Southern Europe braces for climate change-fuelled
summer of drought
By Kate
Abnett
May 17,
20238:56 PM GMT+2Updated 13 days ago
Summary
22% of Europe under drought warning
Spain worst-hit, already in severe drought
Some farmers expect worst harvest for decades
Climate change fuelling drought conditions
BRUSSELS,
May 17 (Reuters) - Southern Europe is bracing for a summer of ferocious
drought, with some regions already suffering water shortages and farmers
expecting their worst yields in decades.
As climate
change makes the region hotter and drier, years of consecutive drought have
depleted groundwater reserves. Soils have become bone dry in Spain and southern
France. Low river and reservoir levels are threatening this summer's hydropower
production.
With
temperatures climbing into summertime, scientists warn Europe is on track for
another brutal summer, after suffering its hottest on record last year – which
fuelled a drought European Union researchers said was the worst in at least 500
years.
So far this
year, the situation is most severe in Spain.
"The
situation of drought is going to worsen this summer," said Jorge Olcina,
professor of geographic analysis at the University of Alicante, Spain.
There's
little chance at this point of rainfall resolving the underlying drought,
either. "At this time of the year, the only thing we can have are punctual
and local storms, which are not going to solve the rainfall deficit,"
Olcina said.
Seeking
emergency EU assistance, Spain’s Agriculture Minister Luis Planas warned that
"the situation resulting from this drought is of such magnitude that its consequences
cannot be tackled with national funds alone," according to an April 24
letter sent to the European Commission (EC) and seen by Reuters.
CLIMATE
CHANGE TREND
Southern
Europe is not alone in suffering severe water shortages this year. The Horn of
Africa is enduring its worst drought in decades, while a historic drought in
Argentina has hammered soy and corn crops.
More
frequent and severe drought in the Mediterranean region - where the average
temperature is now 1.5C higher than 150 years ago – is in line with how
scientists have forecast climate change will impact the region.
"In
terms of the climate change signal, it very much fits with what we're
expecting," said Hayley Fowler, Professor of Climate Change Impacts at
Newcastle University.
Despite
these long-held forecasts, preparation is lagging. Many farming regions have
yet to adopt water-saving methods like precision irrigation or switch to more
drought-hardy crops, such as sunflowers.
"Governments
are late. Companies are late," said Robert Vautard, a climate scientist
and director of France's Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute. "Some companies
are not even thinking of changing the model of their consumption, they are just
trying to find some miraculous technologies that would bring water."
France is
emerging from its driest winter since 1959, with drought "crisis"
alerts already activated in four departmental prefects, restricting
non-priority water withdrawals - including for agriculture, according to
government website Propluvia.
Portugal,
too, is experiencing an early arrival of drought. Some 90% of the mainland is
suffering from drought, with severe drought affecting one-fifth of the country
- nearly five times the area reported a year earlier.
In Spain,
which saw less than half its average rainfall through April this year,
thousands of people are relying on truck deliveries for drinking water, while
regions including Catalonia have imposed water restrictions.
Some
farmers have already reported crop losses as high as 80%, with cereals and
oilseeds among those affected, farming groups have said.
"This
is the worst loss of harvest for decades,” Pekka Pesonen, who heads the
European farming group Copa-Cogeca, said of Spain. "It's worse than last
year's situation."
Spain is
responsible for half of the EU's production of olives and one third of its
fruit, according to the Commission.
With its
reservoirs at on average 50% of capacity, the country last week earmarked more
than 2 billion euros ($2.20 billion) in emergency response funding. It is still
awaiting a reply from the Commission on its request for a 450-million-euro
crisis fund to be mobilized from the bloc's farming subsidy budget.
The
Commission said it was monitoring the situation closely.
"Severe
drought in Southern Europe is particularly worrying, not only for the farmers
there but also because this can push up already very high consumer prices if
the EU production is significantly lower," Commission spokesperson Miriam
Garcia Ferrer said.
Similar
struggles could emerge in Italy, where up to 80% of the country’s water supply
goes toward agriculture. With this year’s thin mountain snow cover and low soil
moisture, Italian farmers are planning to cut back – sowing summer crops across
an area 6% smaller than last year’s planting area, according to national data
on sowing intentions.
After two
years of water scarcity, parts of northern Italy entered May with a 70% deficit
in snow water reserves and a 40% deficit of soil moisture, said Luca Brocca, a
Director of Research at Italy's National Research Council.
With the
ground so parched, rain when it does arrive fails to soak in, with devastating
consequences. Authorities in Italy on Wednesday said at least three people had
been killed in floods in Italy's Emilia Romagna region, where the rains were
expected to continue for several hours.
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