Coto de Doñana National Park

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Coto de Doñana National Park
Doñana National Park
Doñana National Park
Coto de Doñana National Park (Spain)
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Coordinates: 37 ° 2 ′ 0 ″  N , 6 ° 24 ′ 28 ″  W.
Location: Huelva , Spain
Next city: Huelva
Surface: 543 km²
Founding: 1969
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Cormorants in the park
Dunes in the national park
Wetland

The Coto de Doñana National Park (also Parque Nacional de Doñana ) on the Costa de la Luz in Andalusia is 54,252 hectares today, after the expansion in 2004, plus another 26,540 hectares as a buffer zone ( preparque ). It is Spain's most important wetland . This is mainly due to the marismas ; a flat, periodically flooded wetland. The Coto de Doñana is not only a unique landscape, the fauna is just as diverse. In addition to the overwintering of thousands of migratory birds, rare bird species live in the wetlands. The area is known for the second largest population of the critically endangered Iberian Lynx . The national park is part of the Natura 2000 area “Doñana”.

ecology

The area consists of the huge amounts of sediment deposited by the Guadalquivir in its delta . Part of the sand that enters the sea is then deposited back onto land and forms the huge dunes that separate the marismas from the sea. On the leeward side, these dunes have already been secured by the vegetation, where typical shrub formations emerged on the stabilized sands.

The dunes stretch from Matalascañas to the mouth of the Guadalquivir. In the best case, they reach heights of up to 40 m and form several parallel rows of dunes, which are separated by dune valleys, the corrales . An umbrella pine forest grows in these valleys , which is buried when the shifting dunes advance. The dead stumps of these forests are only released again decades later. But if the top branches of individual umbrella pines were not covered by sand, they can survive the burial. Seeds from the cones of such trees form the basis of the next generation of the umbrella pine forest. The beach grass is the first to settle on the dunes themselves ; Large fruited and Phoenician junipers grow on fortified dunes .

The shrub formations of the stabilized sands are either the monte blanco , a bush dominated by yellow rockrose , or in the more humid depressions of the monte negro , in which gorse species or common heather predominate. Here you can also find isolated remains of the cork oak forests with wild olive trees ; the cork oaks, which are used as nesting places by whole spoonbill and heron colonies (pajareras), have become a kind of symbol of the national park . The UNESCO raised in 1994 the National Park for World Heritage .

fauna

The park is an important resting area for European migratory birds that stop here on their journey to Africa. Over half of all European bird species have been found in the park. About 80% of all Western European ducks rest in the swamps, including flocks of up to 70,000 gray geese , 126,000 teal , 100,000 wigeon and 40,000 pintail . The breeding birds include rare species such as stilts and spoonbills . The emblem of the park is the purple chicken . Among the numerous birds of prey, the Spanish Imperial Eagle deserves special mention.

The national park is one of the last refuges for the Iberian lynx . Other larger mammals include red deer , fallow deer , wild boar , feral horses , genet cats and ichneumons . Cattle have also lived freely in the park for centuries . In 1989 there were 139 animals in the area.

Doñana Natura 2000 site

The Coto de Doñana National Park is fully part of the Natura 2000 area “Doñana” (EU area code: ES0000024). With an area of ​​113,898.66 hectares (as of February 2016), it is slightly more than twice the size of the national park and also includes most of the adjacent areas of the "Doñana" nature park.

The Natura 2000 area was first reported to the EU in 1987 as an area under the Birds Directive (decreed in 2003) and in 1997 as an area under the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive (decreed in 2012).

In addition to the numerous breeding and migratory bird species that are protected in the area, there are 29 habitat types of European importance (Annex I of the Habitats Directive) and 22 species in Annex II of the Directive, which are particularly significant in the Natura 2000 area “Doñana” enjoy legal protection.

A report was drawn up in 2015 on activities and developments in the area.

tourism

The national park is only accessible to visitors by prior arrangement. From the El Acebuche national park station (near Matalascañas ) there is the possibility of booking guided Unimog tours through the park. At the stations Las Rocinas and Palacio del Acebron (near El Rocío ) and El Acebuche there are also several kilometers of nature trails through various wetlands, some with bird watching stations. The Cerro del Trigo was an archaeological site where the ancient Tartessos was suspected.

