Climate change is hitting Spain hard with new estimates suggesting available water resources have fallen by 20% over the past 25 years.
A report from Spanish NGO Ecologistas en Acción presented at the COP21 climate talks in Paris analysed how water resources have changed in the country.
A combination of reduced rainfall, together with higher temperatures have contributed to an average reduction in water availability.
The Segura basin was referenced, which has suffered a 38% reduction, followed by the Mediterranean basin.
With 80% of water in Spain used for crop irrigation, the NGO warned that demand will continue to grow as allocated land for farming increases.
Ecologistas en Acción said that to rebalance the situation, the areas that need irrigated would need to be reduced, from more than 4 million hectares, to a maximum of 3-3.2 million hectares.
This adjustment would have to be accompanied by a substantial reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases, it added.
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