Water resource implications of upgrading raifned agriculture - focus on green and blue water trade-offs.

2009 ◽  
pp. 44-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Karlberg ◽  
J. Rockström ◽  
M. Falkenmark
Keyword(s):  
Water Resource ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Green And Blue Water

scholarly journals Effect of Climate Variability on Green and Blue Water Resources in a Temperate Monsoon Watershed, Northeastern China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2193
Author(s):  
Junchao Jiang ◽  
Leting Lyu ◽  
Yuechi Han ◽  
Caizhi Sun
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Reference Period ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Green And Blue Water ◽  
The Impact

Over 80% of global grain production relies on green water, water from precipitation that is stored in unsaturated soil and supports plant growth. Blue water, precipitation that turns into surface water and groundwater, is also a vital surface water resource, and it can be directly utilized. The Tanghe River Basin is a typical temperate continental monsoon watershed in Northern China where residents and crops rely on blue and green water resources. In this study, the spatiotemporal distributions of water resources in the Tanghe River Basin were simulated using the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model for the period between 1970 and 2015. The results demonstrate that the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency and coefficient of determination were both higher than 0.64 during the calibration and validation periods at all hydrological stations, indicating high simulation accuracy. The average annual water resources of the Tanghe River Basin are 759.37 mm. Green and blue water account for 68% and 32% of the total water resources, respectively. The study period was divided into the reference period (1970–1976) and the variation period (1977–2015), to explore the impact of climate change on the green and blue water resources of the Tanghe River Basin water resources. Compared with the reference period, the average green and blue water resources in the variation period decreased by 78.48 and 35.94 mm/year, and their rate changes were −13.45% and −13.17%, respectively. The water resource relative change rates were high in the south and low in the north, and they were predominantly affected by precipitation. This study improves our understanding of the hydrological processes as well as the availability of blue and green water in the study region, and can prove beneficial in promoting the sustainable development of small basins and the integrated watershed management in areas with similar climatic conditions.

scholarly journals A review of green- and blue-water resources and their trade-offs for future agricultural production in the Amazon Basin: what could irrigated agriculture mean for Amazonia?

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 2179-2194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Lathuillière ◽  
Michael T. Coe ◽  
Mark S. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Green And Blue Water ◽  
Future Economic Development

Abstract. The Amazon Basin is a region of global importance for the carbon and hydrological cycles, a biodiversity hotspot, and a potential centre for future economic development. The region is also a major source of water vapour recycled into continental precipitation through evapotranspiration processes. This review applies an ecohydrological approach to Amazonia's water cycle by looking at contributions of water resources in the context of future agricultural production. At present, agriculture in the region is primarily rain-fed and relies almost exclusively on green-water resources (soil moisture regenerated by precipitation). Future agricultural development, however, will likely follow pathways that include irrigation from blue-water sources (surface water and groundwater) as insurance from variability in precipitation. In this review, we first provide an updated summary of the green–blue ecohydrological framework before describing past trends in Amazonia's water resources within the context of land use and land cover change. We then describe green- and blue-water trade-offs in light of future agricultural production and potential irrigation to assess costs and benefits to terrestrial ecosystems, particularly land and biodiversity protection, and regional precipitation recycling. Management of green water is needed, particularly at the agricultural frontier located in the headwaters of major tributaries to the Amazon River, and home to key downstream blue-water users and ecosystem services, including domestic and industrial users, as well as aquatic ecosystems.

scholarly journals What could irrigated agriculture mean for Amazonia? A review of green and blue water resources and their trade-offs for future agricultural production in the Amazon Basin

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Lathuillière ◽  
Michael T. Coe ◽  
Mark S. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Green And Blue Water ◽  
Future Economic Development

Abstract. The Amazon Basin is a region of global importance for the carbon and hydrological cycles, a biodiversity hotspot, and a potential centre for future economic development. The region is also a major source of water vapour recycled into continental precipitation through evapotranspiration processes. This review applies an ecohydrological approach to Amazonia's water cycle by looking at contributions of water resources in the context of future agricultural production. At present, agriculture in the region is primarily rain-fed and relies almost exclusively on green water resources (soil moisture regenerated by precipitation). Future agricultural development, however, will likely follow pathways that include irrigation from blue water sources (surface and groundwater) as insurance from variability in precipitation. In this review, we first provide an updated summary of the ecohydrological framework before describing past trends in Amazonia's green and blue water resources within the context of land use and land cover change. We then describe green and blue water trade-offs in light of future agricultural production and potential irrigation to assess costs and benefits to terrestrial ecosystems, particularly land and biodiversity protection, and regional precipitation recycling. Management of green water is needed, particularly at the agricultural frontier located in the headwaters of major tributaries to the Amazon River, and home to key downstream blue water users and ecosystem services, including domestic and industrial users, as well as aquatic ecosystems.

