"Spanish Environmental Policy in the '90s and the Impact of the EU; The Case of Water Policy"

Luaces, Pilar. (1999) "Spanish Environmental Policy in the '90s and the Impact of the EU; The Case of Water Policy". In: UNSPECIFIED, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

How and why is EU environmental policy able to jeopardize a hundred years of policymaking? In a Mediterranean environment, characterized by the contradictory scarcity of water and the relevance of irrigation lands to the national economy, water policy in Spain has been the subject of historical demands, territorial struggles and unachieved promises of economic development linked to the resource. From the 19th century until the present, the assurance of a satisfactory water supply, i.e., that which meets water demands, has been the subject of water policy in Spain. Since the 1950s, extensive public works activity has spread out dams throughout the territory with the acquiescence and consensus of a small, closed group of actors. This included primarily the Central Government, farmers and constructors, who established frequent relations among them that will survive the democratic transition. Nevertheless, these activities and public investments did not solve the water unbalance in some areas, especially the East, which is mainly oriented to the production of irrigation agriculture.

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