According to the latest information on Portugal’s drought, issued by the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere, at the end of August the situation remained dire with 58.9% of the territory in severe drought, 37.8% in moderate drought, 2.6% in weak drought and 0, 7% in extreme drought.
There is no rain forecast for September, which, while tourist businesses might be rejoicing, leaves agriculture facing severe difficulties.
Environmental NGO, Quercus, says the situation remains a matter of concern and the Government must rigorously implement the current Drought Contingency Plan - with a change to the current intensive agricultural production systems urgently required.
For Quercus, it is important not to underplay the seriousness of the situation with Mediterranean regions, particularly the Iberian peninsula, experiencing a growing desertification process due to a lack of water.
According to the National Water Resources Information System, in August all Portugal's water storage sources were down, with 20% having a less than 40% availability of water.
Climate change is not helping. This is said by Quercus, to be causing a drop in rainfall rates which means drought periods are likely to become more frequent in the future, especially in the Alentejo and Algarve.
A project focusing on the Tejo river concluded recently that it runs the risk of drying out completely due to a combination of climate change and Spain siphoning off water for drinking and agriculture.
Agriculture consumes the lion’s share of Portugal’s water supplies, about 75%. However, this could be lower were it not for the excessive investment in irrigated agricultural crops which also need pesticides which deplete the soil and contaminate the aquifers.
Another problem is the encouragement by the government of non-native species of olive trees which need irrigation, synthetic fertiliser and pesticides, as opposed to the native trees that do not need irrigation and are best left alone to grown and produce oilves.
Quercus considers that Portugal has to solve this problem at the root, changing to agricultural practices that are less dependent on large amounts of water to those favoring indigenous varieties that are more adapted to Portugal’s climate and are more resistant to drought.
Quercus urges the current government to bear this change in practice in mind at the next review of the Common Agricultural Policy, and to face up to the problem, unlike the previous Executive which yielded to large agro-chemical interest groups that dominate the irrigated agriculture sector.
Negotiations with Brussels to strengthen support for more sustainable, less water-dependent agriculture will at least prepare the country to face the inevitable droughts in future years.
