Barbara Dall'Angelo's Image

Barbara Dall’Angelo (Italy) flies over the inland sea of rice paddies to create this striking reflective composition.

Flying in a little Cessna plane over the inland sea of rice paddies, Barbara was hoping for a striking reflective composition. What she hadn’t expected was this strange optical illusion, with the lower rectangular fields reflecting the sky as if from a sloping wall.

The Guadalquivir River Basin wetlands are important both to the rice industry and to the region’s rich biodiversity. This rice-growing region surrounds Doñana National Park - a World Heritage Site of huge importance and a vital refuge for many species, including the estimated six million birds that visit each year. Whether overwintering in the park or stopping off to refuel on their way south to Africa, tens of thousands of birds feed in its paddy fields.

However, the entire basin is being threatened by overextraction of water, both legal and illegal, from the underlying aquifer. Even more worrying is the increase in extreme temperatures and the decrease in rainfall resulting from the climate emergency. Yet despite these pressures, demand for water in the area from agriculture and development, including golf courses and hotels, continues to increase.