A consortium of high-profile supermarkets and food companies is demanding urgent action to stop unsustainable water usage among Spanish strawberry growers.



Companies including Sainsbury’s, M&S, Unilever and Coca-Cola claim current practices will lead to severe environmental damage to fragile ecosystems.



Spain’s strawberry industry generates around €400m (£313) a year in export revenue, with the majority of production occurring close to Doñana national park in the provinces of Huelva and Seville.



The biosphere reserve is one of Europe’s most important wetlands, supporting thousands of migratory birds as well as being a stronghold of the endangered Iberian lynx.

The Doñana Strawberry and Sustainable Water Management Group, which includes retailers such as the UK supermarkets and accounts for 20% of strawberry sales in the region, says it backs the Andalucía regional government’s land use plan.

The proposal includes the eradication of 1,500 hectares of unauthorised strawberry cultivation. But despite being approved in December 2014, the plan is yet to be implemented.

“We strongly support the land use plan issued by the government of Andalucía and urge all parties involved to cooperate on its urgently needed implementation,” read a group statement.

“We believe that without measures taken, continued pressure will ultimately lead to severe environmental degradation of the ecosystem and in particular the Doñana national park, as well as to a reduction in the long-term availability of strawberries from the region.

Mudcracks in the Coto Donana, Andalucia, Spain, one of the most imortant wetland wildlife sites in Europe. Photograph: Ashley Cooper/Global Warming Images/Alamy



“To protect these water resources while securing the very continuation of strawberry production and associated jobs in the Doñana region, urgent work is needed in the form of improving water governance, implementing and enforcing laws, and adopting sustainable and efficient water management practices.” The Spanish government has previously been warned that a failure to stop illegal water extraction could threaten Doñana’s status as a Unesco world heritage site.



The warning came after the regional government failed to implement a special management plan of irrigation zones around Doñana in 2012. Environmental campaigners claim that demand for water needed for irrigation has reduced the aquifers in the surrounding wetlands by up to 50%. In many cases, water is drained from the marshes via a network of an estimated 2,000 illegal boreholes.



The problem is also being monitored by the European commission, which opened an investigation in 2014 into the environmental impacts of Doñana’s overexploited water resources.

However, the consortium of strawberry buyers, coordinated by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI), believes that water demand could be reduced without affecting production.

According to the alliance, pilot projects have shown that strawberries can be produced in the region using significantly less water with no impact on yield or quality. The group added that it plans to bring together all those groups with an interest in the land to look at ways of improving the sustainability of the industry.

Strawberry fields in Cartaya, Huelva province, Andalusia, Spain. Photograph: Alamy

The WWF, which has campaigned extensively on the issue, welcomed the calls urging the government and producers to act.

“The WWF applauds the commitment of the supermarkets and food companies. The defence of legitimate producers and the conservation of Doñana are non-negotiable for European consumers,” said WWF spokesman Felipe Fuentelsaz. “Those who disagree are against the survival of the strawberry industry.”