcia and Almería) are responsible to define, execute and lead a process to obtain sustainable development that includes the three principles of sustainable development:

• Equilibrated economic growth: sustainable development is not possible if there are no profits. Special points in this theme are:

o Promote a tourist sector that flourishes not only in the short term, but also in the future;

o Assure that agriculture produces benefits independently of the European funds81;

80 WWF (2002): Seven reasons why WWF is opposing the Spanish National Hydrological Plan. Recommendations and alternatives. 81 The European Union reforms the PAC and FEDER funds in the frame of the expansion of the EU with its consequences from 2007.

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• Prudent use of natural resources and conservation of the environment: Sustainable development means that there are no irreversible impacts on the environment. Special points in this theme are:

o Define water and land problems as a problem of demand management; o Put strict limits on water availability, with serious criteria of

sustainability and revision; o Stop the processes of new land reclamations and illegal exploitations of

irrigation in coherence with the available recourses82; • Solidarity within the society: sustainable development is more than the

environment. The whole of society has to benefit. Special points in this theme are:

o Improve the working conditions in agriculture; o Regulate immigration in the Southeast region of Spain.

Within the three autonomous regions, the following Regional Ministries have an important role:

• Spatial Planning: the Regional Ministry with this responsibility already has the role of looking at development with integral glasses, that’s why this Regional Ministry is the most qualified organization to lead any process. Moreover they supervise the ground management, crucial to assure an managed occupation by agriculture and tourism;

• Economy, Environment and Social Matters: these Regional Ministries should propose ideas in the framework of sustainable development and create debates in their respective sectors;

• Agriculture and Tourism: these sectors should adapt their development with changes.

The local administrations are interested in a good local economy, but also in a pleasant environment for their citizens. For this reason the local administrations should implement sustainable development in their politics and govern tourist expansions with sustainability criteria. To obtain widely supported sustainable development it is necessary to have participation by all stakeholders, including tourist companies, representatives of agriculture and environmental and social non-governmental organizations. In conclusion, the Ebro water transfer will not solve the problems in the Southeast region of Spain, but sustainable development will.

82 WWF (2002): Análisis y valoración socioeconómica de los trasvases del Ebro previstos en el PHN. Elaborado por la Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua.

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