Widespread illegal extraction. Brought up from the you alone is tragic people its time to put a stop to the drilling of illegal boreholes which amounts to stealing a public asset. Its the water over a 1000000 homes in spain often called moonshine wells because they drilled they used to help irrigate grown here in one of the driest corners of europe and exported to the rest of the continent. No one wants to take responsibility i doubt anything will change unfortunately gay know whats the. Nature at its most. National park south of seville is a unesco World Heritage site and a stopover for millions of markets or birds traveling between europe and africa but its surrounded by agricultural activity that is sucking it dry demand for water poses a threat to this natural paradise and illegal wells are exacerbating the problem. Is essential for biodiversity for the parks wetlands and fauna but its also essential for the local economy which revolves around intensive farming. But the problem is in the last 30 years that farming is lead to illegal extraction of water and that has a serious impact on the parks marshes and lagoon. Groundwater levels of far. So the water balance in dont ya know. Park has been altered. Were destroying it. Has been fighting to protect anjana National Park for 16 years the agricultural engineer comes from the region and has made the campaign against illegal wells his lifes mission he uses satellite imaging to locate newly drill for holes and illegal agriculture. These are official government maps. Legal agricultural areas. It is its a map thats available to the general public. So what do we do we end our experts look for an authorized try armors we zoom in and identify areas where crops are being cultivated you. Know the failure is this and this and this or all know if we pass our findings on to the authorities and report the illegal zones when we identify anything suspicious we go and check it out and one of them i would hope im. Wrong. But the activist says the authorities off a little help in the fight to protect the regions Natural Environment reporting illegal wells and farms usually goes nowhere its deeply frustrating. And forgot to put a belief in god we see that crops are being cultivated here and this farm suddenly appeared about 2 years ago. It was right next to the road but its not being shut down even though everyone knows its here. Its been reported to the Water Authority i didnt get a call to be like any other. Illegal farming and authorities to turn a blind eye despite the fact there are clear rules on irrigation practices laid out in a Water Management plan that farmers n. G. O. S and local authorities spend 7 years to. Get all the under luzhin parliament approved the plan in december 2014 illegal farming must be stopped and we hope this happens. The to get them up the water. Going in these areas of cultivation have sprouted up over the last 30 years and there was no local oversight. Local council simply allowed this moomin illegal farming to happen. It seems to me so that i could put things you know. Around anjana National Park water is used mainly to irrigate strawberry plantations the region produces approximately one 3rd of strawberries grown in europe. The strawberry production is a major source of employment of 80000 people in the living in this sector including many small holders and their families local environmental activists who are against the practice are often denounced as traitors. What about going to look im going to this is an illegal borel there are roughly a 1000 of them and only on a couple of we have at least are especially agree just because were in the middle of a protected forest but there are 60 illegal wells here alone for extracting water from rivers or go along in the wetlands thank you dont know why what they look at real york about and its shocking because you can even see the fields when but out of fear 567 kilometers away. Well they run lines from here to the farms and often they lay kilometers of electric cables to right through the forest without any kind of permanent or safety precautions but. People theres a high risk of forest fires this is been going on for 10 years or so its scandalous. But awful. But i think if you look at its tricky trying to follow the tides because they disappear into the ground reappear and then disappear again we think i would be watching. It doesnt i think this is in illegal reservoir well i mean if you know a wooded area. You know its illegal you cant install a reservoir here. Each of these pipes is a well you may put it down and take a little bit of both and you can clearly see that there are an operation. I think that we got off on at the idea that what we do that the water from about 14 wells in the vicinity use collected here and pumped to farms that arent even close by. Oh no sorry most of this is one of the most flagrant examples of the kind of illegal activity weve been fighting for years and look at toys he felt any look at. Its high time we took a step forward and put a stop to water thank you i mean i know there are a growing number of locals and the European Commission are pushing for this for the European Court of justice has opened proceedings against the Spanish Government in connection with water theft and are not so that i would i want them to. Monocultures a by no means restricted to tanya on a National Park the Agricultural Sector is the censurable thirst for water is transforming the end illusion landscape better ground water supply is by no means guaranteed. A turning contractor luis montenegros business is thriving a test costs around 2000 euros but its a risky investment for his clients and theres a long wait for a permit from the Water Authority. Is it when a farmer submit such drilling project to the authorities. It can take up to 8 or 9 months to get a reply. Thats just unacceptable the Water Authority takes ages but farmers need to irrigate their crops if they cant they lose their harvests if you know. And then the families and farms end up ruined media i dont really know. What often happens is the farmers opt not to pay for an approved drilling where they are because what happens if no water is found but. Theres no well and the bore hole has to be referred. To the by the way dont you know. The upshot farmers often drill boreholes without official permits along with the costs of drilling submitting an application and commissioning the requisite geological surveys can cost around a 1000. 