Portugal's water dependence on Spain: Political and security issues

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the dimension of direct impacts of climate change on water resources in Portugal, given its geographic position downstream, in relation to Spain, given that 2/3 of is continental territory is located in international river basins and that about 67% of the water resources to which Portugal has access come from them. If there is a certain degree of certainty that climate change could promote profound changes in the environment and human life in the near future, there has been a lack of concrete interventions, policies and investments in Portugal in recent decades. To reduce the expected impacts and to promote a gradual adaptation to a new set of contingencies. Given the profound impact that the reduction in access to fresh water can have in Portugal and constituting National Security, one of the ends of the State, and is therefore a basic foundation of sovereignty and the guarantee of permanence, it becomes essential, to find out, if the water dependence of Portugal constitutes a concrete threat to his National Security and to what degree it can be mitigated.