Towards Adaptation to Climate Change: Water for Rice in the Coastal Wetlands of Doñana, Southern Spain

Abstract

Rice production in coastal wetlands provides critical ecosystem services that range from flood control to wildlife habitat. In the Iberian Peninsula rice was introduced in the 10th Century. Today Iberian rice accounts for about one quarter of the total rice production of the European Union, almost exclusively cultivated in the coastal wetlands of Spain, with permanent flooding. The intensive water management required to produce rice stands at a crucial point since freshwater supply is deteriorating at an unprecedented rate. Here we explore flexible adaptation options to climate change in the Doñana wetlands -a world heritage and biodiversity site -from two points of view: What are the policy options for agricultural water management in view of climate change? How can informed stakeholders contribute to better adaptation? The first question is addressed by simulating water availability to farmers with the WAAPA model under a range of adaptation policy options derived from the view of the local communities. The second question was addressed by means of participatory research. Adaptation options are framed according to the local environmental, social and policy context. Results suggest that perception on the potential role of new water infrastructure and farming subsidies dominates the view of local communities. The choices of the stakeholders that could be simulated with the hydrological model, were quantified in terms of additional water availability for the rice farming, therefore providing a quantitative measure to the qualitative solutions. Information provided during the study shaped the final adaptation options developed. Our research contributes to the definition of sustainable rice production in Europe.Water Resour Manage

Multiperiod Optimisation of Irrigated Crops under Different Conditions of Water Availability

“…According to McMichael et al [3], agriculture has depleted natural resources, contributing to water scarcity. To face this problem, strategies have been proposed such as increasing water use efficiency [4], desalination [5,6], water transactions [7,8], use of infrastructure for water storage [9,10], and optimisation of resources [11][12][13][14].…”

Do users benefit from additional information in support of operational drought management decisions in the Ebro basin?

“…make and how they use information to support those decisions, and decision modelling to explore how additional information can be used to inform and influence the decision process. As stated by Iglesias et al (2017), the main advantage of the semi structured interviews method is these encourage discussion, while the main limitations are related to the small sample size which means that only a partial view is obtained of the plurality of the stakeholders that make these decisions. Despite the limitations, the responses of the interviews provided a detailed description of the possible choices to deal with water shortages 5 in the Ebro basin, and the interaction and feedbacks between water management strategies at basin, irrigation district and local farmer scales by providing increased comprehension of the stakeholders' views.…”

Climate Proof Fresh Water Supply in Coastal Areas and Deltas in Europe

“…These papers are functional in -representing and demonstrating a wide range of tools to assess risk of fresh water shortage under climate change at both local (Stofberg et al, 2016) and regional scale (Stigter et al, 2015, Giannikopouloua et al, 2015, and Iglesias et al, 2015, -providing practical examples of how to systematically compare different adaptation strategies (Giannikopouloua et al 2015) and socio-economic development scenarios (Stigter et al, 2015). -exploring novel methods to develop resilient, robust and flexible adaptation plans (Thissen et al, 2015) to account for a range of future developments (Stigter et al, 2015) -and showing that adoption of new technologies such as presented by Zuurbier et al, 2016 and inventoried by Iglesias et al.…”

“…-exploring novel methods to develop resilient, robust and flexible adaptation plans (Thissen et al, 2015) to account for a range of future developments (Stigter et al, 2015) -and showing that adoption of new technologies such as presented by Zuurbier et al, 2016 and inventoried by Iglesias et al. Iglesias et al, 2015 depend mostly on the risk perception and the confidence in these technologies (Veraart et al, 2016), which in turn is influenced by demonstrated success in terms of reliability and the costs-benefits ratio (Veraart et al, 2016and Zuurbier et al, 2016) Veraart et al (2016 evaluate the socio-economic factors that determine the wider use of adaptation measures at farm level in a few pilot studies in the Southwestern part of the Netherlands.…”

“…In the authors' view the method presented contributes in an encouraging manner to a more holistic and trans disciplinary approach to water management, by allowing a more plausible identification of what (and if) adaptation measures are needed. Iglesias et al (2015) present another illustrative case for the Mediterranean area in which traditional agricultural practice, in this case rice production in coastal wetlands is threatened as freshwater supply is deteriorating at an unprecedented rate. The authors explore flexible adaptation options to climate change in the Doñana wetlands in Spain.…”