The Doñana Berry Project: a triumph of collaboration, sustainability and longevity

SAI Platform has released a video celebrating the collaborative and successful efforts towards sustainable berry production near the Doñana Wetlands in Huelva, Spain. The Doñana Berry Sustainability project brought together a full cross-section of stakeholders; from berry producers and private sector suppliers, buyers and retailers to nature conservationists, such as WWF Spain, agricultural institutions, such as Freshuelva, local and regional governments and charity organisation the Coca-Cola Foundation.

“The video is a reminder of the challenges and the commitment and hard work of everyone involved in the success of improving sustainable water management. Through this wide-spread collaboration, substantial hurdles were overcome to tackle water sustainability.” commented Jenny Edwards, Crops Director, SAI Platform.

The Doñana Berry Sustainability project began in 2014 to bring together SAI Platform members who were sourcing berries from the Huelva region in southern Spain and were all facing the same sustainable sourcing, water management and farmer livelihood concerns. Huelva is at the heart of Spain’s berry production, and it is also home to the Doñana wetlands where an amazing array of biodiversity including more than 6 million migratory birds live. Water scarcity was endangering the wetlands which is one of Europe’s most important ecological systems as well as threatening the production of berries and other crops and with it the livelihoods of an estimated 200,000 people. 

In 2020 the project came to a close, however, the hard-work and effort leaves a strong legacy as the LIFE 4Doñana project will build upon this success.