There is also the possibility of taking a boat from Sanlucar de Barrameda on the Guadalquivir with a few stops along the banks of the national park.

Possible starting points for a longer stay in the national park are the places Matalascañas and El Rocío .

Development and threats

Dam break leads to environmental disaster

On April 25, 1998, the dam of a retention basin for mine waste water from the Los Frailes mine broke . In a short time, more than five million cubic meters of silt, which also contained heavy metals such as zinc, lead, copper, cadmium, mercury, arsenic and thallium, flowed into the Guadiamar, a tributary of the Guadalquivir . Now the muddy slurry streamed towards the national park, which is only 40 km away, and flooded large parts of the bank. Farmers had noticed the event and so three dams were completed at the last minute to keep the poison cocktail from the Coto de Doñana National Park. The mining company Boliden- Apirsa raised only 35 million euros for the removal of the environmental damage of 175 million euros .

Water withdrawal

For years, strawberries have been cultivated in Doñana through illegal water extraction from deep wells. This illegal practice has meanwhile been denounced not only by various environmental and nature conservation initiatives such as WWF and the SAI, but also by UNESCO and the EU. In 2016, large supermarket chains such as Coop , Migros , Unilever and Albert Heijn joined these initiatives to protect the nature park and against the illegal cultivation of strawberries and “water theft” of up to 1,500 hectares .

The WWF Spain published due to the acute threats to the reserve, emanating from Wassentnahmen from the illegal more than 1,000 wells in 2016 a short film to the area "Doñana". The ARD studio in Madrid also reported on it in September 2016.

In January 2019, the European Commission sued Spain for failure to comply with Directive 2000/60 / EC (Water Framework Directive) at the Court of Justice of the European Union , as the groundwater bodies that feed the Doñana wetlands are not adequately protected from agricultural and tourism use become.

Gas pipeline project from 2013

In January 2013 the Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente is planning the construction of an 18 km long gas pipeline across the nature reserve.

Devastation from forest fires 2017

In the summer of 2017, a fire was set in the region around the national park. More than 1,500 people were brought to safety as a result of the forest fires. From June 25, 2017, the fire also threatened the areas of the national park. Ecologists feared dire consequences for the fauna in the area, including a. because the breeding season had just begun for many species. As a mobile species, the Spanish Imperial Eagle was not endangered, but one of the last habitats for the Iberian lynx was endangered.

literature

archeology

In 2009 excavations took place to find the city of Tartessos again ( 36 ° 57 ′  N , 6 ° 23 ′  W ).

Web links

Commons : Doñana National Park  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b Laura Riley, William Riley: Nature's strongholds: the world's great wildlife reserves . Princeton University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-691-12219-9 , p. 46 (Accessed September 21, 2010).
  2. ^ Alfonso Lazo: Ranging behavior of feral cattle (Bos taurus) in Doñana National Park, SW Spain. Journal of Zoology Volume 236, Issue 3, pages 359-369, July 1995
  3. Directión General de Gestión del Medio Natural y Espacios Protegidos (2016): Standard data sheet on the FFH and bird sanctuary ES0000024 "Doñana" , status: February 2016.
  4. Junta de Andalucía (2015): Espacio Natural Doñana - Memoria de actividades y resultados 2014 , 709 pp., In Spanish.
  5. ^ Water theft in the Doñana. (PDF) WWF Germany , accessed on July 14, 2016 .
  6. Grandes supermercados europeos rechazan el 'robo' del agua en Doñana. In: El País. March 11, 2016, Retrieved July 14, 2016 (Spanish).
  7. WWF España (2016): Short film about the Doñana area and its acute threat , 1:32 min, in Spanish.
  8. O. Neuroth: Doñana National Park in Danger - Spain's wetland is drying up , ARD Studio Madrid, published on tagesschau.de on September 17, 2016.
  9. European Commission: Commission sues Spain for failure to protect the Doñana wetlands. January 24, 2019, accessed January 24, 2019 .
  10. Autorizada la extracción de gas en el entorno de Doñana , El País of January 29, 2013, accessed on February 3, 2013.
  11. ^ Forest fire in Spain threatens renowned national park. Retrieved June 26, 2017 .
  12. http://www.huelvainformacion.es/article/provincia/502947/csic/inicia/las/primeras/catas/arqueologicas/la/atlantida.html