Water and Sustainability. Towards a water transition in Iberian South-East

Abstract

Although desertification is often associated with aridity and soil erosion, multiple studies in the Mediterranean have shown that in natural environments erosion rates are low, even with poor vegetation coverage. On the other hand, arid areas are home to a unique biodiversity and landscapes of high interest, reason why some are protected sites. In fact, the processes that contribute most to the degradation and loss of natural productivity in the Mediterranean,  especially in arid areas, are land use changes, in particular the expansion of irrigation, which causes an increase in water demands above available resources, generating overexploitation of aquifers and loss of springs and wetlands and their associated biodiversity. The cases analyzed in the Iberian Southeast at two scales, local (Mazarrón and Águilas) and basin (Segura basin), show that the introduction of external water resources, regardless of efficiency in their use, does not reduce water overexploitation due to the dynamics established between resources and demands, known as the unsustainability spiral, which presents clear concomitances with the general desertification syndrome. In addition, the expansion of irrigation in arid areas is affecting ecosystems that maintained a good state of conservation and a unique biodiversity linked to aridity. A water transition is required to reduce water demands in arid areas, including the reduction in the area of irrigated lands where it has increased above sustainable levels.