Water Scarcity Predicted to Worsen in More Than 80% of Croplands Globally This Century
Published:10 May2022 Source:American Geophysical Union
Agricultural water scarcity is expected to increase in more than 80% of the world's croplands by 2050, according to a new study in the AGU journal Earth's Future.
The new study examines current and future water requirements for global agriculture and predicts whether the water levels available, either from rainwater or irrigation, will be sufficient to meet those needs under climate change. To do so, the researchers developed a new index to measure and predict water scarcity in agriculture's two major sources: soil water that comes from rain, called green water, and irrigation from rivers, lakes and groundwater, called blue water. It's the first study to apply this comprehensive index worldwide and predict global blue and green water scarcity as a result of climate change.