Acequias and terraced slopes of Sierra Nevada, Spain. Credits/Source: David García-del-Amo.
On December 31st, David García del Amo participated in CrowdScience, a BBC radio program focused on health, life, and environmental issues. This time the topic was about sustainability and if human beings are too selfish to save the planet. During the program, they presented some successful initiatives around the world showing sustainable use of natural resources and the main problems that those communities are facing to continue with that sustainability. In our case, the radio team came to Sierra Nevada, Spain, to visit the field site where David has been working with local communities on the framework of the LICCI project. These communities preserve a traditional water management system that has allowed them to maintain sustainable management of water, a scarce resource in an arid region. During the interview, two members of a local irrigation community and David explained how these communities continue preserving and repairing the traditional network of acequias (irrigation ditches). They also explained some of the internal rules of each community for the use and sharing of water among their members, which have allowed sustainable management of hydric resources for centuries. Finally, they also commented on some of the main drivers that are endangering their future, like climate change, but also the rural exodus or the lack of economic profitability of agricultural products grown in mountain areas.
You can find the original podcast here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct1prr