tv Close up Deutsche Welle January 14, 2020 4:30am-5:01am CET
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metry series displaced depicts traumatic humanitarian crises from world. war. i didn't go to university to kill people but acted out a way. people feel for their lives and their future so they seek refuge abroad but what will become of us who stay behind. displaced starts january 15th on g.w. . that our guardian angel will help to ensure our son will be rescued. 2 year old you lent died after falling it was 70 needed for holder to be drilled illegally the rescue attempt was broadcast around the world tragedy to attention to
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an increasingly serious problem in spain widespread illegal extraction. right up from the you alone is tragic people it's time to put a stop to the drilling of illegal boreholes which amounts to stealing a public asset if you believe. it's thought there over a 1000000 illegal boreholes in spain often called moonshine wells because they drilled at night they used to help irrigate grown here in one of the driest corners of europe and exported to the rest of the continent. look no one wants to take responsibility i doubt anything will change unfortunately. the flex young. nature at its most done yeah national park south of seville is a unesco world heritage. and
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a stopover for millions of markets and birds traveling between europe and africa but it's surrounded by agricultural activity that is sucking up dry demand for water poses a threat to this natural paradise and the legal wells are exacerbating the problem . but it. is essential for biodiversity for the park's wetlands and fauna but it's also essential for the local economy which revolves around intensive farming. but the problem is in the last 30 years that farming is lead to illegal extraction of water and that has a serious impact on the park's marshes and lagoon use the groundwater levels of far . so the water balance and only on a national park has been altered. we are destroying it and you tell us that.
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he. has been fighting to protect anjana national park for 16 years the agricultural engineer comes from the region and has made the campaign against illegal wells his life's mission he uses satellite imaging to locate newly drill for holes and illegal agriculture. as well as myself and yes these are official government maps may show legal agricultural areas. it is it's a map that's available to the general public. so what do we do we end our experts look for an authorized try armors we zoom in and identify areas where crops are being cultivated you. know the failure is this and this and this or all know if we pass our findings on to the authorities and report the illegal zones when we identify anything suspicious we go and check it out and one of them i would hope my
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mom put it on. but the activist says the authorities off a little help in the fight to protect the agents natural environment reporting illegal wells and farms usually because no when it's deeply frustrating. forgot to put it on the thing we see that crops are being cultivated here and this farm suddenly appeared about 2 years ago. it was right next to the road but it's not being shut down even though everyone knows it's here. it's been reported to the water authority i didn't get it on pick up you got anything. illegal farming and authorities to turn a blind eye despite the fact there are clear rules on irrigation practices laid out in a water management plan the farmers n.g.o.s and local authorities spend 7 years to
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buy. up all the end allusion parliament approved the plan in december 2014 illegal farming must be stopped and we hope this happens. in these areas of cultivation have sprouted up over the last 30 years and there was no local oversight. local council simply allowed this boom in illegal farming to happen. it did seem to me so that you could clean things you know. around anjana national park water is used mainly to irrigate strawberry plantations the region produces approximately one 3rd of strawberries grown in europe. and
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strawberry production is a major source of employment of 80000 people in the living in the sector including many small holders and their families local environmental activists who are against the practice are often denounced as traitors. what are you going to look i'm going to this is an illegal borel there are roughly a 1000 of them and only on a couple of we have at least are especially agree just because we're in the middle of a protected forest but there are 60 illegal wells here alone for extracting water from rivers are long as in the wetlands thank you don't know why what they look at real york about and you know it's shocking because you can even see the fields when by thought of you know 567 kilometers away. well they run lines from here to the farms and often they lay kilometers of electric cables to right through the forest without any kind of permanent or safety precautions but. there's
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a high risk of forest fires this is been going on for 10 years or so you know what if it's scandalous. but awful. but i think if you think it's tricky trying to follow the pipes because they disappear into the ground reappear and then disappear again and we think i did what did. i. it doesn't i think this is in illegal reservoir well you know wooded area. you know it's illegal you can't install a reservoir here. each of these pipes is a well you know but if it doesn't take a little bit of both and you can clearly see that they're in operation. i think that we got off on the idea that what you do that the water from about 14 wells in
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the vicinity is collected here and pump to farms that aren't even close by. no sorry my sadness is one of the most flagrant examples of the kind of illegal activity we've been fighting for years to look at toys he thought that he looked at for the new guy. it's high time we took a step forward and put a stop to water thank you. i know there are a growing number of locals and the european commission are pushing for this for a european court of justice has opened proceedings against the spanish government in connection with water theft and are not for that i would not want to. monocultures it by no means for street to titania on a national park the agricultural sector is the censurable thirst for which it is transforming the andalusian landscape as a ground water supply is by no means guaranteed. a turning contractor luis
