Picture 1: Greenhouses at the coast of the Almeria province (Source: http://nevada.ual.es:81/eps/posgrado/invernaderos).
Picture 2: Worker in a greenhaouse in the region of Almeria (Source: http://www.freshplaza.es/news_detail.asp?id=49761).
The picture 1 shows some greenhouses in the province of Almeria and the efforts (employment) it brings to the people (picture 2). These two things come to my mind first when I think about the region of Almeria.
The places where the greenhouses are located are very close to the mediterranean sea (which you can see in the upper part of the picture 1). This impression is the first one you will get if you come to the province of Almeria. You will see greenhouses up to the horizon. This is one part of the LUC during the last 50 years. It is not the only change you can see in this region, but it is the most obvious and impressionable part of the LUC.
This picture leads to many questions you would think about when you look on it. Of course, everbody has his own impressions, feelings and even questions while looking at this picture.
This post will create a summary about the following main question: What was/is/will be the recent/present and future Land Use Change in the province of Almeria?
Annotaion:
The increasing of the agricultural practices (greenhouse cultivation) leads to an increasement in the population of Almeria region (see figure 2). During the last 30 to 40 years, the increasing usage of greenhouse cultivation required more and more workers. Due to this fact the region attracted a lot of people to come to Almeria to work. This can bee seen in the fast increasing population since 1981 (compare figure 2). Also the living conditions of the people increased and led to this increasement in population.
What is present and future land use change in southeast Spain about?
The following figure (figure 3) gives a good overwiew on what happend to the land use change in the province of Almeria.
Figure 3: Development of the land use change in the province of Almeria from 1991 to 1999 (Source: Javier Cabello, personal comunication).
The figure shows the highly rise in agricultural used area in the region of Almeria. Especially in the region close to the delta of the river Adra in the southwest of spain (in the west of the city of Almeria) the expansion of the area was high. This can be seen in figure 3, where the development of the land use changes from 1991 to 1999 is shown. Also in the east of the region between the city of Almeria and the Nationalpark Cabo de Gata-Nijar there is an area in which area of agriculture (espically greenhouses) increased. The increasing of the agricultural area led to a decreased natural vegetation in the region of Almeria.
Figure 4: Land use change in the province of Almeria from 1991 to 2015 for five land use categories [Urban, agriculture, natural vegetation, freshwater and greenhouses] (Source: Maria Piquer, personal comunication).
Like it is indicated in figure 4, the area occupied by agriculture (6,2 % increase), greenhouses (4,2 % increase) and urban areas (1,6 % increase) increased or will increase from 1991 to 2015. The investigation also deteced the areas where the increasing of the different land use change classes take place.
For the expansion of greenhouses mainly the areas in the west and in the east of the province of Almeria are figured out (as described above).
The increasing of the other agricultural products mainly takes place in the interior of the province of Almeria (mainly in the north of the province; compare figure 3).
The increasing of urban areas mainly takes place in the coastal regions, even though it is not much.
Figure 4 also shows a decreasing of natural vegetation cover at around 12 %. This will mainly take part in the coastal regions were the greenhouses and urban areas increase and in the internal regions where the agriculture increases. This result approved the results of Muñoz-Rojas, M. et al. (2011) where they explained that the main changes in land use from 1956 to 2007 occured due to intensification of agriculture in the south of Spain. In the study they found out that 29480 km² of the total area of the province of Almeria (total area: 87000 km²) changed. This is a change of 1/3 (33,6 %) of the area (Muñoz-Rojas, M. et al., 2011).
Also the investigation figured out a recovery of natural vegetation. But this recovery was not widespread and only took place on 32 km² in the inner part of the province of Almeria.
What are the main driving processes of the land use change?
The main driving processes for land use change in the province of Almeria were investigations on the problems which occured due to agricultural techniques. The fertilisation and the water supply of the soils in the area decreased. There was also an increasement in soil salinity due to the lack of water.
Because of these degradations, investigations on extensive irrigation and measurements on soil salinity were undertaken. One result of the investigations was to put sand on the soils to increase the fertility of the soils.
The first sand addition took place in 1957 and in the following years they could increase the productivity of the soils. With these new techniques the cultivated surface area could be increased and this process led to the highly increasing agriculture. With these new techniques and the good location of the area (favourable relief and climate conditions, for more information see annotaion below) the area expanded to a high producting area (Mota, J.F. et al. 1996).
During the development of agricultural expanding three new technological innovations triggered this process:
1.) The arrangement of clayey soils with sand cover and the use of organic fertilizers triggered the increasing of the cultivated area.
