No more rain on the plains of Spain
June 3rd, 2008 by Jim JustClimate change means that creeping deserts and hundreds of millions of environmental refuges. Southern Europe – and especially Spain – are experiencing the problem now.
Spain’s climate is drying to the point that it is becoming more like Africa’s. The Spanish Environment Ministry estimates that one-third of the county is at risk of turning into desert from a combination of climate change and poor land use.
Antonio Serrano Rodríguez, the secretary general for land and biodiversity at Spain’s Environment Ministry, laments:
“There will be places that can’t be farmed any more, that were marginal and are now useless. We have parts of the country that are close to the limit.”
The average surface temperature in Spain has risen 2.7 degrees compared to about 1.4 degrees globally since 1880. Rainfall is predicted to fall 20% from this year to 2020, and 40% by 2070. With water already beginning to run out, farmers are fighting each other and developers over water rights, while cities are trying to grab all the water they can.
Surveying the damage and the water wars, Joseph Romm observes:
“And this is just after a global warming of .8°C. Imagine what will happen to Spain, Australia, the Southwest, and the entire planet when we warm another 3°C to 5°C.”