Hothouse

Once a deserted land and traditionally an impoverished territory, today the Almeria fields represent the largest concentration of plastic greenhouses in the world. However, the mass-production of vegetables for the European markets has dramatically shaped the landscape of this region. This profitable agribusiness is pushing the land to its very environmental limits, jeopardising its own sustainable development. The lack of natural resources essential for agricultural development has been made up with large financial and technological investments. With little more than 200 millimetres of annual precipitation, the industry relies on groundwater fed by small stream aquifers from the Sierra de Gádor Mountains to the north. But as most coastal aquifers become contaminated with pesticides, fertilisers and seawater an increasing number of environmentalists question the long-term economic sustainability of this industry. On the other hand, Almeria is a remarkable example of transit migration and it is still one of the main arrival points of undocumented migrant workers from Africa into the European Union. I have been able to meet Hamze from Gambia, Francisco from Senegal and Nabil and Samil from Morocco, among others, in the shanties and derelict houses in which they live. The fact is that more than more than 20,000 undocumented workers are systematically employed in this labour-intensive industry and many have to endure extreme living and working conditions. All have set sail across a murderous sea to reach the Spanish shore but only to become trapped in the red tape of immigration rules in this dramatic maze of white plastic.