UNESCO May Yet Give Andalusian Olive Trees Heritage Status

Summary

The com­mis­sion pro­mot­ing the Olive Grove Landscapes of Andalusia is work­ing to resolve a bureau­cratic issue in order to move for­ward with their UNESCO World Heritage Site can­di­dacy. Various agri­cul­tural asso­ci­a­tions in Andalusia are con­cerned that list­ing the olive groves in the Andalusian Historical Heritage cat­a­log will impose new restric­tions that could limit farm­ers’ abil­ity to con­duct busi­ness, but the Ministry of Culture and the Junta de Andalusia are con­sid­er­ing remov­ing this require­ment to address these con­cerns.

The com­mis­sion pro­mot­ing the Olive Grove Landscapes of Andalusia has met to solve a bureau­cratic road­block that emerged last week. The com­mis­sion has been try­ing to make the olive groves a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Olive farm­ers, asso­ci­a­tions, uni­ver­si­ties, cul­tural orga­ni­za­tions and regional and national author­i­ties are attempt­ing to deter­mine whether the UNESCO can­di­dacy can move for­ward with­out list­ing the olive groves in the Andalusian Historical Heritage cat­a­log.

The list­ing is cur­rently included as one of the steps needed to sup­port the can­di­dacy, upon which UNESCO should vote some­time next year.

The Andalusian branch of the Young Farmers Association (ASAJA), The Coordination of Farmers and Ranchers (COAG) and the Agri-food coop­er­a­tives warned the inclu­sion of olive farms into the Andalusian cat­a­log would neces­si­tate a new legal frame­work. That frame­work, in their view, would limit free enter­prise and farm­ers’ abil­ity to con­duct busi­ness.

Many new restric­tions will come into effect if olive groves are listed in the Andalusian cat­a­log. These include the reg­is­tra­tion of the listed site in the prop­erty reg­istry; an oblig­a­tion to pre­serve, main­tain, guar­an­tee and safe­guard the listed site; manda­tory con­ser­va­tion projects; the right of the Ministry of Culture to con­duct inspec­tions; a required avoid­ance of visual and per­cep­tive con­t­a­m­i­na­tion of the land­scape and farm­ers’ oblig­a­tion to notify the proper Ministry upon the com­ple­tion of any project or inter­ven­tion.

According to the three asso­ci­a­tions, the affected groves are farms​“whose good pri­vate man­age­ment by their farm­ers not only allows their sur­vival but also con­sti­tutes the basis of the econ­omy of an entire agri-food sec­tor that is, in turn, the main source of wealth and employ­ment for more than 400 munic­i­pal­i­ties in Andalusia.”

Additionally, the three asso­ci­a­tions under­lined that they had sup­ported the UNESCO can­di­dacy since it was pro­posed in 2017. They will con­tinue to sup­port it if the Andalusian cat­a­log list­ing or its impli­ca­tions are avoided.

As reported by Viva Jaén, dur­ing the online meet­ing, which was trig­gered by the farm­ers’ objec­tions, the Deputy Minister for Culture in Spain, Ángel Vera, con­firmed that the Ministry of Culture and the Junta de Andalusia would soon express an opin­ion about remov­ing the require­ment for the farms to be listed in the Andalusian cat­a­log.

“Should this be done, one of the main demands of the appeal pre­sented by the agrar­ian orga­ni­za­tions would be addressed, and farm­ers would be guar­an­teed the com­pat­i­bil­ity of the pro­tec­tion of this cul­tural her­itage with the uses of the farms and the right to prop­erty,” Vera said, as reported by Viva Jaén.

According to Francisco Casero, pres­i­dent of the National Savia Foundation, ded­i­cated to bring­ing back value to rural areas, a with­drawal of the olive groves’ UNESCO can­di­dacy would rep­re­sent a ​“his­tor­i­cal error.”

While speak­ing with El País, he noted that ​“they can­not be thrown over­board eight years of work to value a cul­tural land­scape with 180 mil­lion trees that is unique in the world.”

“The inte­gra­tion of olive trees into the land­scape, the diverse land­scapes where olive trees grow, in addi­tion to the econ­omy and lifestyle of pop­u­la­tions through­out his­tory, have led to the accu­mu­la­tion of a wealth of cul­ture and a num­ber of indi­ca­tions that this tree, its fruit (the olive) and its oil are amongst the defin­ing fea­tures of the land­scape,” a UNESCO note cites, detail­ing the can­di­dacy.

Should the UNESCO can­di­dacy suc­ceed, the Andalusian groves would become Spain’s 49^th World Heritage Site.

• UNESCO
• ASAJA Jaen
• El Pais