ZARCILLA DE RAMOS, SPAIN – JULY 28: A burned tree is seen on July 28, 2017 in Zarcilla de Ramos, … [+] Spain.
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Extreme weather events such as heatwaves, floods, unseasonal heavy rain and droughts have been increasingly common in Europe in the last few years.
As such, southern European countries like Spain, Italy and Portugal have been focusing more on implementing climate change strategies to meet these changing conditions.
Here are the top five lessons to be learnt from how southern Europe is fighting climate change:
Innovative Irrigation Saves Crops
Spain has been dealing with a number of water issues in the last few years. To counter these, it has implemented innovative water management technologies such as better recycling systems and desalination plants, as well as enhanced irrigation methods. These help contribute to better agricultural productivity and less water wastage.
Irrigation systems in Spain have been expanded for crops such as olives and vineyards, which typically need more water, to help mitigate the effects of long droughts.
Portugal has employed drip irrigation systems, which helps decrease water loss from runoff and evaporation, while also boosting plant growth and cutting the risk of diseases. Not only that, but drip irrigation also brings down greenhouse gas emissions from soil, by reducing nitrogen loss from plant roots.
Portuguese municipalities such as Guimarães are using water discharged from municipal pools to clean streets. The municipality has also deployed active leak detection teams, to spot and fix leaks promptly, especially in older infrastructure.
Italy has made a significant effort to ramp up digital tools and smart water systems to give users access to real-time insights on their water usage, with 20% of Italians having a smart water meter installed, according to SIT Group. Although this is less than the European average of 30% of users, it is still a step in the right direction, when combined with Italy’s other water conservation efforts.
This includes the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan setting aside €900m for projects which decrease water distribution network losses, as well as invest in network monitoring and digitization, according to the United Nations.
Heat And Drought-Resistant Crops Prevent Grocery Price Spikes
To help counter aridity and reduced rainfall, more Spanish and Italian farmers and companies are working on building heat and drought-resilient crops.
Max Dugan-Knight, a climate data scientist at Deep Sky, told me in an interview that, “Industries like wine production are experimenting with grapes that can better survive these conditions. If they fail we will see grape-growing move north and vineyards in southern Europe suffer.”
The amount of irrigated farming land in Spain has also increased in recent years, with crops such as strawberries and tomatoes being moved to greenhouses from open fields.
Several farmers are also moving crops such as wheat, tomatoes, wine grapes and oranges away from drought-hit southern areas to northern regions, where both water supply and climate are relatively better.
Other adaptive agricultural practices being applied in southern Europe include regenerative farming techniques such as using cover crops, maintaining living roots, composting, carbon sequestration and more. This helps maintain soil health, as well as save water.
Italian farmers have changed their planting and harvesting dates to avoid extreme weather. The agricultural sector accounts for about 2% of the country’s gross domestic product, with the agri-food system contributing about 15% to GDP, according to the European Commission. This makes Italy one of the biggest food processors and agricultural producers in the EU.
Italy’s farmers are also diversifying and rotating their crops more, opting for sorghum and millet, instead of maize, for example, which helps replenish soil nutrients while also needing less water. Italy produced 40,000 hectares of grain sorghum in 2023, as well as 25,000 hectares of feed sorghum, according to Sorghum ID.
Portugal also uses livestock such as sheep to conserve soil and control vegetation, while also maintaining ground stubble, which leads to low soil mobility. This is because of its ability to reduce soil surface wind speeds and runoff.
For example, Iberdrola has launched solar grazing, which involves grazing on photovoltaic plants, in Portugal, with approximately 300 sheep. The company also has plans to add another 200 sheep to the program.
Not only does this help reduce the need for chemical vegetation control, it also keeps grass low, thus decreasing shading that can hamper solar energy production. This process also boosts biodiversity and soil fertility.
The country also uses agroforestry, in areas such as Montado and Lameiros, amongst others.
Implement Stronger Agricultural Policy Frameworks
Southern European countries have relatively robust agricultural policies, which provides adequate funding, as well as room for experimentation and innovation.
