**5. Conclusions**

Generally, highly water-stressed hydrological basins, such as Mygdonia Basin, which are also found in other Mediterranean countries, can only be restored if there are drastic reductions in water-consuming economic activities (agriculture) and a change in the development model in such a way to shift to other alternative development plans that are compatible with the new climate conditions.

Although grea<sup>t</sup> emphasis must be placed on water managemen<sup>t</sup> and irrigation efficiency, which is still not done in the best way today (many parts of the country are already facing serious problems), this option alone cannot alleviate the water problems.

The reformation of the development plans in the agricultural sector, which is a global issue, is tightly connected with food security, which should be a priority in every agricultural basin. To assure food security, a set of crops that are compatible with the climate, soil and water requirements of the area under study should be prioritized.

All these interventions/changes should be accompanied by information campaigns for growers and breeders on both the effects of climate change on their work and the tools available to manage these effects. Training is important for implementing new crop diversification and rotation, the selection of crops that are better adapted to the new climatic conditions for the region in question and the targeted drainage of agricultural land.

Above all, political will and governmental engagemen<sup>t</sup> are crucial for the adoption of a new development model based on the available water resources and the comparative advantages of each area. In the case of highly water-stressed basins, agriculture should not be a priority. Seeking alternative economic activities that use less water is the best adaptation.

The methodology followed in this research, as well as the proposed sustainable development strategies, could prove very useful, not only for the local authorities in Mygdonia Basin but also for any other river basin with similar characteristics.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** This is an article. Some of the results were published in Malamataris, D.; Kolokytha, E.; Loukas, A. Integrated hydrological modeling of surface water and groundwater under climate change: The case of Mygdonia Basin in Greece, *J*. *Water Clim. Change* **2020**, *11*, 1429–1454. https: //doi.org/10.2166/wcc.2019.011 (accessed on 27 December 2021), and Kolokytha, E.; Malamataris, D. Integrated Water Management Approach for Adaptation to Climate Change in Highly Water Stressed Basins, *Water Resour. Manage.* **2020**, *34*, 1173–1197, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-020-02492-w (accessed on 27 December 2021).

**Acknowledgments:** The results of this research are part of a doctoral thesis (Malamataris 2019), "Integrated water resources managemen<sup>t</sup> and sustainable development strategy in a changing climate: Case study of the Mygdonia water basin" which was funded by the IKY Fellowships of Excellence for Postgraduate Studies in Greece—Siemens Program. Special thanks to DHI for the kind provision of the software MIKE SHE, MIKE HYDRO River and MIKE HYDRO Basin licenses that were used for the modeling tasks that are mentioned in this paper.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.
