Desertification threatens part of Spain |
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Collection title
Sujet AFP
First broadcast date
10/22/2007
Abstract
Some of our European neighbors are also facing severe environmental problems, related to human activity and climate change.
Spain, for instance, is the driest country in Europe. Nearly 15% of its territory is threatened with desertification.
Report in Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast, at CIDE (Center for Studies on Desertification).
Production companies
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AFP Video (AFPVI) - Own production
Personalities
- Vicente Andreu
- Sanchez Juan
- Garvcia Patricio
Secondary themes
- Landscapes and environment / Geography and landscapes
- Landscapes and environment / Protection of Natural environments
- Landscapes and environment / Water issues
Credits / Cast
- Bouvier Henry - Journalist
Context
Desertification threatens a part of Spain
Martine Chalvet
When we talk of desertification we mean the degradation of soils in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid dry zones. Places where there is an imbalance between the natural resources used by Man and their capacity for regeneration. Spanish studies carried out as part of the Programa de Acción Nacional contra la desertificación have enabled us to assess the phenoomenon in Spain, to understand its causes and suggest remedies.
Nearly 15% of the Spanish land surface is threatened by desertification, notably the Canary Isles, the entire Mediterranean coast and most particularly the provinces of Alicante, Andalusia, Castille, the Mancha and Aragon. The issue is worrying, particularly since the phenomenon is accelerated by climatic warming which leads to greater drought and an increase in torrential rain, which all increase soil erosion. Beyond the climatic changes, human activity is to a very large part responsible for these changes. Land use has been transformed by deep economic and social changes. The rural exodus, the abandon of marginal land and of the older areas of dry culture expose the soil once worked by farmers to the ravages of the weather. These degradations are even more worse because these traditional activities have been replaced by new ones which use a lot more water at the same time destroying areas of vegetation. The development of intensive hydroponic farming under plastic, using no soil but large amounts of water has happened at the expense of vegetal land. The rapid growth in building, the development of golf courses and swimming pools, the seasonal arrival in certain tourist areas of too many people also provokes an over-exploitation of the water and the disappearance of vegetal spaces. Consequently the water table, which sometimes suffers from becoming salty, has been attacked. Finally, caused either criminally or by accident, the recurrent forest fires which feed off the now badly looked after vegetal wasteland are another factor of the desertification in Spain. As well as the degradation of the vegetation, their longer term effects are devastating in regions which are already semi-arid. After the summer fires, the often torrential rains of September and Ocotber are particularly violent and wash away the fertile top-soil, again reinforcing erosion and the degradation of the soil.
Finally, desertification has serious consequences on the biodiversity, the richness of the soil and even, in the longer term, climatic changes. This degradation of the earth is both a consequence of bad development and a major impediment for sustainable development, particularly if we look at the issue of the use of water, even though essential for farming, industry and towns.
A very real threat for the future, desertification has sparked many people's awareness. At the international level different United Nations satellites have organised conferences, charters and conventions. Europe supports the MEDALUS project (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use) to assess and understand the phenomenon of desertification which increasingly affects the whole Mediterranean area, even the northern half. In Spain, specialists advocate selective planting of forests, a controlled urbanisation and a more responsible agriculture. But such programmes are hard to put into practice. Complex and audacious, the Programa de Acción Nacional contra la desertificación is coming up against many problems trying to coordinate several ministries and a large number of powerful lobbying sectors, whether they be agricultural, forestry, water or tourist and urban.
"One third of the Spanish land surface suffers from serious desertification," España, magazine Bureau d'Information diplomatique, May 2003, n°341.