Spain, Portugal and Italy’s agricultural frameworks are all aligned with the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy , which focuses on enhancing agricultural productivity, helping maintain a stable food supply, reducing climate change impact and protecting rural areas. Apart from this, they also have their own national CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) to implement the CAP policies domestically.
Italy also has five national eco-schemes which help farmers implement sustainable measures. Spain has a farm information system called the Agrarian Holding Information System (SIEX), which allows farms to digitally submit reports on plant protection plans.
Portugal has the Rural Development Programme (RDP), which enables access to on-farm investments, as well as provides farmer training and advances agricultural sector competitiveness.
Increase Investments In Renewable Energy
Prompted in part by the European Green Deal, southern Europe has invested heavily in renewable energy in the last few years, especially in wind and solar energy.
Spain is the third-largest generator of renewable energy in Europe, while also being second in the continent for wind power capacity. Renewable energy made up 50.3% of its overall electricity generation in 2023, according to Spain’s national electricity provider, Red Eléctrica.
The country also already has a green hydrogen capacity of about 15.5GW, which is more than its 2030 target.
Wind energy made up 29% of Portugal’s electricity demand in 2023, with the country aiming to have renewable energy meet 85% of its overall electricity demand by 2030, according to an article by Brussels-based wind power association, WindEurope.
Although Italy has been a little slower than its other Southern European peers in phasing out fossil fuels, renewable energy still made up 36.8% of the country’s overall electricity demand last year.
Urban Green Spaces Boost Public Health And The Planet
Southern Europe employs a number of urban adaptation strategies to combat climate change. These include increasing green spaces, introducing real-time and early warning systems and adapting buildings.
This helps keep ground temperatures lower, and contributes to carbon sequestration, thus reducing the impact of extreme weather events.
João Dias Da Silva, the codirector of the executive master in sustainability management at Porto Business School, said in an email, “Cities such as Valencia or Madrid have developed comprehensive urban adaptation plans that address the impacts of climate change through improved water management, increased green spaces and sustainable urban development.”
Dugan-Knight believes that drainage system designs and insurance coverage are key in dictating the impact of floods, especially in the wake of the recent Spain floods.
He said, “As the recent flooding has made clear, we cannot expect future weather events to mirror the past. Even if precipitation overall will decrease in the region, the risk of extreme precipitation events is increasing.
“The flooding that follows can be made better or worse by the design of the drainage system and also insurance coverage,” he continued.
In Portugal, the Life Lungs project, attempts to harness green infrastructure to increase Lisbon’s resilience to climate change. It uses methods such as increasing tree coverage, tackling rainwater waste and developing flood resistance measures.
The project aims to plant about 240,000 trees in total, out of which approximately 97,255 have already been planted. Out of its target of having 10.6 hectares of biodiverse rainfed meadows, it has already implemented 9.3 hectares.
Italy is implementing steps to reinforce roads and buildings, making them better able to tolerate extreme weather.
Challenges In Replicating Southern Europe’s Climate Change Response
Carsten Brinkschulte, the CEO and cofounder of Dryad Networks, a wildfire prevention technology company, told me in an interview that, “Southern Europe’s experience highlights the importance of integrating climate resilience into food production systems and supporting adaptation with investments in infrastructure and resource management.”
However, other countries could have a harder time duplicating the above measures.
One of the main challenges while doing so is funding and policies, with southern European countries potentially having stronger environmental and agricultural policies than other countries. They also have a wider range of both investors and government funding available.
Developing countries may not have access to enough infrastructure, or technical knowledge, making it much more difficult to experiment with innovative climate technology. Local support and approval in these countries could also be more difficult to obtain.
Different climates in other countries also means that some Southern European climate change strategies may have to be adapted accordingly, depending on the severity of heat, water scarcity and aridity, for example.
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Publish date : 2024-11-21 12:40:00
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The post 5 Lessons To Learn From Southern Europe’s Climate Change Strategies first appeared on Love Europe.
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Publish date : 2024-11-21 21:45:41
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