Land and water use management in vine growing by using geographic information systems in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Vine growing plays an important role in many semiarid farming regions all aver the world, also as a permanent plant cover in terms of preventing erosion, sustainable use of land and water resources, defence against desertification and settling population in rural areas. This paper shows how to build up a Geographic Information System (GIS) on vine growing that could be a useful tool to support decision making processes related to land and water management in Castilla-La Mancha, the region of Spain with the largest area of vineyards, where wine growing and making are becoming competitive, even at the world scale. The System allows relating the environmental, social and economic effects of managing land and water use in this agricultural sector, to test feasible alternatives from a regional perspective and according to different stakeholderʹs viewpoints. GIS appears as the only tool that can support the large database sets requested for such analysis.