Fighting desertification in Spain: The battle is on

[Music] taberna in almería so often a film backdrop for the Wild West but the environmental data is no fiction 32 million Spaniards are affected by global warming 70% of the population Christina is a tour guide here she warns visitors of the risk that this desert of 300 kilometers expands you realize that 250 millimetres of water a year is very little imagine it rained even less in Spain the summer is lasting five weeks longer than in the 1980s and temperatures keep getting higher for coffee bit by bit we're seeing how the regions of almería Murcia and Alicante are becoming drier and drier all the green areas are disappearing by the end of the century three-quarters of the peninsula will have the same climate as this desert and that's also to do with humans the Environment Ministry says if nothing is done three million hectares of wet areas will become arid by the end of the century it gives me goosebumps we hear it all the time on the television and we're well aware that we're next or that it's already happening here desertification is when dry or relatively dry land becomes a desert human activity exacerbates the effect of climate change but the phenomenon isn't always visible to the naked eye in our Maria the green landscape is deceptive the vegetation has remained the same for decades it's never been capable of progressing these pine trees around us were replanted but their growth has been very limited the soil degenerated due to led mining the region's main source of wealth in the 19th century nature paid the price of industrialization this is the last oak tree in the whole area a sad survivor of deforestation they've cut down all the trees in the guard or mountain range the soil has eroded as a result the trees weren't capable of recolonizing their territory and that's why we've got a landscape that has been irreversibly degraded the desertification took place because at one moment or another humans have over exploited natural resources like water beyond nature's capacity to regenerate southern Spain particularly hit by dry weather is a huge producer of fruit and vegetables requiring water but these plastic greenhouses are the economy's motor local solutions are being explored to halt desertification like removing the salt from seawater were three kilometres from the sea here the Spanish government wants to double the production of desalinated water by next year under my feet you can see water flowing sometimes you even see fish the filtered water arrives at the deposit where it gets pumped and then sent through a series of tubes to be desalinated and 80,000 cubic meters of drinking water produced here every day 2,000 liters per second before this factory was built this kind of water was under exploited now good quality is available and we've recovered some of the underwater reservoirs at the end of the circuit three percent of the water ends up as tap water 87% goes to irrigate the region's farmlands because in our Maria it rains very little just 228 millimetres a year some farmers have begun to try more sustainable methods they call renewed farming it's a flexi mean it means we just need to do common-sense for me common sense tells you you need to use all possible resources to make the most of the soil and the landscape let me have it by sharing Santiago Sanchez is using the same techniques that we used a hundred years ago helping the soil to receive the less and less frequent rain como el suelo they since the soils been mulched and hasn't been plowed that helps the water to be absorbed it's like a giant sponge waiting for the water to trickle through say bye feed granddaughter and like much of the farmland in the region her land hasn't degenerated over time because she plants a variety of crops for the last 20 years 56 hectares of almond trees 7 kilometres of aromatic plants 70 hectares of cereals and fallow lands are only watered by rainwater in Mahina Rakesh eloping imagine that only almond trees were planted here and nothing else well I would lose layers of fertile lands every year and microbiology would have nowhere to take shelter in other words the little insects that feed the earth be teeth of way no Santiago also has a secret weapon 250 goats a thousand sheep they provide natural manure and feed a virtuous ecosystem life supports life without these animals it wouldn't be the same I would lose a lot of flowers and plants that thanks these animals survive and coexist maintaining and fertilizing the soil improving the use of water the battle is on to prevent lands turning to desert the reforestation is also badly needed a challenge for the authorities and for Spanish citizens who want to stop the increasing destruction of biodiversity

Channel: FRANCE 24 English

Views: 89,346

Keywords: desertification, climate change, biodiversity, Spain, FOCUS, france24, news

Id: MfCHXWi2Gzk

Length: 5min 43sec (343 seconds)

Published: Fri May 31 2019