The opposition of the farmers results in the withdrawal of the candidacy for world heritage standing of the Andalusian Olive Grove Landscape | Culture | EUROtoday

The candidacy of the Andalusian Olive Grove Landscape for UNESCO World Heritage standing has been definitively withdrawn as a result of persistence of opposition from a big variety of farmers who understood that this declaration endangered the property rights of their olive farms.

The institutional fee that has processed this file has communicated the choice this Monday underneath the primary argument of the 8,500 signatures towards the declaration acquired from olive growers from the municipalities of Porcuna, Lopera and Arjona, within the Campiña de Jaén, in addition to the reluctance that the Asaja Córdoba agricultural employers' affiliation had proven.

“This file cannot go forward against the will of the farmers,” stated Francisco Reyes, president of the Jaén Provincial Council, in a tone of resignation, the establishment that started this race a decade in the past for the common recognition of a novel and an historical tradition.

In this manner, the candidacy Landscapes of the Olive Grove in Andalusia. Millennial historical past of a sea of ​​olive timber It is definitively withdrawn even though the file was despatched in January to UNESCO, which was going to debate its inclusion on the World Heritage List on the 2025 meeting.

The candidacy proposed the safety of 13,489 hectares of olive groves in 5 Andalusian provinces, Seville, Málaga, Granada, Córdoba and Jaén, and the file was endorsed by the 5 councils and universities of these provinces, the Junta de Andalucía, the Juan Ramón Guillén foundations and Savia and the primary agricultural organizations. However, it has been Asaja, Coag and Cooperativas Agroalimentarias which have supported the withdrawal of the file because the opposition of a great variety of farmers continued.

Francisco Casero, president of the Savia Foundation, has described this choice as a “historic setback for the Andalusian olive grove” and has proposed, with out success, that the file be reformed to get rid of the Porcuna area, the place many of the olives come from. the signatures towards the declaration: “Due to the opposition of one of the 14 areas included in the file, a project that was of vital importance for all of Andalusia has been sacrificed,” Casero lamented.

The pink line of the olive growers

The olive growers who prompted the withdrawal of the file argued that the possession of their farms was in peril: “The condition to support the file is that the right to property, the decision of the affected farmers, and that no “there would be limitations to the productive capacity of the lands affected by the listing as world heritage,” Asaja, Coag and Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de Jaén indicated in a joint statement.

From Asaja Córdoba, specifically, they described the proposal as “calamitous” for the pursuits of the olive growers. “Experience based on other similar situations indicates that, in the end, the farmer will end up being penalized,” warned Ignacio Fernández de Mesa, president of the affiliation.

The basic secretary of the Union of Small Farmers (UPA) of Jaén, Cristóbal Cano, has spoken, nonetheless, of a “unfortunate day” for the Andalusian olive sector. And he regretted that “the work, time and resources lost due to bad information, a lack of loyalty on the part of some actors in the sector itself and the political interference that has facilitated an impossible cocktail for the candidacy to prosper, a decision by the that we will regret in the future.” The president of the Córdoba agricultural employers' affiliation argued that, “with the regulations of the Common Agrarian Policy (CAP) and the sectoral regulations, more protection figures are not necessary, nor more limitations, since they are all already amply protected, their being very good. state of conservation and presenting magnificent biodiversity parameters.”

The file that’s now being withdrawn recognized 14 areas of cultural panorama, which have additionally been delimited based mostly on the historical past of this panorama: Montoro and its environment (Córdoba), Molino Ducal San Fernando (El Carpio, Córdoba), Haciendas de Tavera and La Buzona, (Carmona, Seville), Hacienda de San Ignacio de Torrequemada (Aljarafe, Seville), Haciendas de La Soledad y Guzmán (Los Alcores, Seville), Cortijo La Jara (Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz), terraces of Nigüelas and oil mill of La Erilla del Valle de Lecrín (Nigüelas, Granada), Olivares de Santa Catalina (Orcera, Jaén), El Ruedo (Almedinilla, Córdoba), Alfar de Écija (Écija, Seville), Cortijo Blanco (Periana, Málaga), Campiñas from Jaén (Porcuna and Lopera, Jaén), Hacienda La Laguna (Baeza, Jaén), and Zuheros (Sierras Subbéticas Córdoba).

The candidacy focuses on a cultural, agrarian, evolutionary and dwelling panorama, whose values ​​to be preserved should do exactly with the continuity of its productiveness and its financial, environmental and social sustainability. “A heritage landscape that is the result of the efforts of many farmers, who have dedicated their lives to the cultivation and care of these trees that have allowed and allow the livelihood of many families and territories in Andalusia,” spotlight the defenders of the candidacy.

The analysis course of was scheduled to be carried out on the bottom by UNESCO specialists within the coming months, who deliberate to take note of authenticity, integrity, components affecting the nominated property, limits, safety , its conservation and administration.