The vanishing legacy of soil salinity data from irrigated districts: A case study from Spain and a call for action

Castañeda, Carmen; Herrero, J.; Latorre, Borja

doi:10.1016/bs.agron.2019.12.002

Cited by 9 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Other scenarios include the expansion of olive groves in Andalusia and the associated erosion problems, and irrigated agriculture. This later case shows two variants: (a) herbaceous crops including non-food crops (alfalfa and corn) related to soil salinisation in the north of Spain [26] and irrigated land in La Mancha (central Spain), linked to the overexploitation of important regional aquifers [27]; and (b) the Mediterranean coastal strip of southeastern Spain, which includes the provinces of Alicante, Murcia, and Almeria. High-yielding horticultural crops (e.g., greenhouses) have thrived there (see Valera et al [28] for a review), causing the deterioration of numerous aquifers [29,30].…”

Section: Surmodes a Pioneering Approach To Identify The Threat Of Des...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Desertification in Spain: A Sound Diagnosis without Solutions and New Scenarios

Martínez‐Valderrama

Barrio

Sanjuán

et al. 2022

Land

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The latest world atlas of desertification represents a turning point in the diagnosis of desertification. While it forgoes desertification mapping due to the intrinsic complexity of the phenomenon and the impossibility of measuring it using a single indicator, it introduces the convergence of evidence paradigm, which identifies socioeconomic and biophysical variables whose behaviour allows pointing out those areas prone to desertification. The Spanish National Action Program Against Desertification (PAND), back in 2008, already implemented a similar approach to identify five “desertification landscapes” within Spain using both socio-economic and climatic information. The PAND was not only pioneering but also, unfortunately, accurate. Desertification in Spain has continued to worsen and the first two decades of the 21st century have consolidated an agri-food model whose dynamics have exacerbated the desertification processes identified in the PAND. Despite its scientific value, the PAND lacked a proper action plan and was completely detached from the diagnosis. As a result, the diagnosis it provided was not followed by effective actions to halt desertification in Spain. The Spanish government’s recent declaration of climate and environmental emergency requires a new strategy to combat desertification. This commitment is an excellent opportunity to update the diagnosis of the situation and, more crucially, to unify the different desertification sectoral policies and actions under a single front. We provide here elements (e.g., analysis of agri-food trends and integration of plans and policies at different geographical and sectoral levels) for a roadmap to be designed around the pressures, impacts, and drivers that define today’s Spanish desertification landscapes to effectively manage and avoid their further degradation.

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Section: Surmodes a Pioneering Approach To Identify The Threat Of Des...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Desertification in Spain: A Sound Diagnosis without Solutions and New Scenarios

Martínez‐Valderrama

Barrio

Sanjuán

et al. 2022

Land

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Other scenarios include the expansion of olive groves in Andalusia and the associated erosion problems, and irrigated agriculture. This later case shows two variants: (a) herbaceous crops including non-food crops (alfalfa and corn), related to soil salinisation in the north of Spain [25], and irrigated land in La Mancha (central Spain), linked to the overexploitation of important regional aquifers [26]; and (b) the Mediterranean coastal strip of southeastern Spain, which includes the provinces of Alicante, Murcia and Almeria. High-yielding horticultural crops (e.g.…”

Section: Surmodes a Pioneering Approach To Identify The Threat Of Desertificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Desertification in Spain: A Sound Diagnosis Unfollowed by Solutions

Martínez‐Valderrama¹,

Barrio²,

Sanjuán³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The latest World Atlas of Desertification represents a turning point in the diagnosis of desertification. While it forgoes desertification mapping due to the intrinsic complexity of the phenomenon and the impossibility of measuring it using a single indicator, it introduces the Convergence of Evidence paradigm, which identifies socioeconomic and biophysical variables whose behavior allows pointing out those areas prone to desertification. The Spanish National Action Program Against Desertification (PAND), back to 2008, already implemented a similar approach to identify five “desertification landscapes” within Spain using both socio-economic and climatic information. The PAND was not only pioneering but also, unfortunately, accurate. Desertification in Spain has continued to worsen and the first two decades of the 21st century have consolidated an agri-food model whose dynamics have exacerbated the desertification processes identified in the PAND. Despite its scientific value, the PAND lacked a proper action plan and was completely detached from the diagnosis. As a result the diagnosis it provided was not followed by effective actions to halt desertification in Spain. The Spanish Government's recent declaration of climate and environmental emergency requires a new strategy to combat desertification. This commitment is an excellent opportunity to update the diagnosis of the situation and, more crucially, to unify the different desertification sectoral policies and actions under a single front. We provide here elements for a roadmap to be designed around the pressures, impacts, and drivers that define today's Spanish desertification landscapes to manage them effectively and avoid their further degradation.

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“…In the years 1940-1950, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, in concert with the Ministry of Public Works, started the transformation into irrigation of broad areas of the CEB [2], whose aridity was the major constraint to agriculture. IRYDA was the agency responsible for designing, constructing and bringing into production the new irrigation schemes.…”

Section: Temporal and Geographic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This study was one of the reports commissioned in the 20th century by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture for different Spanish regions. Castañeda et al [2] listed many of these studies, but due to the elimination of IRYDA, they are hard to find or have even been discarded. Their structure and quality can be uneven, but they provide unique documents for tracking the evolution of modern agriculture and for assessing the results of irrigation and other agricultural practices on yields and the environment by comparing the data with other years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Legacy of Quantitative and Qualitative Data for the Irrigated Violada Area and Conterminous Lands in Aragon, Spain

Herrero

Álamo

2021

Agronomy

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This paper concerns an old soils report produced using an agronomical approach. The territory studied spans continuous parts of Spain’s Huesca and Zaragoza provinces and includes the Violada area. The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture collected the data from 1975 to 1978 through its now-defunct agency, the National Institute for Agrarian Reform and Development (IRYDA), which was in charge of irrigation works in Spain. The surface area studied was 19,393 ha, with 67% irrigated by inundation and 33% rainfed at the time of the study. The survey and the related investigations were conducted using state-of-the-art procedures for agronomical research. The purpose was to rate the potential of the lands for irrigated agriculture. The document provides a unique snapshot of the soils and agriculture in the 1970s that can provide a baseline for multitemporal comparisons.

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The vanishing legacy of soil salinity data from irrigated districts: A case study from Spain and a call for action

Cited by 9 publications

References 46 publications

Desertification in Spain: A Sound Diagnosis without Solutions and New Scenarios

Desertification in Spain: A Sound Diagnosis without Solutions and New Scenarios

Desertification in Spain: A Sound Diagnosis Unfollowed by Solutions

A Legacy of Quantitative and Qualitative Data for the Irrigated Violada Area and Conterminous Lands in Aragon, Spain

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