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montenegro's business is thriving a test will cost around 2000 euros but it's a risky investment for his clients and there's a long wait for a permit from the water authority. is it when a farmer submit said drilling project to the authorities. it can take up to 8 or 9 months to get a reply. that's just unacceptable the water authority takes ages but farmers need to irrigate their crops if they can't they lose their harvests if you know. and then the families and farms end up ruined media. what often happens is the farmers opt not to pay for an approved drilling where they are because what happens if no water is found. there's no well and the bore
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hole has to be revealed to take it up by the way don't you know the above them. the upshot farmers often drill boreholes without official permits along with the costs of drilling submitting an application and commissioning the requisite geological surveys can cost around a $1000.00 euros here in central angelou's all of pharma antonia's wife has even resorted to divine ing rod they need water urgently their trees are hard hit by climate change the dry season is getting longer and longer a. lot of that going on if the trees get no water there will be no all it's. obviously we have to use water before the official permit comes through that's just how it is them our work. is on. the drilling contractor is pessimistic tomorrow the company will try again at
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a different spot in over a outwardly agreement that you can't see a thing just a black hole there's no water and if there was the soil would be more sed here in the region there's very little water that's the wrong sort of bedrock i want to radio people and i have. the money for you know we extract a lot of water groundwater levels are falling years you see natural gas everyone wants a private pool the agricultural sectors demand for water is growing we are more here in southern europe we depend on farming it will be largely because. the farming sector helped the country survive the most recent financial crisis or a catalog from them during the financial crisis that left spain reeling farming was indeed one of the few stable sectors but its growth is now reaching its limit philip event has asked from the world wide fund for nature wants to see the sec to
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manage water resources more sustainably. we are on our way to a citrus fruit farm that we work with i think it's the 1st farm in europe to be certified according to a system that manages water consumption sustainable. daily monitoring is absolutely essential it's about respecting a commodity that everyone wants to have water which is in short supply in this farm is proof positive that water consumption can be realistically reduced it can get a full bottle for that one. but a lot of consumers have an important role to play one of if you think they decide which product they buy that they need to ask where the product comes from and a fan somewhere with a water shortage that's very important. also
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because the put it into supermarkets also decide where they buy their produce from they can check whether it's all sounds and that's what the water authority map is for if everything's above board great is he going to fill it that's the intense us is here to inspect the plantation luis but manual says one of the 1st farmers who is working with a new water certification scheme he supplies a major german supermarket chain we don't get it oranges his plantation is massive producing $12000.00 tonnes of oranges per year. is safe with the help of his saves the system it collects doris on the air quality in the nation's changes in the plants crucially senses in the ground control a drip irrigation system ensuring that the water is distributed around the crops roots and doesn't simply trickle why are you a little portable deal so we maximize efficiency with a drip irrigation system and censors. you medal and we don't waste any water and we
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add fertilizer to the water which doesn't seeped into the groundwater and contaminate it with nitrate. that helps us a lot of its revolutionary. we use 20 percent less water but the harvests are the same. i mean yes. that's a. good. thing you goodmorning everyone hello how you doing carmen good. you know the idea i feel very. how's it looking great so we're getting a lot from every tree. that you know. and and see what into 135140 kilos poetry you know very important thing and the quality of the fruit will be. you know.
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is placing his trust in nature he's cut down on herbicides and pesticides and his promotion a process every naturalisation insects and birds keep the crops free as pests the farmer is reacting to the growing demand for organic produce and also for water footprint certification. please. me don't get what you just look at that that's our eagle eyed over there by the power cable. benelli easy going up at the head of. it if you feeling that you never used to see a bird like that. and now without even making much of a change just minimising the use of toxins so as not to destroy the environment
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it's back when you're going to. cut it up some farmers thought i was crazy i mean they'd ask why are you doing this i mean they want to go you're putting your whole farm at risk. but now 5 years on that then i won't but i've worked hard and they see it works in. a way that i see their back now everybody wants to do what i did at all you. feel when you're there with. great agricultural revolution of the 21st century has begun that you think it is a matter of brilliant no doubt about it and it will be on that i didn't put a theory do nothing or i mean are there other than. i can you get that that over there is no longer our farm i mean look at the difference. you know that it's like another world i call it the desert you're might say that's chernobyl for me. but i mean generally.
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is it but that's their idea of state of the art agriculture that people will know that. you respond is fortunate because he gets the water he needs for his plantation from a canal assigned to him by the water authority so he's never needed to drill a well if there's one thing he knows is that the future depends on sustainable management of water resources. that in. the overall case they didn't really need to realize that the point of saving water isn't to expand irrigation areas. what we save must be set aside for the dry season or return to the rivers. that are real
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no one said ok all right we cannot save water just so other farmers can water even more. for now that only exacerbates the problem more land more consumption my think . so. it's so. recent years have seen the popularity of the avocados fall demand for this sub tropical fruit has risen a 150 percent in the last decade but that has a downside for farmers are eager to cash in but avocado production is highly water intensive and is worsening the water process inspiring. so. it's.
