A Blue Water Scarcity‐Based Method for Hydrologically Sustainable Agricultural Expansion Design
Abstract Sustainable development and intergenerational responsibility entail the prudent use of natural resources. Water availability can constrain agriculture, a key sector in terms of resources consumed and goods and services provided. The sustainability of its intensification and expansion has be...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Water Resources Research |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR034473 |
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| author | Nikolas Galli Davide Danilo Chiarelli Livia Ricciardi Maria Cristina Rulli |
| author_facet | Nikolas Galli Davide Danilo Chiarelli Livia Ricciardi Maria Cristina Rulli |
| author_sort | Nikolas Galli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Sustainable development and intergenerational responsibility entail the prudent use of natural resources. Water availability can constrain agriculture, a key sector in terms of resources consumed and goods and services provided. The sustainability of its intensification and expansion has been studied, often with a particular focus on water. Agricultural strategies have been based on local water availability, and some downstream effects have been evaluated. However, a method to identify and quantify hydrologically sustainable land use and crop use changes directly accounting for downstream effects is yet to be defined. We propose a framework to design land‐use and crop‐use changes preventing local and downstream effects. We apply it on of coffee plantations expansion in Kenya, a sector that is growing and planned to grow, given its agricultural, economic and social development potential, not without risks associated to hydroclimatic change. We use crop‐ and land‐use specific hydrological modeling to simulate water scarcity impacts of coffee plantation expansion onto available suitable areas, and use the results to iteratively identify and filter out expansion areas increasing water scarcity locally or downstream. This assessment proves effective in preserving water availability, identifying 10% of the suitable and available areas as hydrologically sustainable. Total water footprints are similar in these expansion areas and in currently used areas, but expansion areas have higher precipitation‐generated water availability. The proposed methodology locates and quantifies areas in a physically robust way, maintaining flexibility to the selected expansion scenario. Thus, the methodology is replicable for planning hydrologically agricultural development. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1a7607df0ec248389619bbeb17de7ecb |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0043-1397 1944-7973 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water Resources Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-1a7607df0ec248389619bbeb17de7ecb2025-08-20T02:35:08ZengWileyWater Resources Research0043-13971944-79732023-10-015910n/an/a10.1029/2023WR034473A Blue Water Scarcity‐Based Method for Hydrologically Sustainable Agricultural Expansion DesignNikolas Galli0Davide Danilo Chiarelli1Livia Ricciardi2Maria Cristina Rulli3Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Politecnico di Milano Milano ItalyDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering Politecnico di Milano Milano ItalyDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering Politecnico di Milano Milano ItalyDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering Politecnico di Milano Milano ItalyAbstract Sustainable development and intergenerational responsibility entail the prudent use of natural resources. Water availability can constrain agriculture, a key sector in terms of resources consumed and goods and services provided. The sustainability of its intensification and expansion has been studied, often with a particular focus on water. Agricultural strategies have been based on local water availability, and some downstream effects have been evaluated. However, a method to identify and quantify hydrologically sustainable land use and crop use changes directly accounting for downstream effects is yet to be defined. We propose a framework to design land‐use and crop‐use changes preventing local and downstream effects. We apply it on of coffee plantations expansion in Kenya, a sector that is growing and planned to grow, given its agricultural, economic and social development potential, not without risks associated to hydroclimatic change. We use crop‐ and land‐use specific hydrological modeling to simulate water scarcity impacts of coffee plantation expansion onto available suitable areas, and use the results to iteratively identify and filter out expansion areas increasing water scarcity locally or downstream. This assessment proves effective in preserving water availability, identifying 10% of the suitable and available areas as hydrologically sustainable. Total water footprints are similar in these expansion areas and in currently used areas, but expansion areas have higher precipitation‐generated water availability. The proposed methodology locates and quantifies areas in a physically robust way, maintaining flexibility to the selected expansion scenario. Thus, the methodology is replicable for planning hydrologically agricultural development.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR034473hydroclimatic changewater scarcitywater cycleagricultural developmentwater footprintplanetary boundaries |
| spellingShingle | Nikolas Galli Davide Danilo Chiarelli Livia Ricciardi Maria Cristina Rulli A Blue Water Scarcity‐Based Method for Hydrologically Sustainable Agricultural Expansion Design Water Resources Research hydroclimatic change water scarcity water cycle agricultural development water footprint planetary boundaries |
| title | A Blue Water Scarcity‐Based Method for Hydrologically Sustainable Agricultural Expansion Design |
| title_full | A Blue Water Scarcity‐Based Method for Hydrologically Sustainable Agricultural Expansion Design |
| title_fullStr | A Blue Water Scarcity‐Based Method for Hydrologically Sustainable Agricultural Expansion Design |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Blue Water Scarcity‐Based Method for Hydrologically Sustainable Agricultural Expansion Design |
| title_short | A Blue Water Scarcity‐Based Method for Hydrologically Sustainable Agricultural Expansion Design |
| title_sort | blue water scarcity based method for hydrologically sustainable agricultural expansion design |
| topic | hydroclimatic change water scarcity water cycle agricultural development water footprint planetary boundaries |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR034473 |
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