Key Environmental and Economic Terms in Spain
Environmental Concepts
Erosion: A set of phenomena outside the Earth’s crust that modify and contribute to the forms created by endogenous phenomena.
Mediterranean Triad: The three main species grown in Spain: cereals, vines, and olives.
Rainfed Agriculture: Arable land that receives water only from rainfall.
Irrigated Agriculture: A set of processes and techniques to furnish crop plants with the amount of water needed for growth.
Deforestation: The loss of forests due to multiple causes. This entails greater soil erosion and consequent desertification.
Fishing and Agriculture
Inshore Fleet: Craft practiced without departing from coastal waters, using small vessels and minimal equipment.
Distance Fishing: Fishing in open seas, subject to international agreements. It involves large-tonnage vessels and complex fishing gear.
Mesta: A reunion of cattle owners, both large and small, caring for their upbringing, grazing, and sale for common supply.
Transhumance: A variety of grazing in which livestock are moved from winter pastures to summer pastures and vice versa, following the climate and seasonal cycle.
CAP (Common Agricultural Policy): Aims to guarantee the living standards of farmers and ranchers and protect various activities within the industry.
CFP (Common Fisheries Policy): Aims to regulate fishing fleets, manage catch volumes, and ensure the living standards of families dependent on this activity.
Energy
Primary Energy: Energy from the natural environment that is not susceptible to direct use and requires a transformation process.
Renewable Energy: Energy linked to the natural environment that has a continuous regeneration cycle, although undergoing intensity fluctuations. Examples include solar, wind, biomass, hydraulic, wave, and geothermal energy.
Non-Renewable Energy: Energy sources whose formation requires a significant time, measurable on a geological scale. Their exploitation is subject to the availability of a field. Examples include coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium.
PEN (National Energy Plans): Documents that collect the estimated power consumption of the country and the measures required to conduct energy policy.
Industrial and Economic Development
Development Pole: An officially defined area where industrial development is promoted through various measures to favor the establishment of industries.
Industrial Conversion: The adaptation of a production system to new market demands and competitive conditions.
R&D (Research and Development): A set of creative activities undertaken continuously to increase scientific and technical knowledge, used to produce and create new technologies.
Acid Rain: A phenomenon occurring due to air pollution. Emissions from industries with high sulfur levels of CO2 mix with water, heat up, and become a highly contaminating substance, manifesting as rain.
SAC (Special Area of the Canary Islands): Special Area of Conservation.
ZID (Areas Affected by Industrial Adjustment): Areas affected by industrial adjustment processes with serious consequences on employment levels.
IBERDAC: A nationwide telephone network that offers the possibility of connection to other countries.
Trade and Commerce
Tour Operators: Specialized agencies that organize international tourism, particularly in countries of origin where tourists pay in their own currency.
Wholesale: Trade carried out by establishments engaged in storage and resale to retailers.
Retail: Trade that takes place for use and consumption by the end consumer.
Franchise: A system by which the products of a particular brand or company are sold through concessions to individual traders.
Export: The foreign sales of domestic products or services.
Import: The overseas purchase of goods or services from other nations.
International Organizations and Policies
IMF (International Monetary Fund): Created by the World Bank in 1944.
Autarky: A period after World War II in Spain in response to the international boycott. It consisted of resorting to imports as little as possible, with self-sufficiency as the central objective. This policy plunged Spain into a deep crisis.
Stabilization Plan: A set of measures carried out in Spain in 1959 with the goal of modernizing the economy by allowing foreign investment in the country.
North-South Divide: A generic term used when referring to the disparities between developed and developing countries, as well as the circumstances and characteristics that prevail in each.
NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations): Organizations that channel aid to different institutions or states but are not dependent on any of them.
FAD (Development Aid Funds): Credit granted with very low interest rates to facilitate the development of recipient countries.
Polisario Front: A group that emerged in the late Francoist stage in the Sahara area, aspiring to independence for the territory.
Fundamentalism: Strict interpretation of religious writings by certain extremist groups.