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This paper analyses the impacts and water policy implications of an increase of perennial crops on irrigation water requirements and on the vulnerability of the agricultural system to climatic events in the case of the Guadalquivir River basin. As indicated by the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), the characterisation of a river basin requires information on the major economic drivers and pressures at river basin scale. Guadalquivir River basin (southern Spain) can be considered a representative Mediterranean case study that has faced basin closure and continues the trend towards increased crop intensification and greater water-use efficiency. Our result shows an increased vulnerability to drought and water scarcity in the basin due to the expansion of irrigated perennial crops and a decrease of RIS (relative irrigation supply) from 0.70 to 0.56 in the period 2000–2021, thereby forcing farmers to adopt deficit irrigation techniques. The potential increase in the frequency of droughts and the growth of irrigation water requirements (IWR) due to higher temperatures, raise the vulnerability of the system to extreme climate events. Such findings can be employed to support the efficient allocation of water resources in order to improve water policy through its adaptation to increasing risks related to droughts and water scarcity. • The evolution of irrigated area in Guadalquivir River basin is characterised by an increasing share of perennial crops. • IWR have increased continuously due to changes in crop patterns (intensification). • Since IWR exceed availability, the irrigation system applies deficit irrigation as a response, with a decreasing RIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the feasibility and robustness of an index-based insurance scheme against hydrological droughts under climate change. To this end, we develop a grand ensemble that samples both modeling and scenario uncertainty in the estimation of the insurance risk premium, so to reveal potential unfavorable surprises and minimize regret in the design of the proposed insurance scheme. The grand ensemble combines four microeconomic models and seven GAMLSS models, which are run for three alternative climate change scenarios: stationary climate/no climate change, RCP 2.6, and RCP 8.5. Methods are illustrated with an application to the Cega River Sub-basin (CRS) in central Spain. Results indicate that for a conventional deductible of 30%, the proposed index-based insurance scheme would be actuarially feasible and affordable under all models for the stationary climate scenario (i.e., robust). For climate change scenarios RCP 2.6 and 8.5 and a 30% deductible, the suggested index-based insurance would be actuarially feasible under most models, albeit some outliers point towards potential unfavorable surprises. Lower deductibles decrease feasibility, particularly for deductibles <10%. • For a deductible of 30% and stationary climate, the proposed index-based insurance is actuarially feasible under all models. • Under climate change (RCPs 2.6, 8.5), the insurance is feasible for all deductibles and the median model (except PMAUP WGP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A methodology to classify irrigated areas is proposed. • The method permits to identify and map strengths and weaknesses of irrigated areas. • The application of the method to an irrigated area can support decision-making. • The method can be adapted to other areas of the world by adjusting criteria. The large diversity of irrigated agricultural areas hinders the development of social consensus and complicates decision-making about the allocation of investments for irrigation modernization. A classification of irrigated areas permits the identification and mapping of different categories and reveals the strengths and weaknesses of each category regarding specific criteria. This paper proposes a binomial (genus and species) classification methodology of irrigated areas, which was designed based on a participatory approach. Four internal properties determine the genus: type of water source, type of water energy, on-farm irrigation method and water availability. Four external properties classify the variability within each genus into species: land tenure, crop type, existence of an environmental protection figure and socio-economic level. The words used for the genus and specific name arise from the concatenation of syllables representing the state or level of each property. The method was applied to the irrigated area of the Ebro river basin in the Aragón region of Spain (ERB-Aragón). A total of 435,851 ha were classified. A large part of the irrigated land uses surface water (94 %), does not have water availability problems (80 %), is not affected by environmental protection figures (97 %), is devoted to field crops (86 %), and manifests a low (45 %) or moderate (41 %) socio-economic level. A total of 24 genera and 126 species were identified. The two most representative genera are SurGraFloVe (31 %) and SurPumPreVe (27 %), and the two main species are SurGraFloVe DisCeNoLo (19 %) and SurPumPreVe ConCeNoMo (19 %). These species received the local names of " Ribera del Ebro" and " Alto Aragonés" to facilitate policy discussions. The application of the method to the ERB-Aragón provides a privileged insight that can support policy analyses and guide institutional intervention. The proposed methodology can be adapted to other areas of the world by adjusting criteria and categories to local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]