Tourist Complex and Gas Station for the Home of the Iberian Lynx (Andújar, Spain)

©José Luis Ojeda

 I recently learned through the local press about a project to build a tourist complex at Casa Argimiro, located 14 kilometers from the city of Andújar, at the junction of the Santuario and Parrilla roads, in the heart of the Sierra Morena mountains.

According to this information, the project, which is supported by the local council, includes a 50-bed hotel, areas for bungalows and motorhomes, a restaurant, and a gas station.

I believe that a business of this kind in the immediate vicinity of the Sierra de Andújar Natural Park—specifically in an area known as Viñas de Peñallana, which serves as a corridor for Iberian lynxes and lies only about 600 meters from the Park’s Visitor and Interpretation Centre—poses a serious threat to this natural environment. The Iberian lynx shares this habitat with black vultures, griffon vultures, Spanish imperial eagles, and Eurasian eagle-owls. There is little doubt that water consumption from the local aquifer would increase significantly, while at the same time the risk of groundwater contamination would also rise.

Several questions come to mind. For example: will wastewater be transported to the municipal treatment plant, treated on-site, or ultimately discharged into the clean and murmuring waters of the Parrilla stream? What risks would the presence of a fuel station and a motorhome parking area pose to an environment of such ecological value?

The promoters claim that the development will create 25 direct jobs, but I struggle to understand how a 50-bed hotel and a gas station could generate that number of positions. I fear this may be little more than a siren song sung by local officials, intended to portray anyone who opposes the project as an enemy of the town.

Furthermore, this complex would become a significant source of noise—yet more noise distancing us from “the tranquil night, the silent music” celebrated by the mystic poet—and would also constitute an assault on the area’s dark night skies. These skies are recognized as ideal for stargazing precisely because they remain free from light pollution. They form part of the Sierra Morena Starlight Reserve, one of the largest in Europe.

Nearby, similar facilities have already been operating for years, including two restaurants and accommodation with more than one hundred beds, as well as numerous rural guesthouses.

In recent months, the city of Andújar and the surrounding region have mobilized to express their opposition to a proposed biomethane production plant, which would have been added to the ongoing removal of hundreds of centuries-old olive trees to make way for vast photovoltaic installations. Public protests succeeded in halting the biomethane project, which was also supported by the Andújar City Council. The slogan “Development, yes—but not like this” has become a unifying message for many grassroots movements across the country, particularly in depopulated rural areas. These initiatives criticize models of economic growth that prioritize short-term profit over social well-being and ecological values. The challenge today is to achieve progress while ensuring sustainability and social justice—a concept that seems increasingly forgotten and even stigmatized.

I have contacted the local environmental association AMECO by email, but I have not yet received a response.

A public awareness campaign highlighting the importance of preserving this rich natural heritage—which brings benefits of all kinds to the city, including economic ones—would not be out of place. Such efforts are needed to counter the threat posed by speculative interests, which are invariably presented under the promise of wealth creation and job opportunities, many of which are likely to be precarious or perhaps even largely fictitious.

We must finally abandon the prevailing outlook—predatory, addicted, and narrowly focused on economic gain and productivity—and make way for a contemplative way of seeing, one that regards other living beings, human and non-human alike, with respect. Otherwise, while we await our eventual extinction as a species, life in this fragile home that shelters us will become increasingly unbearable, increasingly inhuman, and increasingly hostile to life itself.

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