The challenges in Doñana’s waters
Once a thriving natural landscape, Doñana has been heavily modified by decades of human intervention, cultivating and draining the land for agriculture. Because of its unique mild climate, Doñana now sits at the centre of a complex balance: a UNESCO World Heritage site under environmental preservation, and the hub of Spain’s berry industry, producing 98% of the country’s soft fruit and 30% Europe’s strawberries.
But an estimated 16% of these berries are produced using illegal water sources, with hundreds of farms extracting groundwater from Doñana’s wetlands. The result is grim: in 2024, only 2% of the wetlands remain covered in water. It should be 80%.
The expansion of illegal irrigation for intensive agriculture, as well as increasing tourism, has put the area under immense, unnatural stress. Without urgent intervention, Doñana faces a collapse that threatens both global biodiversity and berry production. The Water Roadmap’s Collective Action Project in Doñana is addressing these challenges to restore balance between sustainable agriculture and freshwater protection.
What we’re doing to protect water in Doñana
The Doñana Collective Action Project focuses on four core areas, all with the aim to fix poor water management practices and improve the availability and health of water and ecosystems in the area:
- Improving the understanding of water risks across the food supply chain at both a large-scale and local level thorough in-person workshops to targeted webinars.
- Supporting on-the-ground action to improve the water quality in priority locations
- Strengthening standards by pushing for water stewardship to be included in farm assurance schemes
- Driving policy change by advocating for better water governance, such as working with WWF to ensure illegal water operations were not granted legal status
Whether your business sources from or works in Doñana, you have a responsibility and opportunity to restore and protect its water.
You don’t have to go it alone – join the Water Roadmap to access guidance and help support this important project.
Our impact in Doñana so far
Since launching the Collective Action Project in Doñana, we’ve helped bring together more than 60 local and international organisations to take on the region’s urgent water challenges. A public Doñana repository now provides open access to key data and insights, building transparency and a shared understanding of the challenges and plans for our collaborative work in the area.
Agreements to drive sustainable water use and ecological restoration are already underway:
- A Memorandum of Understanding was signed to support the restoration of the La Cañada ecological corridor, with fieldwork beginning in May 2025
- A project funded by the Dutch Embassy and delivered with Wageningen University is promoting sustainable berry production in Doñana
- Collaboration is underway to continue alignment with the AWS Collective Action Accelerators on good agricultural practices.
From technical resources to stakeholder workshops and best-practice webinars, the foundations are in place to improve water stewardship in one of Europe’s most at-risk ecosystems.
Momentum is growing, and our collective plan has enabled joined-up action with our delivery partners Good Stuff International, powered by the support and funding of food and drink businesses committed to the Water Roadmap.
Scaling up: action still needed
Protecting Doñana's water and future means keeping up and scaling the momentum. We need more businesses that source from or operate in Doñana to step up, champion water stewardship across their supply chains, and fund the next phase of this critical work.
By joining the Water Roadmap, your participation will drive:
- A framework to verify legal water use through a common approach with key partners like WWF
- Restoration projects to preserve and restore the impacted wetlands and ecosystems
- Coordination efforts with the Spanish Ministry to improve the sustainability of agriculture through funding and on-the-ground projects
- Learnings and solutions that can be implemented in other current and future Water Roadmap projects.
Help restore and protect water in Doñana. Join the Water Roadmap.
Whether you’re a retailer, producer or NGO, your action can help turn the tide, keeping our water clean, resilient and flowing where it’s needed most.
Join the Water Roadmap