Ancestral Integrated Water Management Systems as Adaptation Tools for Climate Change: The “Acequias De Careo” and Historical Water Management of the Mecina River in Sierra Nevada (Granada, Spain)

ABSTRACT

Historical water management systems, in operation since the Islamic period (eighth to fifteenth centuries), have generated important irrigated areas and transformed the landscapes in a co-evolutionary process over more than a thousand years. In the Sierra Nevada, the so-called acequias de careo stand out as a singular technical system for water recharge from the thaw. This way of managing surface- and groundwater, as well as soil and vegetation, while generating social, economic, and environmental benefits, is an example of Integrated Water Management and Nature-based Solutions. This system has proven its efficiency and resilience, having been operational since the Middle Ages. The abandonment of these water management systems is an irreparable cultural and environmental loss. The transdisciplinarity of this case study can be considered a success and a good example for its application in other geographical and cultural contexts promoting sustainable and resilience solutions based on historical socio-ecological systems and local ecological knowledge and practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Historical irrigation systems
• artificial aquifer recharge
• integrated water management system
• nature based solution
• Sierra Nevada

Acknowledgements

This work has been funded through the project P18-RT-3836 of the Junta de Andalucía, within the “challenges” modality in the 2018 R&D&I project grant program, under the title ”Sistemas históricos de manejo de agua y servicios ambientales de regulación hídrica. Eficiencia y multifuncionalidad en el contexto de cambio global y cambio climático” (Historical water management systems and environmental services of water regulation Efficiency and multifunctionality in the context of Global Change and Climate Change) and “Inventory and characterization of ancestral systems of Water Sowing and Harvesting for adaptation to Climate Change”, funded by Fundación Biodiversidad of the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (Spain), through the call for projects that contribute to the implementation of the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (2021-2030).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Ibero-American Science and Technology for Development Programme (CYTED) for its financial support of the “Water Sowing and Harvesting in Protected Natural Areas” network (419RT0577). We also express our gratitude to the farmers of Mecina Bombarón (San Isidro Irrigators Community) and to the City Council of Alpujarra de la Sierra.

Notes on contributors

José María Martín Civantos

José María Martín Civantos Archaeologist and professor in the Department of Medieval History at the University of Granada. Lab-head of MEMOLab. Specialized in Landscape and Medieval Archaeology.

Blas Ramos Rodríguez

Blas Ramos Rodríguez Archaeologist and researcher at the Biocultural Archaeology Laboratory of the University of Granada. Specialized in Agrarian Archaeology and Geoarchaeology.

Thomas Zakaluk

Thomas Zakaluk Sustainability scientist (MSc in Sustainable Development) and research assistant at the Geological Mining Institute of Spain (IGME-CSIC). Specialized in Hydrogeology.

Antonio González Ramón

Antonio González Ramón Geologist and Scientist at the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME-CSIC) specialized in Hydrogeology.

Sergio Martos-Rosillo

Sergio Martos-Rosillo Geologist and Scientist at the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME-CSIC) specialized in Hydrogeology.