California’s megadrought feels as perpetual as the Mojave Desert. With extreme heat and relentless wildfires, the state is bearing some of the most severe impacts of climate change. While California is making strides in clean energy policies aimed at mitigating dire outcomes, the challenges of water management remain a pressing issue for everyone across the nation.
This is partly due to the fact that the United States depends heavily on California as its leading agricultural producer. However, expanding industrial agriculture has intensified pesticide runoff and further depleted the state’s water resources. Agriculture consumes about 80% of California’s water, leading to unsustainable practices.
There are solutions available, primarily through strategic land use and repurposing aimed at addressing social, ecological, and water issues, particularly for the most marginalized populations.
Ángel S. Fernández-Bou, a senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, has focused much of his work on understanding the challenges impacting California’s lands, including those affecting farms, farmworkers, and local communities. He has proposed several strategies that can benefit both people and the environment, advocating for a foundation built on community and Indigenous knowledge
Ángel, alongside UCS analyst Erin Woolley and partner Dezaraye Bagalayos from the Allensworth Progressive Association, recently released a guide titled Working with Nature to Protect California’s Agricultural Regions: How Nature-Based Solutions Can Build Resilience, which outlines these strategies and shares inspiring case studies of communities successfully implementing them.
AAS: What concerns you the most regarding California’s environmental future?
ÁNGEL S. FERNÁNDEZ-BOU: My primary worry lies at the convergence of numerous crises—depleting groundwater, worsening air quality, and escalating climate extremes—all of which significantly affect vulnerable communities, farmers, and ecosystems.
The San Joaquin Valley is notorious for having the worst air quality in the United States, and we are exhausting groundwater supplies at a pace that far exceeds their ability to replenish. If we don’t take action now, we risk missing the chance to transform California into a global benchmark for agricultural sustainability and socio-environmental equity.
AAS: Can you describe the new guide you’ve published?
ÁNGEL S. FERNÁNDEZ-BOU: This guide outlines a variety of nature-based solutions with multiple advantages aimed at tackling California’s socio-environmental and water concerns. It showcases how we can collaborate with natural systems rather than oppose them, creating more resilient agricultural frameworks, safeguarding at-risk rural populations, ensuring water security, and achieving sustainability across social, environmental, and economic dimensions. Additionally, nature-based infrastructure tends to be more cost-effective and resilient compared to traditional, concrete-based options.
The primary focus of nature-based infrastructure involves synergizing strategic cropland repurposing with various multi-benefit initiatives, which may encompass aquifer recharge, wildlife corridors, solar solutions, and buffer zones around at-risk communities. These initiatives can help curtail unsustainable water consumption, enhance air quality, generate better-paying jobs, and open up new economic prospects, all while prioritizing the health of rural populations.
This guide builds on our previous publication Cropland repurposing as a tool for water sustainability and just land transition in California: review and best practices, which outlined a framework influenced by insights from practitioners and affected groups (including communities, farmers, farmworkers, the economy, and the environment) to identify best practices for implementing land transitions.
AAS: How do you envision your recommendations being adapted in different regions of California?
ÁNGEL S. FERNÁNDEZ-BOU: Implementation should be customized to address unique local challenges through diverse nature-based solutions:
For instance, floodplain restoration can be applied in areas facing flooding, ecological imbalance, insufficient green space, or upstream communities needing natural flood defense. Regions like Stockton, California, can benefit from flood protection provided by the recently restored Dos Rios floodplain, California’s newest state park. This restoration re-establishes the natural connectivity between rivers and their historical floodplains, allowing for natural flood management while enabling aquifer replenishment and maintaining steady river flows over extended durations.
Another approach is to develop stormwater basins, which can serve as dual-purpose parks that collect runoff post-heavy rainfall while offering recreational spaces during dry periods. Locations like Fairmead, where I contributed to a multi-benefit stormwater basin project, can greatly benefit from this kind of initiative.
We can also deploy multi-benefit aquifer recharge projects designed to restore depleted aquifers, enhancing groundwater levels and achieving water security in regions suffering from groundwater loss—especially those with clean sandy soils adjacent to rivers or canals. Such efforts help reconcile water extraction with replenishment, while also providing additional advantages, including flood control, beautified recreational spaces, enhanced drinking water quality, ecosystem restoration, and support for ventures such as clean energy in ecovoltaics or birdwatching tourism. Teviston in Tulare County, with its excellent recharge potential and a history of well failures, serves as an excellent candidate.
