(Pampilhosa da Serra) “I’ve never seen that! “Laments Carlos Perdigao, 76, who regularly comes to fish on the banks of the Zêzere River, surrounded by large strips of cracked yellow earth due to the drought that has hit the Iberian Peninsula this winter.
Posted at 12:29 p.m.
In front of him, the ruins of Vilar, an ancient stone village engulfed by the river after the construction of a large dam almost 70 years ago, have emerged for a few weeks and are visible again due to the very low water level. .
The drop in the level of the Zêzere, which winds through the mountains covered with eucalyptus and mimosa in this region of central Portugal, is seen as a new threat by the inhabitants, already hard hit by the deadly fires of 2017, which had caused more than a hundred deaths.
Spain, like neighboring Portugal, is hit this winter by early and extreme aridity due to the low rainfall recorded in January, which is already considered the second driest month since 2000 in the Iberian Peninsula. according to the meteorological agencies of the two countries.
This drought is exceptional for “its intensity, its extent and its duration”, indicates Ricardo Deus, climatologist of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA).
And in Spain, “in January, it rained only a quarter of what it should have rained at this time”, explains Ruben del Campo, spokesperson for AEMET, the Spanish meteorological agency, to the ‘AFP TV.
Farmers and ranchers worried
This unusual situation has already led the Portuguese government to take emergency measures. In a country where nearly 30% of the energy consumed is of hydraulic origin, the authorities were forced at the beginning of February to announce the suspension of hydroelectric production from five dams to “preserve the volumes necessary for public supply”. .
On the other side of the border, the Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, expressed his “concern” about this situation on Wednesday, assuring that the government would take “the necessary measures according to the evolution of the situation “.
The levels of water reservoirs, the supply of which is essential for agriculture, are currently at less than 45% of their capacity in Spain, according to the authorities of this country, the regions most affected being the Andalusia and Catalonia.
This low rainfall, which has lasted since the end of last year, worries farmers and herders in both countries.
” Look ! The grass does not grow to feed the animals”, despairs Antonio Estevao, a cheese producer with a herd of around thirty goats in Portela do Fojo Machio, a town located a few kilometers from Pampilhosa da Serra, in the center of the Portugal.
“If it doesn’t rain in the next few days, it’s going to be very complicated,” sighs this man in front of pastures with short vegetation.
“For us, it’s a disaster,” says Henrique Fernandes Marques, the mayor of this village of around 400 inhabitants, in front of a floating swimming pool erected on the banks of the river and which now rests on ground that has been dry for a few days, threatening also efforts to develop tourism in this region of the interior of the country.
No improvement in sight
The alternation between drought years and rainy years is normal in southern Europe, but “we observe a percentage of rainy years in decline lately”, underlines Filipe Duarte Santos, researcher at the Faculty of Sciences of Lisbon and environmental specialist, who points the finger at global warming.
These droughts are “one of the most serious consequences of climate change”, he explains. According to him, “as long as we have not drastically reduced global emissions of greenhouse gases, the problem will continue to arise”.
With global warming, the intensity and frequency of drought episodes, which threaten the food security of populations in particular, are likely to increase further, even if the world manages to limit the rise in temperatures to +1.5°C per compared to the pre-industrial era.
And the situation should not improve in the coming days, since the weather forecasts of the two countries report precipitation below the average for the season.
Faced with this reality, the Portuguese government announced on Thursday that it would strengthen its cooperation with Spain to combat the drought in the peninsula.