Drought in Portugal by Andre Vieira

Public Project

Drought in Portugal

Copyright Andre Vieira 2024

Updated Feb 2022

Location Alentejo

Topics Agriculture, Climate Change, Documentary, Environment, International Stories, Photography, Photojournalism, Water

Summary

Portugal is facing its worst drought of this century. Climate change has made droughts an increasingly common event in the country. The worst affected region is the Alentejo, in the south, which, according to a study made by the European Court of Auditors, could become a desert soon. Impoverished, the region has been steadily losing population. In the lost decade, it lost almost 7% of its residents.
Part of an ongoing project.

Portugal is facing its worst drought of this century. It prompted its government to stop hydroelectric energy production and restrict irrigation for agriculture. January had the sixth-lowest rainfall since 1938, and the forecast for February is not much better. The impact on the country’s agricultural regions has been devastating. Many crops are failing. Cattle ranchers have no pastures for their animals and have to rely on imported animal feed, at the highest price in years because of the high cost of oil, to feed them. In the Campo Branco part of Alentejo, a Unesco Biosphere Reserve, farmers say this is the worst drought they can remember. Climate change has made droughts an increasingly common event in the country. The worst affected region is the Alentejo, in the south, which, according to a study made by the European Court of Auditors, could become a desert soon. Impoverished, the region has been steadily losing population. In the lost decade, it lost almost 7% of its residents. Once a bastion of the Portuguese Communist Party, the Alentejo was one of the main stages of the Carnations Revolution, which brought democracy to Portugal in 1974. But in the last national elections, held this past January, it was in Alentejo where the far-right party Chega had its best electoral results. It is now the third-largest political force in the Portuguese Parliament, growing from one elected representative to 12.

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Andre Vieira

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