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Wildlife corridors and habitat restoration can link fragmented ecosystems, boost biodiversity, and facilitate natural pest control in agriculture, all while creating buffer zones for vulnerable communities against pesticide exposure. I enjoy frequenting the Merced Wildlife Refuge close to my home, where active efforts are underway to establish wildlife corridors connecting to the Sierra Nevada foothills near Yosemite.
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Agrivoltaic systems—which integrate solar energy production with agricultural activities (such as crops or livestock) on the same land—are ideal for areas with substantial solar potential, where farmers require income diversification, or where land repurposing from agriculture is necessary due to water shortages. These setups allow for ongoing agricultural production while simultaneously producing clean energy. People can learn more from our agrivoltaics and ecovoltaics fact sheet.
Meanwhile, transitioning agricultural practices to agroecological methods can be adopted in regions suffering from compromised soil health, excessive use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, or communities adversely affected by conventional farming, thus fostering the creation of safer, better-paying jobs for farmworkers. Examples of agroecological practices include no-tillage, avoidance of harmful pesticides, cover cropping, mulching, sustainable livestock integration, and composting, all while ensuring respect for both farmworkers and the surrounding environment. Our allies from Allensworth in Tulare County are exemplifying this vision.
Such strategies can effectively address local challenges, presenting a multitude of benefits for communities, agriculture, and the environment.
AAS: How can individuals find resources to implement your guide?
ÁNGEL S. FERNÁNDEZ-BOU: Numerous funding avenues are accessible for projects. My colleague Erin Woolley is our resident expert on these matters.
First, there are federal funding opportunities. The Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act offer unprecedented chances for climate and environmental justice initiatives. Additionally, California’s state programs, like the Land Repurposing Program and Strategic Growth Council funding, provide further resources for disadvantaged communities. Lastly, public-private partnerships enable corporations to invest in renewable energy and clean industry initiatives that benefit local populations.
AAS: What potential challenges might these solutions face during implementation in California?
ÁNGEL S. FERNÁNDEZ-BOU: My primary apprehension regarding implementation involves the inertia associated with maintaining the status quo. We already possess viable solutions backed by successful examples, and numerous dedicated individuals are passionately involved in this work. What we require now is the political will to increase funding and incentives, along with a social push to advocate for the most effective solutions as informed by those directly impacted by these changes. The perspectives and needs of local communities and farmers are central to strengthening local economies and restoring our environmental integrity.
Crucial to this process is the development of tailored plans with robust local leadership, similar to what is taking place in Allensworth, alongside seeking technical assistance to navigate funding application procedures.
AAS: Could you share success stories involving the nature-based solutions you’ve proposed?
ÁNGEL S. FERNÁNDEZ-BOU: Absolutely, we have notable instances of success:
Allensworth serves as an inspiring case, where the Allensworth Progressive Association is working to create an agroecology hub aimed at job creation, enhancing food security, and fostering local economic development.
Multi-benefit aquifer recharge projects have showcased effective water storage capabilities during wet seasons for drought preparation. One noteworthy example is in Okieville, discussed in our guide, which has piqued substantial interest due to its potential.
Agrivoltaic systems are gaining traction now as well. Esteemed scientists, including Professor Sarah Kurtz from UC Merced, are delving into this research, and many farmers are starting to recognize the benefits these systems can offer.
The Dos Rios floodplain restoration represents the largest floodplain restoration efforts in California to date, transforming approximately 2,000 acres of dairy land into a picturesque state park that pays homage to Indigenous cultures by incorporating a 3-acre Indigenous garden.
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These pilot initiatives are laying the groundwork for scientific and economic justification required to scale these solutions more broadly.
AAS: If readers were to take away just one key point from your guide, what would it be?
ÁNGEL S. FERNÁNDEZ-BOU: Collaborating with nature is not only ecologically sound but also economically advantageous and socially equitable.
This guide illustrates that we have the potential to create higher-paying jobs, more resilient economies, and healthier communities while restoring our ecosystems and ensuring water availability for the future. We do not need to choose between economic progress and environmental health; we can achieve both through thoughtful practices.
Fiscal sustainability for California hinges on our ability to re-envision land and water use towards a sustainable future. Viable solutions exist; many communities are prepared for them, with farmers recognizing their necessity, and funding opportunities are accessible. That’s what we’re currently advocating for.
History reminds us that respecting nature’s resilience is integral for societal longevity. California has the potential to exemplify how we can cultivate a truly sustainable future across social, environmental, and economic domains.
