Bid to revolutionise water management in Spain
FRANS Timmermans highlighted the major environmental challenges facing south-east Spain due to climate change – and announced that the European Union will help the regional and national governments to take action.
The EC vice-president made the comments during a visit to Orihuela on Friday.
Due to climate change torrential episodes of rain such as the one which devastated the Vega Baja last month ‘could potentially occur every year instead of every 50 years’, he stated.
“We have the duty to protect our citizens and take measures to adapt immediately,” he stated.
Mr Timmermans noted that south-east Spain was suffering more than any other region of Europe from the effects of climate change.
“One minute you don’t have any water at all and then torrential rain comes and the whole area is flooded,” he stated.
The Dutch politician said it was a ‘paradox’ that all the rainwater ended up in the sea and did not help to solve drought problems in the area.
He has proposed that Europe
should ‘work together’ with the regional and national governments to find a more sustainable way of managing water resources.
Mr Timmermans asked those present – who included Ximo Puig, local mayors and provincial president Carlos Mazón – to ‘imagine that they were able to channel, store and reuse all the water which fell in such enormous quantities’.
This would bring enormous benefits for agriculture and would help to create towns ‘which are greener and have a better quality of life’.
He pointed out that one of the biggest challenges facing the area is desertification – the process by which fertile land becomes desert due to drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.
There also needs to be a rapid move towards the use of renewable energies.
Mr Timmermans noted that the model proposed for the Mediterranean area ‘could be one which is applied in others areas of Europe’.
Orihuela
During Mr Timmermans visit to Orihuela, mayor Emilio Bascuñana reiterated the message about the environmental emergency.
“Our land is threated by climate change and we have to act now with determination to ensure that all resources are available so that we can start to tackle it without delay,” he said.