00 euros here in central angelous all of pharma antonias wife has even resorted to divine ing rod they need water urgently their trees are hard hit by Climate Change the dry season is getting longer and longer. A. Lot of that cannot be if the trees get no water there will be no olives. Obviously we have to use water before the official permit comes through thats just how it is because you dont know what. The drilling contractor is pessimistic tomorrow the company will try again at a different spot in over a outwardly bit that you cant see a thing just a black hole that theres no water and if there was the soil would be more sed here in the region theres very little water thats the wrong sort of bedrock while the radio people had already. Come out for you know we extract a lot of water groundwater levels are falling years you see natural gas Everyone Wants a private pool the Agricultural Sectors demand for water is growing weve got more here in Southern Europe we depend on farming people that are going to. The farming sector helped the country survive the most recent financial crisis or a gaggle of welcomed them during the financial crisis that left spain reeling farming was indeed one of the few stable sectors but its growth is now reaching its limit phillipa for lent has asked from the Worldwide Fund for nature wants to see the sick to manage Water Resources more sustainably. We are on our way to a citrus fruit farm that we work with i think its the 1st farm in europe to be certified according to a system that manages water consumption sustainable. Daily monitoring is absolutely essential its about respecting a commodity that Everyone Wants to have water which is in short supply in this farm is Proof Positive that water consumption can be realistically reduced if you can get a full bottle for that what. Consumers have an Important Role to play one of the thieving they decide which product they buy that they need to ask where the product comes from and a fan somewhere with a water shortage thats very important but its. Almost a bit macabre to convince supermarkets also decide where they buy their produce from they can check whether its all sounds and thats what the Water Authority map is for if everythings above board great is equal but then the fairly powerful interests us is here to inspect the plantation luis by langer is one of the 1st farmers whose working with a new water certification scheme he supplies a major german Supermarket Chain with organic oranges his plantation is massive producing 12000. 00 tonnes of oranges per year morsi is safe with the help of the census system it connects doris on the air quality in the nations changes in the plants crucially senses in the Ground Control a drip irrigation system ensuring that the water is distributed around the crops roots and doesnt simply trickle away real portable field so we maximize efficiency with a drip irrigation system and censors. You may do it and we dont waste any water and we add fertilizer to the water which doesnt seeped into the groundwater and contaminate it with nitrate. I mean im a lot we need the tools that helps us a lot but its revolutionary. We use 20 percent less water all the harvest so the same goes for human i mean michael said just. So you know good morning everyone hello how you doing carmen good. You know the idea im very. Hows it looking great were getting a lot from every tree. Of that you know. It doesnt all threads you got into 135140 kilos poetry where youve worked on things and the quality of the fruit. Youre. Just. Going. To get this its nice and dense. All delicious what you. Get when. It could theres hardly any pulp. From then there will not be turned on in the day that. Anything. More than yours is placing his trust in one piece cut down on herbicides and pesticides and his promotion a process of rematch aeration insects and birds keep the crops free of pests the farmer is reacting to the growing demand for organic produce and also for water footprint certification believe. Me dont get one just look at that truck thats our eagle eyed over there by the power cable. Its a benelli ziegel deputy. You never used to see a bird like that. And now without even making much of a change just minimising the use of toxins so as not to destroy the environment its back when youre going to get. Some farmers thought i was crazy theyd ask why are you doing this. If youre putting your whole farm at risk. But now 5 years on worked hard and they see it works. Now everybody wants to do what i did it all. Great agricultural revolution of the 21st century has begun. Siggins no doubt about it and it will be. That over there is no longer our farm look at the difference. You know its like another world. I call it the desert your your money so thats chernobyl for me here. But i mean generally. This is because thats their idea of state of the art agriculture use that it will promote them. To respond is fortunate because he gets the water he needs for his plantation from a canal assigned to him by the war from starting so hes never needed to drill a well if theres one thing he knows is that the future depends on Sustainable Management of Water Resources. That. They get out or because they need a real need to realise that the point of saving water isnt to expand irrigation areas. Separate. What we save must be set aside for the dry season what the bring us again or return to the rivers you know. There are real numbers that get all right we cannot save water just so other farmers can water even more importantly you forget for not that only exacerbates the problem more land more consumption and i think. So. Its its its so. Recent years have seen the popularity of the avocado so what demand for this sub tropical fruit has risen 150 percent in the last decade but that has a downside farmers are eager to cash in but avocado production is highly water intensive and is worsening the water process inspiring. It takes 270 liters of water to grow just one of a colored our spine is effectively exporting its Water Resources in the form of fruit thanks poppy ed brown is president of the Spanish Association of tropical fruit produces. Were going off to have a game of it with ok so the avocado isnt native to spain but nora bananas only all the trees a native without a doubt its adapted perfectly to the climate a lot of you can see how well avocados grow here why shouldnt they be cultivated here. And also whether theyre plant that are you know