Destroying an ecosystem that acts as a major carbon sink, such as the Vega, under the pretext of putting solar panels that avoid carbon emissions, sacrificing its population, has no scientific logic.

It is not easy to understand the expropriation of fertile land from farmers who want to continue cultivating their land, when this expropriation is not of public utility, but for companies that pursue economic benefit.

We all know that on a planetary scale the Mediterranean basin is one of the most affected by global warming. In Granada and its surroundings we are all suffering it with droughts and very high temperatures during longer periods, even in the middle of winter.

Faced with this problem, the production of renewable energies, solar and wind, has been shown as an important measure to combat global warming. In recent months we have been astonished by the appearance of a whirlwind of solar power plant projects in the middle basin of the Genil, which will affect us all.

The climate of the cities and towns of the middle Genil basin, in addition to its geographical location and the general atmospheric circulation, is greatly influenced by the Sierra and the Vega. The former is largely protected, but the Vega is completely endangered, and with it, our quality of life.

The Vega of Granada, apart from the important beneficial function of local buffering of global warming for all citizens, has an enormous potential for absorbing carbon emissions with traditional activities, some of which have a huge potential for this carbon to be retained for centuries in derived products. Without going any further, poplar trees, on the one hand, absorb carbon when they grow, and on the other, if used in housing and construction, will help to reduce emissions in this sector. But poplar trees also purify water, their irrigation recharges aquifers, conserve soils, buffer temperatures, are a refuge for biodiversity, and provide us with health, physical and mental wellbeing and landscape. The same can be said of olive groves, rainfed and irrigated crops, orchards, gallery forests, etc. The crops of the Vega, in addition to maintaining local jobs, provide us with local food, with all the advantages that this entails.

On the contrary, the massive installation of solar plants (which are fenced) and their energy evacuation lines, once installed, will hardly provide jobs, destroy the fertile soil that takes thousands of years to form, prevent any hint of biodiversity, destroy the landscape (important for tourism), increase insolation and the maximum temperatures we suffer, and therefore contribute to the well-known heat island effect aggravated by our orographic position.

In the fight against climate change we must act intelligently. And destroying a terrestrial ecosystem that acts as a great carbon sink, such as the Genil Basin, with great environmental benefits, with the excuse of putting solar panels that avoid carbon emissions, sacrificing its population, is at least an action of zero scientific logic.

We understand the public utility of many activities promoted by different governments, when land is expropriated for the common benefit as a highway or road, a sewage treatment plant. It is not easy to understand the expropriation of land from farmers who want to continue cultivating their land, when this expropriation is not for common use, but for companies that are bought and sold within the market economy and that what they pursue is to produce energy for export to other countries. The farmer receives a handful of euros, it is true, but they take away his activity and his way of life. Is it fair that this is done against his will, when there is no common use or benefit? Is this law not being applied in an abusive way? Is it even reasonable that a landowner now receives a good amount of money for doing nothing, but with this he mortgages the future of his children and the territory of all?

We understand that certain municipalities see these facilities as a relief for their public coffers, with the income from the benefits of the start-up of the activity. But our public representatives have the obligation not to mortgage our future or that of our children. And we ask them:

Have you stopped to think ladies and gentlemen public representatives as will be the future of the villages around the Genil basin in 25 years when the plates are exhausted because another energy technology has been invented, such as natural hydrogen underground? Fields full of junk that nobody will collect, but that will continue to reflect the heat and make our life unbearable, uninhabitable villages, barren, unproductive and unrecoverable soils that do not absorb radiation, lost biodiversity, dead landscapes, agricultural activity and its culture forgotten. what will become of us? where will these municipalities get their income from then? 25 years go by very fast.

Have we really thought about the future that awaits Granada, its surrounding villages and its Vega? are we not preparing a real and perfect scenario to shoot a Mad Max movie?

Please, stop this madness!

Javier Navarro Gómez-Menor, Forestry Engineer, Sierra Nevada National Park, Spain

Antolino Gallego Molina, Professor of Applied Physics, UGR