Global warming forecast says Spain will run dry

The Times
April 3, 2009

Graham Keeley in Barcelona

The rain in Spain no longer falls mainly in the plain.
Global warming could cause rainfall in the Iberian peninsula to fall by up to 40 per cent by the end of the century, according to a European Commission report.
Spain and Portugal could be the hardest hit by climate change, according to the commission white paper, which predicts that food harvests could fall 30 per cent in the region because of a lack of water.
There has been an increase in the number of heat waves as in 2006, when thousands of people died and reservoirs such as the one in Ancora, Spain, right, dried out.

“For Europe as a whole heat waves are expected to increase in frequency, intensity and duration,” the report said.
The reduction in agricultural production could have a dramatic social impact, the report said, “where whole local rural populations could be affected if the local farmland was abandoned or if the local farming profitability was reduced substantially”.
The report warned that global warming could affect tourism, agriculture and energy sectors.
Spain currently gains about 10 per cent of its GDP from tourism but the sector is under pressure, partly because of the recession.