Doñana National Park
Encyclopedia
Conservation
In 1989 the surroundings of the national park were given more protection when a buffer zone was declared a natural park under the management of the regional government. The two parks, national and natural, have since been classified as a single natural landscapeNatural landscape
A natural landscape is a landscape that is unaffected by human activity. A natural landscape is intact when all living and nonliving elements are free to move and change. The nonliving elements distinguish a natural landscape from a wilderness. A wilderness includes areas within which natural...
.
In 1994 UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
designated the park a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
.
UNESCO has also recognised the park as a Biosphere reserve
Biosphere reserve
The Man and the Biosphere Programme of UNESCO was established in 1971 to promote interdisciplinary approaches to management, research and education in ecosystem conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.-Development:...
. It is a wetland of international importance on the list of the Ramsar Convention
Ramsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural,...
.
The park has a biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
that is unique in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, although there are some similarities to the Camargue
Camargue
The Camargue is the region located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône River delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western one is the Petit Rhône....
, with which Doñana is twinned.
Doñana contains a great variety of ecosystems and shelters wildlife including thousands of European and African migratory birds, fallow deer
Fallow Deer
The Fallow Deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. This common species is native to western Eurasia, but has been introduced widely elsewhere. It often includes the rarer Persian Fallow Deer as a subspecies , while others treat it as an entirely different species The Fallow...
, Spanish red deer
Red Deer
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
, wild boar, European badger, Egyptian mongoose
Mongoose
Mongoose are a family of 33 living species of small carnivorans from southern Eurasia and mainland Africa. Four additional species from Madagascar in the subfamily Galidiinae, which were previously classified in this family, are also referred to as "mongooses" or "mongoose-like"...
, and endangered species such as the Spanish Imperial Eagle
Spanish Imperial Eagle
The Spanish Imperial Eagle, Iberian Imperial Eagle or Adalbert's Eagle is a threatened species of eagle that only occurs in central and south-west Spain, adjacent areas of Portugal and possibly northern Morocco, although the latter is disputed...
and Iberian Lynx
Iberian Lynx
The Iberian lynx, Lynx pardinus, is a critically endangered species native to the Iberian Peninsula in Southern Europe. It is one of the most endangered cat species in the world. According to the conservation group SOS Lynx, if this species died out, it would be one of the few feline extinctions...
.
Camels
During the 19th and 20th centuries, a herd of feral dromedaries roamed the area. They may have been introduced during the Moorish Conquest of Spain in the 8th century, or they may have escaped from a herd introduced by the Marquis de MolinaMarquis de Molina
Pedro de Alcántara Álvarez de Toledo y Palafox, 17th Duke of Medina Sidonia, known prior to his succession in the dukedom as The Marquis of Molina, was Spanish Minister of Naval affairs, mid-19th century, reign of Isabella II of Spain counting amongst other political achievements the construction...
as beasts of burden in 1829. By the 1950s, there were only eight individuals left, and these were threatened by poachers.
Pilgrims
The park is used by pilgrims participating in the Romería de El RocíoRomería de El Rocío
The Romería de El Rocío is a procession/pilgrimage on the second day of the Pentecost to the Hermitage of El Rocío in the countryside of Almonte, Province of Huelva, Andalusia, Spain, in honor of the Virgin of El Rocío...
. As this event is attracting a million pilgrims annually, it can have a negative impact on the park's eco-systems.
Mining pollution
The park and its highly sensitive ecology were threatened in 1998 by a massive spill of metallic waste from a reservoir at the Aznalcollar mineAznalcollar mine
The Doñana Disaster, also known as the Aznalcollar Disaster or Guadiamar Disaster , was an industrial accident in Andalusia, southern Spain. On 25 April 1998, a holding dam burst at the Los Frailes mine, near Aznalcóllar, Seville Province, releasing 4–5 million cubic metres of mine tailings...
into the Guadiamar River, which flows through the park; however, the spill was diverted into the Guadalquivir River, reprieving the park.
Impact of agriculture
In 2007, World Wildlife Fund warned that strawberry farms surrounding the park, where 95% of Spanish strawberries were produced, threatened to cause catastrophic damage to the park by depleting the surrounding groundwater, notably where illegal boreholes were involved, as well as creating considerable pesticide pollution and plastic waste which was accumulating in local creeks; AFP further reported that WWF was calling for a boycott of Spanish strawberries, but this is contradicted by the remarks of a WWF-Spain spokesperson, and it is uncharacteristic of WWF to call for blanket boycotts.A proposed location of the lost city of Atlantis
In 2011, a team of American archeologists claimed that they have found the location of the lost city of AtlantisAtlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
located in the Marisma de Hinojos in the centre of the park, where its location has been predicted in 2004 . The site is approximately 5 miles inland from the coast, and is located under the mudflats in the park. The archeologists suggest that a giant tsunami wiped the city off the map. They further pointed to "memorials" around the location, which are archeological sites with similarities to the Atlantean legend. The archeologists made the claim that these sites were founded by survivors of the disaster. Experts' investigations are ongoing. The archeologists' claims were shown in a special of the National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
on March 13, 2011.
See also
- List of Sites of Community Importance in Andalusia
- Costa de la LuzCosta de la LuzThe Costa de la Luz is a section of the Andalusian coast in Spain facing the Atlantic; it extends from Tarifa in the south, along the coasts of the Province of Cádiz and the Province of Huelva, to the mouth of the Guadiana River....
- List of Spanish national parks
- TartessosTartessosTartessos or Tartessus was a harbor city and surrounding culture on the south coast of the Iberian peninsula , at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River. It appears in sources from Greece and the Near East starting in the middle of the first millennium BC, for example Herodotus, who describes it as...
Further reading
- Doñana, Spain's Wildlife Wilderness, Juan Antonio Fernández, Taplinger Publishing Company, New York, 1974, hardcover, 253 pages, ISBN 0-8008-8324-1
- Where to watch birds in Doñana by Jorge Garzón , Francisco Chiclana. (2006) Published by [Lynx Edicions] ISBN 978-84-96553-20-0
- to watch birds in Spain. The 100 best sites by José Antonio Montero & SEO/BirdLife (2006). Published by Lynx EdicionsLynx EdicionsLynx Edicions is a Spanish ornithological publishing company.It became internationally known when it started publishing the Handbook of the Birds of the World, a 16 volume series which, when it is completed in 2011, will document for the first time in a single work an entire animal class,...
,ISBN 978-84-96553-04-0
External links
- http://www.andalucia.com/environment/protect/donana.htm
- Doñana Biological Station CSICParque Nacional de Doñana (Spanish Environment Ministry)Doñana: National Park and Natural Park (Regional Government)
- CNN report on the 1998 spill
- Official UNESCO website entry