Deserts? In Spain? Impossible. Or maybe yes? The truth is that in much of the country, especially in the southern half and in the Mediterranean region, rainfall is increasingly scarce. To this must be added the impact that human activity has on the ground. And the worst is that now it is an even more obvious reality thanks to a study that has been published in the journal 'Science of the Total Environment'. It has gone from being a comment to being a topic that has been studied.
And it seems that we still do not want to realize the seriousness of the problem. Desertification in Spain is a reality, so much so that according to this study 20% of the territory is already a desert.
To reach this conclusion, two tools were used: a land condition map and a set of simulation models on each desertification landscape. Thanks to this analysis, scientists from the Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) have been able to find out what factors are involved in the process, aggravated by climate change, being the climatic factor the one that most affects the territory.
Although the results cannot be generalized, because according to Jaime Martín Valderrama, researcher at the Experimental Station of Arid Zones in Almería, »it is necessary to study more cases to cover the casuistry offered by the Spanish territory and to allow reproducing the analyzes in different places ”, the truth is that it would not hurt to start acting now. Put measures to avoid losing more ground.
Fortunately, Spain is one of the countries that has signed the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, which entered into force on December 26, 1996. But we, at home, in our gardens, can also do something, as do not waste water and reuse it whenever possible, and use products of organic origin and not so many minerals (chemicals).
You can read the study here (In English).