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it takes 270 liters of water to grow just one of a current out of spain is effectively exporting its water resources in the form of fruit. i thank. god we have brown is president of the spanish association of tropical fruit produces. for going off and again if it was ok so the avocado isn't native to spain but nor of bananas only all the trees a night if he thought about bought it's adapted perfectly to the climate a lot of you can see how well avocados grow here why shouldn't they be cultivated here. and also whether they're plucked out of you know what are the full harvests get bigger every year in $28.00 in spain exported $97000.00 tonnes of avocados family all of it because they think that environmental activists are always
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attacking tropical fruit farmers some of it for you and they think we're destroying everything in the world i don't understand their issue where they're against their own people and. i really don't want to destroy anything that we go. we're helping the country and i provided them with jobs. or the other thing we could grow twice as much but there isn't enough water there wasn't. for the farmers and the association growth is the top priority any water they say things to modern irrigation systems gets used to expand their plantations they're also more rivers and drill boreholes have higher elevations they say they have. been left with no choice but to act outside. the water authority used to have
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a lot of officers here but now there are only 4 people left. we the others only moved to the headquarters in seville. now there's a new administration and we hope the situation will start to improve for 12 years the author did not think that that meant that no one even looked at our proposals. they never replied he wasn't even that they were slow they did nothing at all. we kind of want to thank you. philippa for one tells us also has problems with bureaucracy. and water management plan approved in 2014 has yet to be implemented he's hoping that things will start to move that the water authority because what's happening in time yana potentially contravenes the use water directive and that could jeopardize cultural subsidies and today he's here to talk to the president of the water authority. hollywood all the farmers and under lose you know exactly how
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much water they can use and where it comes from to help develop the water management plan it's about the kids ability but some farmers have resorted to drastic measures to impede the authorities work in the end you know this is the america that examined it and september 29th. the same day that representatives of the european commission were in madrid but i mean that any got out of it to talk to the government about their water problem and you don't know which. one of my employees was threatened by farmers who were illegally extracting water. he won a war that was being intimidated by a whatsapp group and we cannot let this sort of thing happen. it's difficult. because these people are often neighbors the ones who objected or protest feel attacked. because we're trying to stop illegal water extraction and
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then. in the most about i was with will look. it up where. the water authorities inspectors task is a highly delicate one given the farmers' hostility they're now accompanied by the place they reluctantly agreed to being filmed and fiendish and they can't be identified their fear of being recognised by their neighbors is too great. let's have a look at the reservoir see how many wells supply it recalled the g.p.s. data. we can take some more photos. of today they're inspecting more than 60 illegal bore holes in the forest many farmers see them as backstabbers. let's go take a look. if we can't open it it's locked. but why are we going in. here because it's locked. the person who set this up
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found state and locked it in so no one could fall and. there's nothing more we can do all we inspect. everything else is up to the government the water all 30 in the courts. well. you know what. the water authority is powerless it has no mandate to intervene and is incapacitated by bridge. so let's get a few pictures of the lock. of the water coming out. so we can show that the wells are functional. i mean our look for the wells where the water is coming from like that and i'll let you go back there must be
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a well the water from the pipe there must be coming from a well over there here over there that. the water from the illegal boreholes feeds into the illegal pipeline network i mean although they drilled under cover of darkness traces are often left behind and. i think you got a look at the club a little bit of the cars drive along here so there must be something up there probably i got. a lot that's have a look. here pipes and over there to. the east village you get a awful. lot of electrical here's the fuse box. yes operating. a lot of good little of it in my pipes must come from other well so little it may come together here handy to the reservoir of
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heat like if. there was a lot of what we followed that path as about 6 kilometers of pipe and hoses then there's a point where they go into the ground and a little further on they reappear. out and they split into 6 different lights. it's impossible to follow where they lead them to lafayette i thought it would these 3 go into the reservoir that will get lucky if you know once they leave the reservoir you can track them a little while for your 2nd real people help further proof that no one bothers to monitor the situation properly even though the tragic death of the toddler last year raised awareness of the widespread problem of the legal boreholes and water theft. if you're going to go it with a tragedy with your land it was a wake up call the number of illegal wells that are reported has risen since it happened this one has a diameter of about 25 centimeters so it's about the size of the well that your
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land fell into sometime later a man with a dog also fell into a bore hole everyone is now aware of the danger but it's not just animals that can fall in people due to play. well there's water at the bottom. god it's not our job to cover the ball all of us are you. even when confronted with obvious dangers the inspectors are powerless to act with over a 1000000 illegal wells in spain solving this problem is a measure of growing urgency. be coals india a paradise for of animals and plants zucker's of law is of clean water
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