Photographs reveal uncertain future for Spain

November 13, 2007  •  National News  •  0 Comments

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A NEW book reveals Spain of the near future to be a desolate place, barely able to support its traditional industries of tourism and agriculture.

In the Greenpeace publication, the computer-generated images compare Spain today to how the country will look in a few decades’ time if Global Warming continues unchecked.

Groves of orange trees in Valencia will become a barren landscape dominated by plastic greenhouses and the country’s coastal resorts will be under water.

Experts predict Spain could lose 20 metres of its coast as sea levels rise.

The photographs in Photoclima are based on findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations’ organisation which recently won the Nobel Peace Prize.

“The images in this book are not images of a certain future. We hold the Earth’s destiny in our hands,” Raquel Montón, the head of climate campaigns at Greenpeace, said.

Other emblematic landscapes of Spain featured in the book include the Alcornocales Natural Park in Cádiz, with its famous cork oak trees victim to forest fires.

The glaciers of the Pyrenees mountains of today will see barley any precipitation while the 910-kilometre long Ebro River is seen as nothing but a stream as it passes through the city of Zaragoza.

Perhaps the most dramatic photograph is of La Manga, the exclusive holiday and sports resort on the coast of Murcia.

Its high-rise hotel and apartment blocks are seen standing in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, while its beaches and marinas have disappeared.

For all the images and a downloadable version of the book go to www.greenpeace.org/espana

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