Bilbao (EFE).- The scientific director of the Basque Center for Climate Change (BC3), María José Sanz, has stated that the Basque Country “is beginning to become Mediterranean”.
He explained that the temperature and precipitation regimes are changing, and that we must “adapt” to what is already happening but also take measures to prevent the changes from being “much more important.”
“Climate change is there”, this PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Valencia described in a talk with EFE in which she also spoke of the need for more rational water management, and to protect water resources, ecosystems and vegetation cover.
“The temperature and precipitation regimes that we knew are changing”, “it no longer rains in the same way as before”, he indicated.
In addition, the heat waves are “more intense and frequent” and the temperatures “higher, including those at night,” Sanz assured.
And the data corroborate it: 2022 has been the warmest year in the Basque Country since there are records with an average temperature of 1.8 degrees above the usual average, according to Euskalmet.
The Basque Meteorological Agency has also just described the month of April this year as “very hot and very dry”, with half the amount of rain than expected and 35% more hours of sunshine than usual.
Faced with this situation, Sanz has indicated that it is necessary to “adapt” but also adopt measures so that those changes that have already taken place do not accelerate or are not “much more important”.
“Not because we have changes, we must already think that this is irreversible. Obviously the changes are there but they could be worse and therefore it is necessary to stop ”,“ mitigate ”, he added.
Basque Country: Very exposed
Sanz has recognized that the Basque Country is a “very exposed” territory because it has a very large coastal area that will be affected by the rise in sea level due to the disappearance of the polar ice cap and the intensification of storms.
But also the interior, where the effects of “more severe droughts” and the change in the precipitation regime will have effects on the soil, its erosion and the vegetation.
This has consequences on crops. “There are crops whose production and quality are going to vary for better or worse and therefore measures will have to be taken,” added Sanz.
He has given as an example the case of cereal, whose production this year due to lack of water seems to be going “to drop a lot.”
The scientific director of BC3 has specified that in this context water is a good whose consumption has to be “more rational”.
“When there is an abundance of water, it is not thought that consumption has to be more regulated. That had not happened here before ”, nor the need for “water contributed ”to agriculture, he indicated.
For this reason, he has assured that “we will have to think about how” to avoid “wasting less water”.
He added that in this area you can learn from other areas, such as the Mediterranean, which “have been trying to better manage” this asset for many years.
Protect water resources
Sanz has stressed the importance of protecting water resources and for this he has said that it is necessary to preserve ecosystems and plant cover.
“The way in which an ecosystem relates to the atmosphere often triggers precipitation,” he said.
Linked to water, BC3 participates in the European Life Urbaso project that is being developed in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve together with the UPV/EHU, the Neiker research and livestock center, the Bilbao Bizkaia Water Consortium and the EFE Agency .
It is about demonstrating that by protecting soils and vegetation cover it is possible to improve the quality and quantity of water and reduce the physical-chemical treatment in making it drinkable for consumption.
Among the actions proposed in this project is the possibility of developing a payment system for environmental services, as in Costa Rica.
It would be that the owners of forest exploitations in the area collaborate in a more sustainable environmental management.
Sanz has affirmed that he defends the existence of a system of economic incentives to favor business models that are more respectful with the environment.
He added that payment for environmental services could be one of them, but others of an indirect nature could also be activated.
Regarding the strategies to deal with climate change, he has recognized that they are all adequate if they are implemented. “An ambitious strategy is better, but if it is not implemented, it is of little use,” he described.
“The human race has always adapted”
The scientific director of BC3 has finally assured that “the human race and the agricultural sector have always adapted to changes and climatic disturbances.”
However, it has placed itself in a situation “not very optimistic to be able to act.”
“If we think that this is going to happen and we don’t act, we still find ourselves in a very difficult situation,” he reflected.
Therefore, he has advocated considering the scientific projections, which “are quite negative”, and starting to take “serious measures”.
“I think that adapting we will adapt. We have always adapted, but we will have to make a greater effort than we would have done if these circumstances were not taking place now ”, she concluded. EFE