what got the full harvests get bigger every year in 28 in spain exported 97000 tons of avocados for my local a because they think that environmental activists are always attacking tropical Fruit Farmers some of it for you and they think were destroying everything in the world beyond what i dont understand their issue where theyre against their own people and. I really dont want to destroy anything theyve either. Were helping the country and i provide them with jobs. We could grow twice as much but there isnt enough water there wasnt. For the Farm Association growth is the top priority any water they say thanks to modern Irrigation Systems gets used to expand their plantations theyre also talking to more rivers and drill boreholes much Higher Elevations they say they have. Been left with no choice but to act outside. The Water Authority used to have a lot of officers here but now there are only 4 people left. We the others only moved to the headquarters in seville. Now theres a new administration and we hope the situation will start to improve for 12 years the author did not think that that meant that he had no one even looked at our proposals. They never replied he wasnt even that they were slow they did nothing at all. We kind of want to thank you. Philippa for one tells us also has problems with bureaucracy. The Water Management plan approved in 2014 has yet to be implemented hes hoping that things will start to move that the Water Authority because whats happening into yana potentially contravenes the use water directive and that could jeopardize cultural subsidies today hes here to talk to the president of the Water Authority. To hollywood all the farmers and under lose you know exactly how much water they can use and where it comes from if they help develop the Water Management plan it is a but if you buy that it isnt anything but some farmers have resorted to drastic measures to impede the authorities work and they havent you know this is the america that examined it it was on september 29th youre on the same day that representatives of the European Commission were in madrid. To talk to the government about their water problem and you dont know which. One of my employees was threatened by farmers who were illegally extracting water he went to war that was being intimidated by a Whatsapp Group it was and we cannot let this sort of thing happen. Its difficult because these people are often neighbors the ones who object under protest feel attacked. Because were trying to stop illegal water extraction and then the last. Even the most about it i was with will look at europe where is there the money to get out where. The water authorities inspectors task is a highly delicate one given the farmers hostility they now accompanied by the police they reluctantly agreed to being filmed on condition they cant be identified their fear of being recognised by their neighbors is too great. Lets have a look at the reservoir see how many well supplied record the g. P. S. Data. You are telling and take some more photos. Of today theyre inspecting more than 60 illegal bore holes in the forest many farmers see them as backstab is. About lets go take a look. But we cant open it its locked. Why are we going in. Here because its locked. The person who set this up friend states and locked it in so no one could fall and. Theres nothing more we can do all we inspect. Everything else is up to the government the water and the courts. Well. You know well. The Water Authority is powerless it has no mandate to intervene and is incapacitated by break. So lets get a few pictures of the lock. Of the water coming out. So we can show that the wells are functional. I mean our look for the wells where the water is coming from. What you know back there must be a well the water from the pipe there must be coming from a well over there here over there but. The water from the illegal boreholes feeds into the illegal Pipeline Network i mean although they drilled under cover of darkness traces are often left behind and. I think it will come out of the cars drive along he said there must be something up there. Probably i got. A lot thats have a look. Here pipes in over there its. Just exploded because of god. Particle heres the fuse box. Yes operating. In the village a little bit in among the pipes must come from other well so little of it when they come together here handy to the reservoir of here because. It was told what we followed their path as about 6 kilometers of pipe and hoses then theres a point where they go into the ground and a little further on they reappear one by one of all the other and i split into 6 different lights. Its impossible to follow where they lead them to lafayette i thought it would be these 3 go into the reservoir of the volatility if you know once they leave the reservoir you can track them. Separately of people who little further proof that no one bothers to monitor the situation properly even though the tragic death of the toddler last year raised awareness of the widespread problem of the legal bore holes and water theft. If your valuable it was a tragedy with your land it was a wake up call i mean but the number of illegal wells that are reported has risen since it happened this one has a diameter of about 25 centimeters so its about the size of the well that your land fell into sometime later a man with a dog also fell into a bore hole everyone is now aware of the danger its not just animals that can fall in people due to play. Well theres water at the bottom. God its not our job to cover the ball in all of our lives are you. Even when confronted with obvious dangers of the inspectors are powerless to act with over a 1000000 illegal wells in spain solving this problem is a measure of growing urgency. Because india. A paradise for animals and plants. Secure supplies of clean water. And a 2nd protection against flood. Naturalize points land in and around delhi. The advantages of restoring natural biodiversity. 30 minutes. Nico piece in germany to learn german. Published in the. Why not learn with him online on the mobile and free stuff from the w e learning course nikos fic. This is deja vu news live from berlin china is carrying out an intense Global Attack on human rights thats according to Human Rights Watch the Group Releases its annual report in new york after being denied entry to hong kong it accuses beijing of overseeing the most brutal and pervasive oppression in decades and of attacking human rights