Almeria University has presented a special summer course entitled 'Favourable Impacts of High Yield Intensive Horticulture' in the municipality of El Ejido, an area renowned for its huge number of greenhouses growing tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other crops all year round.
Not only do these greenhouses have a significant economic importance for the region but, according to Professor Francisco Camacho of the University of Almeria, they have a positive environmental impact both locally and globally.
Locally greenhouse cultivation helps prevent erosion and desertification due to their plastic covering stopping heavy rains from eroding the surface. The systems of irrigation used allow a significant saving of water compared to more conventional techniques and the application of organic fertiliser increases the soil's fertility.
At a global level cultivation in El Ejido area absorbs more carbon dioxide, the most prolific greenhouse gas, than it emits. This is the result of a policy of composting all the organic waste produced into organic fertiliser. The compost produced in the area is used by organic farmers in many parts of southern Spain.
Another interesting contribution to the battle against global warming, albeit on a relatively local level, is the 'mirror effect' the greenhouses cause. As a result of the sunlight reflected away from the Earth by the plastic the average temperature of the area around El Ejido has dropped by 0.3 degrees centigrade in the last 25 years compared to a rise of 0.7 degrees in the world and a rise of 1.5 degrees in the Iberian Peninsula in the same period.
No comments:
Post a Comment