South Asian agriculture increasingly dependent on meltwater and groundwater

Lutz, Arthur; Immerzeel, Walter W.; Siderius, Christian; Wijngaard, René R.; Nepal, Santosh; Shrestha, A. B.; Wester, P.; Biemans, Hester

doi:10.1038/s41558-022-01355-z

Cited by 64 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Likewise, considering the dependence on meltwater from the mountains and potential shifts in peaks of the water availability, the crop types or sowing dates of crops could be adapted to meet the water demand (Lutz et al, 2022). With climate change and human activities shaping the Earth's land surface, the quantification and evaluation of land surface dynamics is an important task.…”

Section: Potential Future Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-faceted analyses of seasonal trends and drivers of land surface variables in Indo-Gangetic river basins

Uereyen

Bachofer

Klein

et al. 2022

Science of The Total Environment

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Section: Potential Future Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-faceted analyses of seasonal trends and drivers of land surface variables in Indo-Gangetic river basins

Uereyen

Bachofer

Klein

et al. 2022

Science of The Total Environment

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“…inter-annual and intra-annual variability in precipitation and runoff may increase, with the buffering capacity of glaciers gradually diminishing [66]. We simulated seasonal cropping choices by farmers as a coping strategy to make the best use of varying water resources.…”

Section: Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Strong trade-offs characterise water-energy-food related sustainable development goals in the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna River basin

Siderius

Walsum

Biemans

2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

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The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set ambitious policy targets for 2030 to overcome poverty while preserving the planet. These goals are not perfectly aligned; trade-offs emerge during implementation at regional and local levels, such as in a river basin. Here, we quantify important trade-offs between water, energy, and food-related SDGs in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna River basin, a climate vulnerability hotspot, using multi-objective optimisation based on detailed water resources and crop production modelling and accounting for uncertainties in the costs of water, labour, and land. The trade-off between food production and agricultural profit is strong; the amount of people fed would be reduced by more than two-thirds, were profitability maximized. However, we do see the potential to achieve higher profitability in agriculture against limited loss of food and hydropower production and limited impact on downstream environmental flows, although continued reliance on groundwater and energy, currently unsustainable, needs to be mitigated.

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“…Sodium is an important factor for irrigation water quality because sodium reacts with the soil to create sodium hazards by replacing other cations [66]. SAR was calculated by using Equation (3) and % Na was calculated using Equation (4).…”

Section: Irrigation Water Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Groundwater is a major source of the global water supply because it is usually clean, safe, requires little or no treatment, and is less affected by droughts than surface water [1][2][3]. In south and southeast Asia, it is used extensively for both drinking and irrigation purposes [4,5]. Groundwater degradation, in terms of both quantity and quality, has been a major concern in many countries [6][7][8][9][10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential Impacts of Industrialization on Coastal Fresh Groundwater Resources in Bangladesh

et al. 2022

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Bangladesh is overly dependent on groundwater and the demand in the near future is expected to increase, as the country is experiencing rapid development and industrial growth. This study assesses the prospect and sustainability of groundwater in Mirsharai Upazila, Chattogram, where a large industrial area, namely ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN)’, is taking shape. The physical aquifer system was characterized and groundwater quality was mapped. There is one thick aquifer in the northernmost part of the upazila, which splits into three separate aquifers in the south. Water quality indexing suggests that the deep (>130 m) groundwater throughout upazila is good (n = 5) to excellent (n = 18), while the shallow groundwater is mostly poor to unsuitable for both drinking and irrigation purposes. Because of the close proximity to the sea and the presence of thick clays above the deep freshwater aquifer in the BSMSN area, heavy industrial abstraction poses a threat to the lateral intrusion of seawater and land subsidence. Even a small subsidence in the project area at only a couple of meters above sea level would jeopardize the entire project. This study recommends limiting the use of the deep fresh groundwater for the current population of the upazila.

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South Asian agriculture increasingly dependent on meltwater and groundwater

Cited by 64 publications

References 83 publications

Multi-faceted analyses of seasonal trends and drivers of land surface variables in Indo-Gangetic river basins

Multi-faceted analyses of seasonal trends and drivers of land surface variables in Indo-Gangetic river basins

Strong trade-offs characterise water-energy-food related sustainable development goals in the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna River basin

Potential Impacts of Industrialization on Coastal Fresh Groundwater Resources in Bangladesh

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