Insights into water-energy cobenefits and trade-offs in water resource management

2019 ◽  
Vol 213 ◽  
pp. 1188-1203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinjing Gao ◽  
Chenlong Li ◽  
Peng Zhao ◽  
Hongwei Zhang ◽  
Guozhu Mao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Trade Offs

Agricultural green and blue water consumption and its influence on the global water system

2008 ◽  
Vol 44 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Rost ◽  
Dieter Gerten ◽  
Alberte Bondeau ◽  
Wolfgang Lucht ◽  
Janine Rohwer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water System ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Green And Blue Water ◽  
Global Water

scholarly journals Analysis of the characteristics of global virtual water trade network using degree and eigenvector centrality, with a focus on food and feed crops

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sang-Hyun Lee ◽  
Rabi H. Mohtar ◽  
Jin-Yong Choi ◽  
Seung-Hwan Yoo
Keyword(s):  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Water Shortage ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Eigenvector Centrality ◽  
Virtual Water Trade ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
The Usa

Abstract. This study aims to analyse the characteristics of global virtual water trade (GVWT) such as connectivity of each trader, vulnerable importers, and influential countries using degree and eigenvector centrality during the period 2006–2010. The degree centrality was used to measure the connectivity and eigenvector centrality was used to measure the influence on entire GVWT network. Mexico, Egypt, China, Korea Rep., and Japan were classified to vulnerable importers because they imported a lot of virtual water with the low connectivity. Especially, Egypt had 15.3 Gm³ year-1 blue water savings effects through GVWT, thus the vulnerable structure could cause the water shortage problem in importer. The entire GVWT network could be changed by a few nodes which call influential traders, and we figured out the influential traders using eigenvector centrality. In GVWT for food crops, the USA, Russian Federation, Thailand, and Canada had high eigenvector with a large volume of green water trade. In case of blue water trade, western Asia, Pakistan, and India had high eigenvector centrality. For feed crops, the green water trade in the USA, Brazil, and Argentina was the most influential. However, Argentina and Pakistan used the high proportion of internal water resource for virtual water export (32.9 and 25.1 %), thus rest of traders should consider the water resource management in these exporters carefully.

scholarly journals Impacts of human activities and climate variability on green and blue water flows in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 9477-9504 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Zang ◽  
J. Liu ◽  
L. Jiang ◽  
D. Gerten
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Flow ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Heihe River ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Green And Blue Water

Abstract. Human activities and climate factors both affect the availability of water resources and the sustainability of water management. Especially in already dry regions, water has become more and more scarce with increasing requirements from growing population, economic development and diet shifts. Although progress has been made in understanding variability of runoff, the impacts of climate variability and human activities on flows of both green water (actual evapotranspiration) and blue water (discharge accumulated in the river network) remain less well understood. We study the spatial patterns of blue and green water flows and the impacts on them of human activities and climate variability as simulated by the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for an inland Heihe river basin located in Northwest China. The results show that total green and blue water flow increased from 1980 to 2005, mainly as a result of climate variability (upward precipitation trends). Direct human activities did not significantly change the total green and blue water flow. However, land use change led to a transformation of 206 million m3 from green to blue water flow, while farmland irrigation expansion resulted in a transformation of 66 million m3 from blue to green water flow. The synchronous climate variability caused an increase of green water flow by 469 million m3 and an increase of blue water flow by 146 million m3 at the river basin level, while the geographical distribution showed an uneven change even with reductions of water flows in western sub-basins at midstream. The results are helpful to benchmark the water resources in the context of global change in the inland river basins in China. This study also provides a general approach to investigate the impacts of historical human activities and climate variability on green and blue water flows at the river basin level.

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