Even though the influence that human activity has on the climate is widely accepted, the consequences of these climate changes are all too obvious: more intense rainfall patterns, increased severity of extreme weather events, drought, floods, late frosts. Over these last few years, millions of hectares have been affected by desertification. Europe, North America and a number of other continents have suffered the heaviest flooding for many years.
There is nothing new about these weather patterns and human beings have always had quite a complex relationship with nature. The people who irrigate, who have been hit quite hard by these events, are waiting for the “season of the century”. Today, the hyper-technologies that rule our lives have killed off any possible dialogue between humans and nature, with the exception of irrigation. Being a species apart, the irrigation professionals know very well how to interact with a resource such as water, how to embrace, conserve and respect it. Who is better suited than the members of our profession for taking on the challenge of feeding the predicted billions of human beings living on our planet.
But no matter what, as in the days of old, irrigation will continue to make the desert bloom again.