The expansion of the Amazon industrial estate in Alt Empordà threatens 220 hectares of crops.

The Empordà LighthouseTwo years ago the multinational Amazon inaugurated A huge 50,000 m² logistics facility in the Alt Empordà region. More than 1,500 people work day and night shifts, packaging and organizing orders for this online retail giant. The warehouse is located in the Logis Empordà industrial estate, south of Figueres, in a strategic cross-border location between Catalonia and France, where other logistics and transportation companies are concentrated. To further boost business opportunities in this industrial area, the Territory Department is working on drafting an urban master plan to expand the industrial estate by 166 new hectares and a 60-hectare intermodal freight station.

The proposal, however, has caused a stir among residents of surrounding municipalities, such as Siurana, Garrigàs, Vilamalla, El Faro, and Palacio de Santa Eulàlia, as the industrial estate is surrounded by fields, forests, dirt roads, and rural villages close to the Aiguamolls Natural Park. To try to stop the project, residents have formed the platform Prou ​​Expansió Logis Empordà, which has the support of the Unió de Pagesos (Farmers' Union) and Empordà-based environmental organizations such as Iaeden - Salvem l'Empordà. Most local councils are also opposed to the project, and the platform has presented a manifesto that has already accumulated more than 1,300 signatures, with public figures such as the Roca brothers, Marc Giró, Quim Masferrer, and Judit Martín.

"This expansion is like the tentacles of a popcorn tree that attacks the territory and grows in all directions. The Generalitat (Catalan government) has not conducted any mobility or environmental impact studies; it is solely for speculative purposes," criticizes Patrizia Falcone, spokesperson for the platform. She adds: "The industrial estate, as it stands now, is already a blight on the territory that has ruined the area, so what the administration should be doing is repairing the damage caused and not trying to permanently destroy the entire Empordà plain."

Alternative to the west of Vilamalla

Environmentalists argue that the expansion makes no sense, given that, with its current size, the industrial estate still has unoccupied warehouses. "It's operating at half capacity, with 50% or 60% occupancy, with many warehouses available for sale," explains Falcone. The residents' counterproposal is that, if it is necessary to expand the industrial area in the region, it should be done on the building plots between Figueres, Santa Alquila de Álguema, and Vilamalla, which are more integrated into the urban area, rather than expanding around the virgin fields of the Logis Empordà development, as the Generalitat (Catalan government) plans.

The platform is also concerned about the traffic implications that the estate's growth could cause, because, right now, the AP-7 and the roads on the southern exit of Figueres that surround the neighboring towns are already severely strained by the constant passage of Amazon trucks and vans. In summer, moreover, the number of passenger cars heading toward Roses and Cadaqués increases. "If they expanded the Logis and built an intermodal station, there would be an exponential increase in trucks that would permanently clog the area. The highway would have to be widened and new roads built, which the Generalitat hasn't planned for," the spokesperson criticized.

"We cannot plunder the fields"

The business model represented by the industrial park also fails to convince residents, environmentalists, and farmers. According to their complaints, the various gas stations, warehouses, truck terminals, and plants produce nothing, but only distribute. Products imported from abroad. This is the argument of Joan Caball, a long-time leader of the Unió de Pagesos (Pagesos Union), a farmer and rancher in the area. "They're all logistics companies that provide transport services, but they don't add value or improve the lives of residents. The future can't be all about Amazon and gas stations," says the Alto Empordà farmer.

The fields affected by the future expansion are cereal and hardware crops, which, in addition to bearing fruit, are linked to the livestock structure of the farms. "We can't continue depleting the fields as if we were in the 60s or 70s, as if the energy, climate, and drought crises didn't exist," argues Caball. He adds: "If we want food sovereignty, we need land to produce food; it's basic; I thought COVID had taught us something, but apparently not."

The Unió de Pagesos regrets the desire to lose hectares of crops to the detriment of other businesses because, in Catalonia, according to union data, the usable agricultural land is at the bottom of the European list: 0.15 hectares per inhabitant, half the EU average. Hence, the union is asking the Generalitat (Catalan Government) to approve a sectoral plan to protect high-value agricultural land, such as natural areas.

For the time being, the Generalitat (Catalan Government) continues with its intention to push forward with the expansion despite criticism. However, the Department of Territory also clarifies that it will redefine the project it initially presented and will develop a mobility plan. It adds that all this will be done in consensus with the municipalities involved, with no intention of imposing any proposal from the government. When questioned by ARA, Amazon avoids publicly stating its support for or opposition to the expansion, given that it is an initiative that depends on the Catalan government and not the business plans of the American multinational.