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Alexander Lupersböck
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In the Mediterranean region, several million hectares of agricultural land could be lost to desertification by the end of the century. This is predicted by French agro-climatologist Serge Zaka in his white paper "The urgent need to adapt." The region is warming "20 percent faster than the rest of the world." There will be widespread heat stress in the summers, "which far exceeds the physiological resilience of the species grown there." As a result, landscapes will increasingly transform into steppes and savannas, causing "olive trees and grapevines to migrate north and new crops to emerge at the edge of the Mediterranean." The growing season for grapevines could become 20 to 35 days shorter after 2060. According to Zaka, "irrigation is not a medium- or long-term solution to cope with water stress." He does not rule out that several wine regions could be relocated to new sites.

This view is considered "too pessimistic" by oenologist Matthieu Dubernet. Resignation would further accelerate desertification. He advocates for constructive approaches to "better utilize water resources, which are poorly distributed but abundantly available. We are capable of creating storage infrastructures." Plants are "incredibly complex systems that fortunately show a certain adaptability. Grape vines are located between the 30th and 50th parallels of the Northern Hemisphere, which is a very large area.".

The term "desertification" refers to the degradation of soil due to human-induced climatic changes, in contrast to natural desert formation ("desertation"). According to reports from international organizations, it costs around 12 million hectares of fertile land annually, equivalent to the arable land of Germany.

(al / Source: vitisphere)

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