Droughts in Spain:

Hello, we are students from Padre Garralda Primary School, in Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain. In Global Scholars, one of our school subjects, our goal is to learn about how to be more active in social issues. This year our topic is water. We are  learning to understand what is a drought and why they happen, and how to reflect about it in our world.

INTRODUCTION:

A drought is a natural disaster that happens because of lack of rain, or it can happen if people use too much water.

A lot of droughts have occurred in Spain, but the first months of the year 2023 have been the driest of the last 40 years. The AEMET (State Meteorological Agency) warns that it will not rain much in Spain, and the worst part is that the temperatures have already increased 26% more than average.

DISASTERS THAT HAVE HAPPENED:

In the drought of 1991-1995 water resources were at 28% of their usual capacity and in 1995 they were reduced to 15%. This caused serious restrictions and water cuts.

These are things that can happen when a drought appears:

They can negatively affect air quality; there are more possibilities to have wildfires; floods and sandstorms will be more destructive; and this can damage our respiratory system; they can affect the growth cycles of vegetables; the sea level will go up; dust storms, due to desertification; they can lead to conflicts and wars over natural resources.

Bad things will happen to nature and animals too, like: Habitat damage, loss of biodiversity, or what is the same, the reduction and even extinction of plants and animals species.