SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT 1

INDEX

A general idea of sustainable development

Water as a main reference

Example of unsustainable water: High Guadiana River

Biomass as a new/old resource

“Pastures” as a sustainable agricultural example

Definition

The concept of Sustainable Development was

described in 1987 in the report of the commission

of Bruntland as “development that satisfies the

needs of the present generation without

involving the capacity of future generations to

satisfy their own needs”

Biodiversity

The effect of human activities - increased these

latest years due to the population growth and the

global climate change - has decreased the biodiversity

of the systems around the world

Water

Although water covers more than two thirds of the

surface of the Earth, it is a scarce resource for

many people in the world (less than 0,5% of all the

water is immediately available for human use)

The lack of water, especially drinking water, is

mainly caused by inefficient resource systems and

not due to the lack of resources

Education for sustainable development

Educating for sustainable development means

incorporating the fundamental topics to the

teaching and learning process; for example: climate

change, biodiversity, reduction of poverty and

sustainable consumption

Sustainable lifestyles

Learning to know the products we buy, encouraging

curiosity about how and where our goods are produced,

as well as the working conditions of the country of

origin. How far do our products travel to reach the

supermarket shelves? What is the ecological footprint

of the production and transport of certain goods?

Learning to change consumption behaviour and habits

SUSTAINABLE WATER

Spanish climate is charaterized by low precipitations and an extremely dry season in summer, we have a Mediterranean climate

In Spain it only rains 300-500 mm of water per year

SUSTAINABLE WATER We have to focus on two important ideas about Spain

in terms of water

UNDERGROUND WATER Rain water acumulated through pores in the rocks or

directly in the ground

Underground water represents 70% of the total water used in the European Union and 30% of all the water in Spain

We make use of underground water by means of wells

SUSTAINABLE WATER In 1992, the summit of Rio about sustainable

development wrote down Agenda 21, the idea of a serious water management for development

In Spain, water costs about € 1.36/m3

The average water consumption in Spain (households, factories, agriculture…) goes to 4,804 Hm3 per year

It is really important to purify waste water

Where and how much water is used in Spain

AGRICULTURE, CROPS AND WATER Barley represents 65% of the total crops in Spain,

together with corn and sunflower (25%) they are the most important crops of he country.

20% of that water comes from underground water, the extraction cost goes to € 1,000 per Hm3

These data do not make agriculture in Spain as sustainable as we would like it to be

Very common system for crops: Drip irrigation

A system for crops or lawn: Sprinkler

A system we are going to talk about: Centre pivots

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

“Increasing agricultural productivity is the main way to satisfy the growing demand for food given the limitations on expanding the amount of land and water used for food production” - (Final Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security in Rome - November 2009)

Agriculture sustainability means enough quantity of food and big variety of foods throughout the year

This availability has contributed to the improvement of feeding the world’s population

ADVANTAGES Economical

Efficiency in production processes

Incorporation of value-added products

Environmental

Optimization of the use of natural resources (energy, water, soil)

Decrease of Greenhouse gases emissions and waste per unit of production.

DISADVANTAGES Soil Erosion: In the world between 5 to

7 million hectares are lost per year

Salinization and waterlogging of

irrigated soils: Almost half of the

world's irrigated lands have decreased

their productivity due to this reason

Excessive use of fertilizers and

pesticides: It causes water pollution

when these products are washed away by

rain.

Depletion of aquifers

THE DRYING OF GUADIANA RIVER AND THE EYES OF GUADIANA

GUADIANA RIVER Guadiana river is the fourth longest river in the Iberian

Peninsula with 744 km.

Guadiana river rises in the “Eyes of Guadiana”

In this area there are some aquifers where water comes

from in a place called High Guadiana.

Guadiana River in a map Eyes of Guadiana

“TABLAS DE DAIMIEL” National park in Ciudad Real. Wetland which depends on

“Eyes of the Guadiana” to keep its humidity

“Lagunas de Ruidera” and “Tablas de Daimiel” make up

most part of “Wet La Mancha” (25,000 ha.)

It is a very important area because of its vegetation

and migratory birds variety

“Tablas de Daimiel” in a map

Aerial Image of “Tablas de Daimiel”

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

For the last 30 years, these aquifers have suffered a huge exploitation and also water pollution because of uncontrolled irrigation

In the aquifers the water levels have fallen, causing the drying of “Eyes of the Guadiana”, the loss of water in “Lagunas de Ruidera” and the absolute drying of “Tablas de Daimiel”

Irrigation systems

A COMPARISON

BEFORE AFTERWARDS

BIOMASS

Biomass is the use of organic matter as energy source.

The general uses of biomass are:

Thermal

Electrical

Industries use it for their thermal needs

Power stations use for electric generation just fuel or a

combination with biomass

Vehicles use it as fuel (replacing diesel or petrol)

Biomass

Plant and animal biomass

Biomass energy is the energy from organic matter

(vegetable or animal origin)

Plant biomass comes from plants in general (trunks,

branches, stems, fruits, etc.)

Animal biomass is obtained from animal products

(fats, excrements, etc.)

Charcoal is fuel elaborated by carbonizing wood

Wood is heated in an oven at temperatures above 500°C

Water is eliminated and the heating power of wood

doubles to 30.000 kJ/kg (the same as coal)

Advantages Disadvantages Decrease of CO2 emissions Higher production cost than fossil fuels

A tree along its life produces enough oxygen and gets enough CO2 to compensate the amount of CO2 produced in its burning

Lower energetic performance than fossil fuels

No emission of sulphur pollutants Need of transformation to use it

Decrease of waste Big volume, problems of transport and storage

Economic increase in the rural world

Seasonal production

Decreases the dependande of fuels supply

Forests cleared for

agriculture and livestock

Interesting ecosystems:

good example of balance

between human

exploitation and

conservation of natural

resources

Pastures in Spain

The area where the pastures are were occupied by forests with poor, sandy soils

Clearings were opened

Goats were replaced by cattle, sheep and pigs

Hibernating animals (cranes)

“Summer” animals (Montagu's harriers)

Sedentary animals (imperial eagles)

Colorful flowers (daffodils, lilies, lavender, rosemary)

Oak trees

Aromatic shrubs and bushes.

FAUNA FLORA

Oak tree is the most representative tree of the Mediterranean climate

Ability to recover after droughts or harvests

Its use produces biomass

It is considered one of the most sustainable types

of agrarian use

Isabel, Paula, Cristian, Carlos, Alberto,

Miriam, Araceli, Mª Jesús, Silvia and Ana