Archive for the ‘desertification’ Category
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Researchers from the University of Barcelona have analysed all the articles published in the La Vanguardia newspaper between 1982 and 2007 linked to natural hazards, climate change and sustainable development. Over 25 years the press devoted more headlines to forest fires and droughts, even though floods are much more frequent and cause more damage. The article’s main author Carme Llasat comments:
If the press focus more on forest fires and droughts, then people also become more aware of these events, to such an extent that they are deemed a more significant hazard in the area and more frequent occurrences than they really are”
This is a fascinating study on how the media fuels the public perception of environmental hazards. More here
Tags:Carme Llasat, Floods in Catalonia, Natural disasters in Catalonia, natural hazards in Spain
Posted in Catalonia, Climate, climate change, desertification |
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
The top UN climate official Yvo de Boer has attacked former Spanish president and climate-change denialist Jose Maria Aznar, stating during a press conference “I’d say to him: ‘Look out of your window.’ I think that in a few years we could have the Spanish Sahara which he’ll be able to see in person’. (PS I don’t have the original words in English so I’ve re-formulated them)
El Pais
Tags:Aznar on climate change
Posted in climate change, desertification, On Spain |
Sunday, September 14th, 2008
The Spanish government has announced a plan to plant 45 million trees of local Iberian, Balearic and Canarian species with the aim of promoting “Spain’s natural heritage”. The plan involves reforesting more than 61,000 hectares, revitalising ecosystems and creating some 3,000 jobs, particularly in rural areas. The planting will be done in public lands between 2009 and 2012 and will require an investment of 90 million euros. The programme is backed by the a new forest fire prevention plan
The director of Greenpeace España, Juan López Uralde, states that the announcement “is a first step but is insuficient to put a stop to desertification”. El Mundo
See also
Tags:Greenpeace, reforestation in Spain, tree planting in Spain, uan López Uralde
Posted in Conservation, desertification, Spanish forests |
Monday, September 1st, 2008
Tabernas (Almería)
Spain has finally implemented its first Programme of National Action against Desertification which recognises that 37% of the country is at a very high, high or medium risk from desertification, and is in danger of becoming “eroded forever”. This risk is also termed Sahelisation, after the North African region, and with coming climate change is set to worsen.
Since 2001 there has been a huge loss in fertile soil due to erosion totalling 17 tonnes per hectare per year: 67 millon tonnes of soil, much of which gets caught up in reservoirs, and representing an increase of 8% since 2001. The problem has been seriously heightened by intensive agriculture and the spread of urbanisation and infrastructures. El Mundo
Note: This figure of 37% has risen from 36% last year. See Threat of desertification (also with map of area)
Tags:rogramme of National Action against Desertification, Sahelisation, soil loss in Spain
Posted in desertification, Geography |
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
Spain is struggling to deal with the worst drought since the 1940s: reservoirs stand at 46 per cent of capacity and rainfall over the past 18 months has been 40 per cent below average. After months of low rainfall, parched Catalonia has had to appeal to Madrid for help – and now ecologists fear the costs of a long-term solution. The Guardian
Posted in Catalonia, desertification, On Spain, Water |
Monday, February 18th, 2008
Spain is suffering its worst drought in the October-March semester for 60 years, with a national average of just 177 mm compared to the normal value of 316 mm. Only the unlikely event of very heavy rains over the next two weeks would save the period from beating the record. The prolonged drought over the last three years is the worst since reliable records began.
El Mundo
Posted in Climate, climate change, desertification, Extreme weather Spain, On Spain |
Friday, August 31st, 2007
The United Nations Convention to Fight Desertification is to be held on September 3-4 in Madrid. Desertification threatens 36% of Spain: 2% of Spain suffers from extreme risk of desertification, with 15% having a high risk. Degraded soils cover a further 19%. Worst hit are the Canaries and the south-east, and to a lesser much of the southern half of the Peninsula, the Ebro basin and southern Catalonia. Although some degradation may be blamed on climate change and natural processes, most areas are the result of fire, overgrazing, aquifer depletion and bad farming practices – human mismanagement. The Spanish government has called on the EU to set up a centre for desertification with its headquarters in Spain. Older material on desertification in Spain here
Map of risk of desertification in Spain (MMA)
Map of aridity in Spain
Posted in desertification, Environment, Geography |