Farm fined for defiling traditional land
Works had been reported by local ecologists
A COMPANY has been fined by the regional government for transforming over 80 hectares of traditional farmland by installing a drip irrigation system in Los Carrizales de Elche
The penalty of €6,000 is in addition to being ordered to repair the damage caused by removing the system of pipes and irrigation reservoir that were installed, according to the association friends of the south Alicante wetlands (AHSA). The ecologist organisation reported the works back in October 2021.
They commented that they were ‘pessimistic’ the order would be complied with, as the company would ‘certainly’ lodge an appeal that could take years to resolve.
“Meanwhile the affected land will continue to suffer important environmental damage caused by an agro-industrial system that is far from traditional agrarian practices, not only because it modifies the irrigation system, depriving the network of channels of significant supplies (of water), and the wetlands which depend on these, but also due to the abusive usage of agro-toxins and extreme intensification of the crop, producing harvest after harvest without interruption and seriously degrading the soil,” they assured.
Based on the regional government file, the AHSA understands the company could have received a subsidy of €75,000 from agrarian aid funds to build the reservoir.
The ecologists accused the regional government of not having performed due diligence, since it already knew the nature of the work and even drew up a report saying that construction of the reservoir should not be authorised, eight months before they lodged the complaint, ‘but did not move a finger to stop the works which they already knew were illegal’. AHSA also asked about the situation of another irrigation reservoir, also located near the south entrance to El Hondo natural park, which they reported in October last year and have so far not received any information about whether proceedings have been started to issue a penalty for very similar circumstances.