{"id":2499,"date":"2022-03-21T13:13:52","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T13:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fundacioncanal.com\/blog\/el-agua-esta-en-el-centro-de-la-adaptacion-al-cambio-climatico\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T06:49:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:49:42","slug":"water-at-the-heart-of-adaptation-to-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fundacioncanal.com\/blog\/en\/water-at-the-heart-of-adaptation-to-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Water, At the Heart of Adaptation to Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(Estimated reading time: 3,05 minutes) <\/em>\u2013 Audio version of article available<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nchanges brought about by climate change will affect the availability, quality,\nand quantity of water for human needs and will complicate sustainable\nmanagement of water resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rising sea levels and melting glaciers are two of the consequences of global warming that possibly best exemplify this relationship between water and climate change. But they aren’t the only ones. According to the European Environment Agency<\/a>, precipitation patterns are changing. European regions that are already wet are becoming wetter, and dry regions more arid. At the same time, climate change has also increased the average temperature of water in rivers and lakes and intensified the frequency and virulence of extreme weather phenomena, such as heatwaves, intense precipitation, and drought. These changes, along with increased river flows in winter and reduced flows in summer, have huge repercussions on the quality of water and freshwater ecosystems. What is more, in Spain, this increased temperature entails greater transpiration and evapotranspiration, which leads to more arid or degraded surfaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The\nUN World Water Development Report\n2020<\/a> concludes that, if we\nwish to reduce the impact of climate change on the water cycle, it is necessary\nand essential to implement adaptation measures to offset both the negative\neffects of flooding caused by extreme weather phenomena and the effects caused\nto agriculture and industry by prolonged periods of drought. It also sets forth\nthe need to use adaptation measures related to specific actions to protect\nmarshes and other nature-based solutions, as well as measures related to\nwastewater processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nare many different kinds of strategies to adapt to climate change as far as\nwater is concerned, all different in scope. These range from infrastructures to\nincrease water storage capacity and dikes to protect against flooding, to\ninsurance against flooding and drought and using IT and communications technologies\nto create predictive early-warning systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally,\nit is important to remember how important nature-based solutions are in\nadaptation to climate change, like rain gardens, to reduce the effects of\nflooding on urban settings. In this regard, it is also important to mention\nthat there are several innovative measures and focuses that have already been\ntested and applied all around Europe that can be viewed on the European\nadaptation site  Climate-ADAPT<\/a> and on the Spanish\nsite Adaptecca<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ministry for Ecological\nTransition and the Demographic Challenge’s report \u201cImpactos y riesgos derivados del\ncambio clim\u00e1tico en Espa\u00f1a. <\/em>2021 <\/em>(Impacts and Risks Stemming from\nClimate Change in Spain. 2021)<\/a>\u201d states that reduced volume flow in the Iberian\nPeninsula’s main rivers was observed in the second half of the 20th<\/sup>\ncentury. This report also states that changing availability and quality in\nwater resources could lead to systemic vulnerability with possible cascade\neffects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge lies before us.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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