Food & Climate 

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2. Predicting the future - more

Worksheet 3: Case studies in
Egypt and Spain

Important:

Have another look at the texts on Egypt and Spain and then try the exercises below.

1. Irrigation systems

Agriculture in Egypt is restricted to the fertile lands of the Nile valley and the Nile delta. In these areas the agricultural land has to be irrigated almost permanently.  In most cases, flood water from the Nile river is simply sprayed on to the fields and left to infiltrate into the soil.

Crop irrigation is also very important in Spain.  Here agricultural land is generally irrigated using the drip-irrigation method.  Water is delivered directly to the plants, drip by drip, through special nozzles.

Exercise:

Search the internet for pictures of drip-irrigation.

Compare these two sorts of irrigation and carefully consider the pros and cons of each method.

Which technique suits each country the best?

2. Climate change scenarios in Spain

Exercise:

a) Have a look at your atlas.  Make a list of the main agricultural areas in Spain and what crops are grown in each area.

b) Briefly describe and compare the four scenario maps of Spain.  What are the conditions like for agriculture in Spain today?  What is likely to happen in the future?

1. Scenario maps of Spain, 2050.  See Chapter 2 - Predicting the future - Case study, Spain - for more information.
GG = scenario considers the effects of greenhouse gases alone
GS =  scenario considers the effects of greenhouse gases and sulphate aerosols.  Sulphate aerosols reflect sunlight back into space and this effect helps to cool our planet

About this page:

author: S. Schnell - University of Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany
educational reviewing: Dr. Helmut Schrettenbrunner and Julia Heres - University of Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany
last update: 2004-01-07