Managing water in agriculture for food production and other ecosystem services
Section snippets
Water for ecosystems—a challenge for agricultural water management
Increases in agriculture over the last century have led to substantial improvements in global food security through higher and stabler food production. They have also contributed to economic growth in many countries. Agriculture, including rangelands, now covers roughly 40% of the world's terrestrial surface (Foley et al., 2005), with croplands covering more than 50% of the land area in many river basins in Europe and India and more than 30% in the Americas, Europe and Asia (MA, 2005). Through
Agriculture increases provisioning ecosystem services but reduces other ecosystem services
The relation between ecosystems and the well-being of human society was reviewed in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (the MA), a large assessment involving around 1400 scientists and researchers (MA, 2005). The benefits that ecosystems generate for society have been called ecosystem goods and services (Daily, 1997). In the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment ecosystem services were classified into four categories: (1) provisioning (which has been previously called ecosystem goods, and includes
Effects on aquatic systems, coastal zones and wetlands
Streamflow reduction and regulation. Around 66% of all water withdrawn for direct human use is being used for agriculture (Scanlon et al., 2007). The better the irrigation efficiency the lesser the amount of this water that returns to the rivers and aquifers and the more the “consumptive use” will be, i.e., it flows to the atmosphere as evaporation or transpiration (Falkenmark and Lannerstad, 2005). Where field application efficiency is low (for example, in flooded paddy in the monsoonal
Dealing with trade-offs and finding synergies between water for food and other ecosystem services
The need to produce more food globally and the vast negative effects of agriculture and altered hydrology on ecosystem services provide a major challenge for agricultural water management (Molden et al., 2007). The challenge is, in many circumstances, taken seriously at the international level, and in some cases steps are taken even to reverse the effects that have already occurred. The partial rehabilitation of some iconic symbols of past follies, such as the Aral Sea (Pala, 2006) and
Concluding discussion and policy lessons
While agriculture has generated many so-called “provisioning ecosystem services” such as food, fiber and timber, it has substantially altered water quality and water quantity in many places. These alterations have had large impacts on ecosystems and the other ecosystem services they generate and on which human society depends. We have highlighted that these impacts take place not only in downstream aquatic systems and wetlands. They also occur across the terrestrial landscape where vapor flows,
Acknowledgements
Gordon's work was funded by the Swedish Research Council Formas and the Department for Research Cooperation (SAREC) at Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Part of her and Finlayson's work was done when they worked at IWMI and they want to thank IWMI for their support during this time. Many people contributed to the original chapter in the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture. These include: E.M. Bennett, T.M. Chiuta, D. Coates, N. Ghosh, M.
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