How Spain is Making Abundant Water in the Desert

deserts make up one-third of all land area on planet Earth and this area has been increasing due to climate change and loss of some Wetlands around the world although the word desert may bring to minor sea of shifting sand dunes cover only 10 of the world's deserts some deserts are mountainous others are dry expanses of rock sand or Salt Flats the world's deserts can be divided into five types subtropical Coastal rain shadow interior and polar the world's largest hot desert the Sahara is a subtropical desert in Northern Africa and it's almost the size of the United States subtropical deserts are caused by the circulation patterns of air masses hot moist air rises in the atmosphere near the equator as air rises it cools and drops its moisture as heavy tropical rains the resulting cooler drier air mass moves away from the equator as it approaches the tropics the air descends and warms up again the descending air hinders the formation of clouds so very little rainfalls on the land below the islands which are closest to Africa's Mainland fuerta Ventura and Lanzarote are effectively desert or semi-desert and are also considered subtropical deserts these volcanic islands are known as the Canary Islands and are officially part of Spain's territory historically they've been considered a link between the four continents of North America South America Africa and Europe now they are an attractive destination for over 12 million visitors each year who want to enjoy a warm climate all year round in the scenic rugged terrain however the terrain wasn't always like this the islands were once covered in Laurel forests a prehistoric natural treasure these forests once covered much of Northern Africa and southern Europe into about twenty thousand years ago the due to human impact on global climate change they have almost entirely disappeared except for a few last remaining areas within the Canary Islands which are now being threatened by land degradation due to over tourism and increasing population since the 1950s according to this research paper the certification has intensified in the last 50 years this despite the Intensive deforestation in the 15th and 19th centuries which also took its toll in the landscape Laurel forests are so crucial since they are extremely humid and wet they are full of biodiversity and are the life support system for these islands without them the islands would turn completely to desert just like the Sahara next door we the leaf of Life team saw first hand how large agricultural plantations on the islands rely on water from these forests we also noticed how large pipelines have been specifically built to extract the water from these forests directly which has also had a direct impact on the surrounding biodiversity with rivers completely drying up almost 330 000 hectares which is 44 of the surface area of the archipelago is affected by severe processes of accelerated water erosion according to the same research paper titled factors and processes leading to desertification in the Canary Islands but particularly the islands of fuerteventura and Gran Canaria are the worst affected because of the sparse vegetation an intense human pressure on the land and approximately 280 000 hectares which is 38 of the surface area of the canaries is affected by wind erosion High salinity of the soil is also a huge issue for agriculture affecting almost 84 percent of Farmland however on the island of Gran Canaria there is a project that's starting to turn this around in this video we will show you how a new Innovative technology is going to capture 215 000 liters of fog and Dew to help plant 20 000 Laurel trees to stop the advancement of the desert so stick with us as we dive into today's video in a small Mountain Village in the Canary Islands of Spain engineer and inventor Ricardo Jill is combating drought by using a revolutionary new technology because here water is literally in the air Ricardo has installed 18 collectors or perfectly positioned so the fog hits them directly when it rises from the bottom of the valley each of them can individually collect potentially 160 liters of water on a good day picardo lives in Gran Canaria one of the Canary Islands a territory of Spain which is off the Northwestern coast of Africa where Rising temperatures and a reduction in rainfall have meant dams are drying up which is forcing Farmers to search for alternatives to restore the degrading and desertifying Landscape the project called life nibblers kick-started seven years ago due to worries about drought on the island the idea for his invention came from nature itself trees filter fog Water by trampoline droplets in their leaves which falls to the ground watering the tree this is a phenomenon known as horizontal precipitation which normally occurs in cloud and Mountain forests at high elevation by the vegetation canopy comes into Conte with cloud cover this inspired Ricardo to create simple system copied from the trees and with the assistance of a fire mesh cover he is able to extract water from the clouds when clouds pass through the mesh droplets attract within the mesh which fall into a collection tray on a good day Ricardo can collect up to 160 liters per collector with 18.2 million collected annually and the water is suitable for human consumption the focalecta can bring much needed water which is vital for agriculture and portable water production like mineral water frog water can be treated and bottled for consumption Ricardo copied the simple natural system which plants use to water themselves to extract water from the clouds life neighbors is working in combination with projects to reforest fire affected areas it is part of a combination approach of multiple systems to reforest fire affected land as the region is prone to wildfires suffering its worst fire over the last few years the fog water collectors and irrigation systems are integrated to help support new plantations or native plant species furthermore the team collects ceilings of native plants this is for reforesting on the fog collector reforestation site they are choosing species that are adapted to the environment and they choose plants with a strong and straight stem with healthy leaves only picking the healthiest individuals this will benefit the local ecology and climate as well as the Watershed in the area to evaluate the foculators and the different reforestation systems a weather station has been installed with water meters and a network of soil moisture sensors the weather station is needed to monitor wind speed needs wind direction ambient temperature and relative humidity as well as Global horizontal solar irradiation it also measures the amount of accumulated rainfall water and visibility to better determine the occurrence of fog and clouds soil moisture sensors and water meters send their data via Wireless communication the entire system is electrically autonomous the data and acquisition system is continuously sending its records to an online platform whether data is available and accessible data is expected to be recorded for at least every 10 minutes we hope you enjoyed this video make sure to smash that like button and don't forget to follow us on Instagram Facebook and Twitter for more memes and Eco news and remember to subscribe to our new Spanish Channel Leaf of Life es we are a small team so if you wish to support us please join our patreon thanks for watching until next time

Channel: Leaf of Life

Views: 431,101

Keywords: sahara desert, climate change debate, climate change news, climate change solutions, global warming drawing, sahara desert documentary, agriculture technology machine, regenerative agriculture, agriculture technology, climate change, climate change 2022, regenerative agriculture podcast, agriculture technology project, agriculture technology 2022, agriculture technology business ideas, fog net, Water in the desert, desert Spain, stopping the Sahara desert

Id: RQ6mNchdMG0

Length: 8min 6sec (486 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 11 2022