Support Water-Management Decision-Making Under Climate Change Conditions

According to climate change assessments, less precipitations and higher temperatures can be expected in the Iberian Peninsula and other Mediterranean zones. Besides, an increment in droughts and other extreme events can be expected as well. Such climatic conditions require an effort to optimise irrigation technologies and to improve water management efficiency. There are currently available water-use and crop-growth simulation models, which can be combined to climate scenarios and weather generators in order to recommend, through many simulations, the most reliable irrigation management. The Preliminary Assessment of the Impacts in Spain due to the Effects of Climate Change and the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change recommend the use of such simulation tools in Spanish climate-change impact assessments. Those tools, however, have not been used yet to support irrigation decision-making in our country. In that sense, the EU-funded proposal AGRIDEMA, leaded by Spain, has been addressed to introduce such tools, connecting the tools "providers" from Universities and high-level research centres, with their "users", located in agricultural technological or applied-research centres. AGRIDEMA comprised courses and Pilot Applications of the tools. Local researchers knew in the AGRIDEMA courses how to access to GCM data and seasonal forecasts, they receive also basic knowledge on weather generators, statistical and dynamical downscaling; as well as on available crop models as DSSAT, WOFOST, CROPSYST, SWAP and others. About 20 pilot assessments have been conducted in several European countries during AGRIDEMA, applying the modelling tools in particular cases. The AGRIDEMA results are commented, mentioning particularly the Pilot Assessments that were held in Spain and in the Mediterranean area. Furthermore, several "users" opinion regarding the available climate and crop-growth simulation tools are also pointed out. Those opinions can be used as important feedback by the tools "developers". An illustrative example on how modelling tools can help to manage Sugarbeet irrigation under present and future climate conditions in Spain is also shown. Several future research directions are pointed out, as followed from the shown example and the AGRIDEMA results. Those research directions agree with the actions recommended in the Spanish National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, as well as in the European and international guidelines. Stakeholder will adopt climate-change mitigation options only if they realise the reliability of such options on their specific cases. To achieve this, the "users" of the modelling tools must develop local demonstration proposals, aimed to model calibration and validation, etc. Particularly, some demonstration proposals should be aimed to recommend productive and efficient irrigation water management under the adverse climate conditions that Spanish farmers will eventually face in the next years.