FILE - The bones of a dead horse lie in a dry wetland in DoƱana natural park, southwest Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. National and regional authorities in Spain have signed an agreement to invest 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in areas around the treasured southern national park of DoƱana in a bid to try to halt the wetland from drying up. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)
FILE - The bones of a dead horse lie in a dry wetland in DoƱana natural park, southwest Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. National and regional authorities in Spain have signed an agreement to invest 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in areas around the treasured southern national park of DoƱana in a bid to try to halt the wetland from drying up. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)
BAMADRID (AP) ā National and regional authorities in Spain signed an agreement Monday to invest 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in areas around the treasured national park of DoƱana in a bid to stop the park from drying up.
Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera said the plan was aimed at encouraging farmers to stop cultivating crops that rely heavily on water from underground aquifers that have been overexploited in recent years, damaging one of .
āThis is an agreement with which we put an end to pressure on a natural treasure the likes of which there are few in the world,ā Ribera said.
Andalusia regional President Juan Moreno said farmers will receive financial incentives to stop cultivating and to reforest land in and around some 14 towns close to DoƱana. He said farmers who wish to continue cultivating will receive less money but must switch to farming dry crops ecologically.
As part of the agreement, Andalusia will cancel previously announced plans to expand irrigation near DoƱana, a decision that UNESCO, the central government and ecologists criticized for .
A UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve, DoƱana is a wintering site for half a million waterfowl and a stopover spot for millions more birds that migrate from Africa to northern Europe.
Ecologists working in and near the park have long warned that its ecosystem of marshes and lagoons is under severe strain because of agriculture and tourism. The situation has been made worse by climate change and a , along with record high temperatures.
Andalusia recently announced a plan to allow the DoƱana park to annex some 7,500 hectares (18,500 acres) by purchasing land from a private owner for 70 million euros.
DoƱana currently covers 74,000 hectares (182,000 acres) on an estuary where the Guadalquivir River meets the Atlantic Ocean on Spainās southern coast.
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