2.) The use of plastic films on top of greenhouses alowed early harvesting of crops and could close the gap of shortages on European markets.
3.) The use of drip-irrigation systems improved the use of water.
Due to this process of highly increasing agricultural area the process was later called the "Almeriense economic miracle" (Mota, J.F. et al., 1996) and is also used as a good example for economic enhencement. This led to the fact that the region had the highest incomes per head in the 1950s (Mota, J.F. et al., 1996).
Annotation: The region of El Ejido is very well located in the shadow of the Sierra Gádor, because the mountains take away cold northern winds. This leads to favourable climatic conditions with average temperatures never below 6°C. The mountains of the Sierra Gádor have a second advantage to the region of El Ejido, because they catch the winter rain falls which can be catched and stored in tanks and later be used for irrigation.
What are the main positive and negative effects of Land Use Change in the province of Almeria?
The positive effects of the land use change are the benefits brought to human. With the increasement of agriculture in the region of Almeria the living conditions for the inhabitants increased. The positive effects for humans are 1.) increasing in the agricultural productivity, due to the first point 2.) higher economic value and 3.) increase of the population.
The positive effects can be seen in the coastal region of El Ejido, south of the Sierra Gádor. In this region the cultivated area with greenhouses increased highly (Mota, J.F. et al., 1996). This increase can be seen in table 2. From 1963 to 1991 the cultivated area with greenhouses in this area increased from 0 to 14.440 ha.
Table 1: Development of cultivated surface area (ha), Cultivated area with greenhouses (ha), number of inhabitants, production of agricultural products (t) and turnover sales ($) in the region of El Ejido between 1963 and 1991 (Source: Mota, J.F. et al., 1996).
Untill the 1950s the region of El Ejido was a semi-desert land with less inhabitants and less agriculture. Although agriculture existed in this region before, it could be described as "from hands to mouth" (Mota, J.F. et al., 1996).
According to the high increase of greenhouse area, the number of inhabitants also increased highly. From 1963 to 1991, the population in this area increased more than 100% (compare table 1).
The negative effects are based on the changing of a semi-desert natural area to a now intensively agricultural used region. The study of Mota, J.F. et al. (1996) emphasized four basic points which are negative for nature:
1.) Reduction of natural habitats
2.) highly increase in population
3.) increase in bad effects because of cattle-breeding
4.) distribution of solid and chemical pollutants with destructive effects to nutrient cycles
According to the reduction of natural habitats, the main problem is that the high increase of agricultural used areas causes an enormous fragmentation of the habitats. Especially the fragmentation of habitats around the natural conservation areas (RENPA and NATURA 2000) is highly impacted (Maria Piquer, personal comunication).
Due to the 4th point there is the example of using highly toxic substances to avoid crop pests (Mota, J.F. et al., 1996). These substances will not only eliminate the crop pests, in additon they will eliminate useful animals like insects, who are pollinators or predators of other harmful insects.
These are only two examples of negative effects of the dramatic LUC in the region of Almeria. Investigations (compare table 2) show more effects, even though these reviewed effects are not complete. So there is still the demand to investigate the effects (positive and negative) in the region of Almeria.
Table 2: Consumption and environmental impact per year in the region of El Ejido (Source: Mota, J.F. et al., 1996).
According to the question from top of this post, which was: What was/is/will be the recent/present and future Land Use Change in the province of Almeria?
The changes in the land use in the province of Almeria had/have/will have a great impact to nature. The changes have advantages and disadvantages and it is clear that human influence on LUC is great.
Until today no studies estimated whether the LUC has excessed the boarder defined by Rockström, J. et al. (2009).
In my opinion the LUC already excessed the boarder defined by Rockström, J. et al., (2009). For example in the region of El Ejido the boarder has been excessed yet. In general I would say that the boarder has been excessed in every part of the province where intensive agriculture (with or without greenhouses) takes place.
A long post, but I hope you enjoyed reading. Keep thinking about it. Thanks for reading.
Until today no studies estimated whether the LUC has excessed the boarder defined by Rockström, J. et al. (2009).
In my opinion the LUC already excessed the boarder defined by Rockström, J. et al., (2009). For example in the region of El Ejido the boarder has been excessed yet. In general I would say that the boarder has been excessed in every part of the province where intensive agriculture (with or without greenhouses) takes place.
A long post, but I hope you enjoyed reading. Keep thinking about it. Thanks for reading.