Water scarcity and irrigated agriculture in Andalusia: the need for a just water transition

In the context of increasing water scarcity in Spain due to high water demands and the reduction of water resources because of climate change, this work presents an operational proposal for a just water transition in agriculture by means of a water reallocation, based on social and environmental cri...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Sampedro Sánchez, David, Martínez-Fernández, Julia, Limones Rodríguez, Natalia, Gil-English, Samuel, Moral Ituarte, Leandro del, Corominas, Joan
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2026
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:idus________::c81e565916942891e5a7902c47692b51
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/186748
https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2026.298
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Climate change
Irrigation water reallocation
Knowledge co-production
Socioenvironmental indicators
Water scarcity
Descripción
Sumario:In the context of increasing water scarcity in Spain due to high water demands and the reduction of water resources because of climate change, this work presents an operational proposal for a just water transition in agriculture by means of a water reallocation, based on social and environmental criteria. Within a co-production framework with participants from agricultural organizations, trade unions, civil society and the academy, a set of socio-economic and environmental indicators was developed and then tested in the irrigators’ communities around the Doñana National Park. Results show that the developed indicators successfully identify those farm units representing the type of agriculture to be prioritized according to the criteria defined by the participants in the co-production process, characterized as a family, social and professional agriculture safeguarding ecosystems and the rights of rural territories. Such indicators are therefore helpful to operationalize a social water reallocation in agriculture during droughts and other water scarcity contexts. Results also show the usefulness of knowledge co-production to develop indicators and criteria integrating academic and non-academic knowledge.