Spain is struggling with drought

Spain is launching a New Strategy to Combat Desertification. Droughts in the world's largest olive oil producing country are exacerbated by the ongoing heat wave and poor land management practices. 

The Spanish Government has announced a new comprehensive multi-year action plan to combat desertification, a phenomenon that affects two-thirds of the country's territory. Desertification is considered an ever-growing threat to soil fertility and biodiversity in many regions, including some of the most important areas of Spain where olives are grown. 

The devastated territory takes a very long time to restore its original ecological functionality. Andalusia, the largest olive oil producing region in the world and home to many ultra-high density olive groves in the world, is one of the areas most at risk. 

Among the factors contributing to desertification are intensive agriculture, grazing and overexploitation of water resources, as well as rural depopulation, abandonment of forest lands, climate change and forest fires. In the summer of 2022, temperatures are on average 10 degrees higher, abnormal heat and in the north in Bilbao and San Sebastian, which are usually cool even in August. Within the framework of the national strategy, a network of pilot zones will be created to restore land and promote water conservation, soil conservation, land management and advanced forestry practices. Landscape ecologists claim that not all territories will be able to be restored to the end, unfortunately. Therefore, the Spaniards will have to do everything possible to preserve the olive oil and table olives industry.