Adapting to reduced water availability in the Guadiana river basin

The River Guadiana in the area around Serpa, Portugal. Source: Wikipedia

The Guadiana river basin, located in the south-west of Spain (and spilling over into Portugal), is expected to be one of the basins most negatively affected by climate change in the country. In this region, socio-economic development has been traditionally linked with the agricultural sector, and hence, to access to water for irrigation. The future of irrigated agriculture, however, will be largely determined by decreasing water availability. This implies that adaptation efforts and decisions in the agricultural sector will be crucial as different stakeholders (including those outside the agriculture sector) try to find a common ground within tighter environmental boundaries.

Varela-Ortega, C., Blanco-Gutiérrez, I., Esteve, P., Bharwani, S., Fronzek, S. and Downing, T. E. (2014). How can irrigated agriculture adapt to climate change? Insights from the Guadiana Basin in Spain. Regional Environmental Change. DOI:10.1007/s10113-014-0720-y.

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The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 244012