In the wetlands of Catalonia, farmers and environmentalists are working together to adapt to the region’s longest drought.

In the wetlands of Catalonia, farmers and environmentalists are working together to adapt to the region’s longest drought.

Mosquitoes buzz around the researchers near the banks of the River Ebro as they flood the fields and take readings.

The smell of sweat and bug repellent mingle in the humidity as the team tests water-saving strategies in the flooded fields at the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) near Amposta.

The Ebro is Spain’s second longest river - meandering through the north of the country before spilling into the Mediterranean along the Catalonian coast, 200km south of Barcelona.

Here it forms one of Western Europe’s largest wetlands: the Ebro River Delta. It’s not only a habitat for many thousands of species but also serves as a source of hydroelectricity, eco-tourism and - most economically important - rice cultivation.

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    1•10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The smell of sweat and bug repellent mingle in the humidity as the team tests water-saving strategies in the flooded fields at the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) near Amposta.

    The Ebro is Spain’s second longest river - meandering through the north of the country before spilling into the Mediterranean along the Catalonian coast, 200km south of Barcelona.

    All factions of the wetland community - including farmers, hunters, environmentalists - and the Catalonian government are having to cooperate and adapt as a result.

    “We need to maintain an equilibrium,” Maria del Mar Catala, an IRTA researcher who has worked in the Delta for 35 years, tells Euronews Green.

    That puts more pressure on the other rice growing areas like the Ebro Delta to continue production, raising the threat to the wetland ecosystem.

    But Spain’s wetland is a case study for the rest of Europe, showing how commercial and environmental interests can work together in the face of increasingly extreme weather.

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