Water Crisis – No Rain in Spain

A report in The New York Times today describes water shortages in Spain as a national crisis. Scientists say that Southern Europe and especially parts of southeast Spain are drying rapidly to near-desert conditions, a process that some experts call "Africanization." This desertification is accelerated by tourist resort development and water-thirsty crops.

The dramatic article says farmers pay exorbitant black market rates for water and foreigners create "faux" farms on their land to get their water at cheaper, irrigation rates. It warns:

The battles of yesterday were fought over land…Those of the present center on oil. But those of the future – a future made hotter and drier by climate change in much of the world – seem likely to focus on water.