Arid Environments

Question 1

What % of Spain is at risk of desertification

Answer 1

75%

Question 2

How many hectares of land affected by desertification in Spain 2022?

Answer 2

300,000

Question 3

What was the value of precipitation for Almeria, Spain

Answer 3

Less than 300mm per year

Question 4

What are some causes of desertification in Almeria, Spain

Answer 4

• Illegal farming
• Mismanagement of water resources for tourism in Andalucia.

Question 5

What are some impacts of desertification in Almeria

Answer 5

Contamination of aquifers with nitrates from fertilisers, irrigation has increased salinity of groundwater
- People forced to drink bottled water

Question 6

How has spain responded to desertification?

Answer 6

Agua programme:

• Building desalination plants (3.8bn euros)
• 50% of water in AGUA comes from desalination plants
• Plant in Torrevieja supplies 240,000m3 of water per day
• Price is $1.75 per cubic metre of water

Question 7

What is some evidence for the success of this programme?

Answer 7

• Semi arid land in Spain converted for farming
• ## Farming in polytunnels, reducing evaporation

Question 8

What is some evidence of failure of this programme?

Answer 8

• River Ebro transfer of water plan scrapped in 2004 after government change
• Old plastic left in heaps and burnt
• Slow progress by AGUA, due to farmers refusing to give up illegal wells
  -510,000 boreholes

Question 9

Evidence of sunstainability of AGUAs programme

Answer 9

Desaliation capacity doubled
- Using renewable sources

Question 10

Evidence for unsustainability of AGUAs programme

Answer 10

• Deslination plants are very costly in energy and emit high CO2 emissions