Climate Resilience in the Comunitat Valenciana
In the Comunitat Valenciana (Spain), the parallels with the Philippine mangrove case are striking, though our landscape is defined by different ecosystems.
Instead of tropical typhoons, our primary natural hazards are extreme heatwaves, prolonged droughts, and the "DANA" (isolated high-altitude depression) events, which cause catastrophic flash flooding. Climate change has made these DANA events more frequent and violent, as the warming Mediterranean Sea provides the energy for "medicane-like" storms that dump months of rain in just a few hours.
The areas facing the greatest impacts are the low-lying coastal plains and the river basins, such as those surrounding the Júcar and Segura rivers. Much like the shrimp farms in the Philippines, intensive urban development and the "cementing" of our coastline have destroyed natural flood barriers like wetlands and salt marshes. This affects local farmers and residents in coastal towns, who face the loss of crops to hail or floods and the destruction of property due to inadequate drainage in areas where natural water paths have been blocked.
To cope with these events, local communities are increasingly returning to traditional irrigation knowledge (the Acequias) while advocating for "Sponge City" designs. In places like the L'Albufera de Valéncia, there is a growing movement to restore native vegetation and reed beds, which, like mangroves, act as a natural buffer to filter water and slow down flood surges.