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In addition, farmers have used past economic incentives provided by the EU to expand the cultivation of crops with high water demands (e.g. cotton) also in water stressed areas, such as southern Europe. Around 60 % of all irrigated areas and 85 % of total irrigation abstraction in Europe takes place in southern Europe. This legacy is still putting high pressure on regional water resources, despite recent trends that show improvement in water intensity of crop production by 11 % between 2005-2016 (EEA, 2019k). Figure 4.6 shows the increase in irrigable area in the four European regions since 1961.