Environmental and socioeconomic interactions in the evolution of traditional irrigated lands: A dynamic system model

The Huerta de Murcia is a traditionally irrigated land located ill the midd le lowland area of the Segura River around the city of Murcia, Southeast Sp ain. During the twentieth century several factors, such as the creation of new irrigated lands and the urbanization of traditionally irrigated lands, have changed the use of natural resources, giving rise to a growing imbalan ce between water resources and irrigation demands and a loss of fertile soi l and other environmental and cultural values of this traditionally agricul tural area. Such factors constitute environmental problems that will need t o be controlled if more sustainable conditions for agriculture are to be ac hieved. The objectives of the present work are to develop a dynamic system model containing the main social, economic, and environmental and to use th is model to explore the long-term effects of several policies designed to p romote the sustainability of this agrolandscape. Some preliminary conclusio ns suggest that regulation and agricultural policy are not enough to stop t he loss of traditionally irrigated lands and that additional water manageme nt and environmental policies are necessary.