SOS Dehesa …..
Dying of
the trees, forest decline in the Dehesas caused by the fungus Phytophthora cinnamomi. (Dehesa: agro-ecosystem consisting of
grasslands mixed with holm, cork and gall oak trees)
The Dehesa
is the final barrier against the
advance of the African desert terrain in the south of Europe. In the past 25
years more than 500,000 holm and cork oaks died of the “seca” in southeast
Spain, according to “Report of the Study of the protection of Ecosystem Dehesa”
(“Informe de la Ponencia de Estudio Sobre
la Protección del Ecosistema de la Dehesa”) by the Spanish government.
If we lose
these trees, pasture will disappear, biodiversity will disappear, the land will
erode and the door will be opened to desertification. Since the problem began,
the administration has taken no efficient means to address it.
Given the
land affected (more than 2,000 km2 only in the province of Huelva)
and the magnitude and gravity of this problem, the drying out of the oak trees
is the largest environmental problem facing Europe. At this rate, the majority
of the Dehesas will disappear in the next 25-50 years and be replaced
by deserts.
The
situation cannot continue as such. Society must understand this problem and
pressure the administration to urgently take conclusive means. For this, the
ranchers and managers of Dehesas promote the following
manifesto:
SOS DEHESA
– STOP DESERTIFICATION
1. The Holm Oak is the most abundant
tree in Spain; the Dehesa is the principal ecosystem in the Iberian Peninsula, and
the only in the world with unquestionable environmental, social and cultural
values as recognized by the protection given by international organizations
(UNESCO and the Council of Europe).
2. The Dehesa is an
agro-eco-system with life stock breeding that has been conserved thanks to the
work of its residents for hundreds of years.
3. The Dehesa is experiencing an
unprecedented crisis, motivated fundamentally by the dying off of the woodland,
but also the stifling bureaucratization affecting the extensive life-stock
breeding.
4. The disappearance of the dehesa
is an international problem, affecting the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and
Portugal) and northern Africa, and due to its magnitude is the largest
environmental crisis in Europe.
. As
of yet there is no administrative strategy to confront this problem in any
level of government, from the local government to the European Union.
Therefore, it is urgent that means are taken now to confront this situation. Local
governments must move forward by working with the owners, ranchers and
technicians affected.
6. Society must understand the unique
and finite values of dehesas and the grave and severe problems
of this way of extensive life-stock-breeding. It is a sustainable system that
has existed for thousands of years. It is a producer of food and a model of
environmental conservation that is in danger of extinction.
7. The European Union must be informed
and be confronted with the situation of the dehesas. The lack of
response to this environmental catastrophe is a radical failure in the
aspiration for a Green Europe.
8. We must stop the advancing
desertification in southern Europe, and assure that the dehesa is protected for
the people and future generations.
The following photos show the dramatic
development:
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