Doñana National Park, Spain, Atlantic Ocean

The Doñana National Park is located in the western part of the Andalusia region, in the south of Spain. Agriculture is one of Doñana's main sources of local economy, with a special emphasis on rice, cotton, strawberries, vine, and olive tree crops. Rice paddies, strongly subsidised by the European Union, cover over 38,000 hectares of former salt marsh areas. The area does become a fabulous haven for many aquatic bird species during time of drought, however, the presence of these paddy fields has physically destroyed a huge area of salt marsh and altered the salt and water fluctuations in surrounding salt marshes too.

The Project "Doñana 2005" put forth by the Ministry for the Environment provides a wonderful opportunity for the recuperation of large areas of transformed marshlands, as well as for improving the public's awareness and self-control of the rivers in their environment. WWF is also collaborating with the Doñana Foundation in an attempt to restore the abandoned salt marshes in Bonanza de Sanlucar de Barrameda, a degraded area located opposite the National Park. These salt marshes have an enormous potential as a haven for birds and other endangered species, as well as for fostering the natural flooding and desiccation processes though the tides.