The Junta de Andalucía has rejected a large-scale agricultural project that aimed to turn more than 500 hectares of dry land near Almería into irrigated farmland. Promoted by Calebus S.A. since 2014, the plan included fruit orchards, medicinal plants, intensive greenhouses and infrastructure such as roads, reservoirs and an electrical tower. The site, Las Cuerdas, lies on the only remaining biological corridor linking the Almería coast with the interior. The area has unique habitats and protection under European conservation rules.
After more than a decade of administrative procedures, legal appeals and a ruling by the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Andalucía (TSJA), the regional government has shut the door on the project. The decision, signed by Manuel de la Torre, the delegate for Environment and Sustainability, cites three basic reasons: breaches of territorial planning regulations, insufficient water resources, and irreversible effects on habitats and species of community interest. The area is part of the Red Natura 2000 network and home to 23 protected species, including the chameleon and the Bonelli's eagle.
Environmental groups, particularly Ecologistas en Acción, played a basic part in challenging the project. Their objections stressed the corridor's ecological importance: it is the last natural link between the coast and Sierra Nevada, while roads and greenhouses have blocked other routes. Despite the land's arid appearance, activists argue that its role in enabling species movement is critical to biodiversity. The area was designated a Lugar de Interés Comunitario (Site of Community Interest) specifically to preserve this ecological connection.
The project initially won approval from the departments of Culture and Agriculture because it did not affect historical heritage. Later environmental reviews raised concerns, and in 2017 the Junta denied the necessary environmental authorization. Calebus S.A. appealed. After the company won a partial court victory in 2025 because of procedural flaws, the administration reopened the case for further review. The Junta's latest resolution is more explicit: desalinated water from Carboneras, which supplies the Níjar region, can be used only for existing irrigated farmland, not to convert new land. The document also warns that the proposed change would permanently alter environmental conditions in the corridor, which links Cabo de Gata, Sierra Alamilla, Tabernas and, ultimately, Sierra Nevada.
As reported by EL PAÍS, the company can still pursue further legal action, but the regional government opposes any change in land use in this sensitive area. The case has focused attention on the broader challenge of balancing agricultural expansion with environmental protection in southern Spain, where water scarcity and habitat loss remain ongoing concerns. Land use and environmental impacts have also become points of debate in other regions. Government responses to environmental and migration crises in Ceuta, for example, highlighted the complexity of managing natural resources and protected zones.
Spain's Red Natura 2000 is the world's largest coordinated network of protected areas, covering more than 27% of the country's land. The corridor near Almería is considered critical to the survival of several endangered species and to ecological connectivity in a region heavily transformed by intensive agriculture. Conservationists see the Junta's decision as a precedent for future land-use conflicts, especially as climate pressures and water shortages intensify across Andalusia.
