The challenges and the solutions

The main challenges in the Ebro Delta are:

Actively engage all the social and economic actors and administrations involved, in the sustainable development of the region through a transparent participative process that facilitates improvements in governing.
Achieve the necessary balance and consensus between the various interests and different visions there are surrounding the Delta: between the production sectors (rice farmers vs. fishermen), between different values (production sectors vs. protection of biodiversity) and between various visions (pro-production vs. pro-conservation.)
Reduce vulnerability and ensure the sustainability of both the physical and natural environment, as well as the socio-economic environment that sustains the Delta: a quality river, with more flow and more sediment, as a fundamental solution, and a model of dynamic adaptation to a changing shoreline morphology.
Encourage an economic base that rewards quality over quantity in all productive sectors: quality agriculture and fishing, with greater economic value; quality industry and construction sector; sustainable tourism.

The primary solutions to these challenges that the Ebro Delta faces as a result of climate change and poor basin management are:

Put an end to individualism and promote a common project for the region, by the region, agreed to by all the actors involved, that allows a new model of oversight and leadership to be defined.
Implement environmental flows in the Ebro River in order to maintain the structure of the River and the Delta and keep them operating, and the restoration of sediment flow.
Recover the protective role of coastal systems and work together with natural processes to combat sea level rise and shoreline regression.
Other alternatives, like those in classical engineering (breakwaters, jetties, perimeter walls, piers, etc.), which have been proposed by some names in the Ebro Delta, must be evaluated keeping in mind the time-aspect and the sustainability of the measures.

Solutions based on nature, sustainability and eco-efficiency as set out in the European Commission’s Green Deal. Because, after all, the survival of the Ebro Delta also depends on Europe.

Model for protecting the Delta coast

Complete model for protecting the Delta coast, with a series of actions that can be taken depending on the type and vulnerability of the area that needs to be protected: 1. Addition of sand; 2. Create and protect sand dunes; 3. Create wetland areas; 4. Blockade; 5. Underwater dams (source: Taula Consens del Delta de l’Ebre)

The Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability, in collaboration with the Platform for the Defense of the Ebro river, is promoting this exhibition which aims to show the impact of climate change on the evolution of one of the richest in biodiversity and, at the same time, most vulnerable deltaic systems in Europe: The Ebro Delta.