Water scarcity assessments in the past, present and future

Liu, Junguo; Yang, Hong; Gosling, Simon N.; Kummu, Matti; Fl�rke, Martina; Pfister, Stephan; Hanasaki, Naota; Wada, Yoshihide; Zhang, Xinxin; Zheng, Chunmiao; Alcamo, Joseph; Oki, Taikan

Abstract

Water scarcity has become a major constraint to socio-economic development and a threat to livelihood in increasing parts of the world. Since the late 1980s, water
scarcity research has attracted much political and public attention. We here review a variety of indicators that have been developed to capture different characteristics of
water scarcity. Population, water availability and water use are the key elements of these indicators. Most of the progress made in the last few decades has been on the
quantification of water availability and use by applying spatially explicit models. However, challenges remain on appropriate incorporation of green water (soil moisture), water quality, environmental flow requirements, globalization and virtual water trade in water scarcity assessment. Meanwhile, inter- and intra- annual variability of water availability and use also calls for assessing the temporal dimension of water scarcity. It requires concerted efforts of hydrologists, economists, social scientists, and environmental scientists to develop integrated approaches to
capture the multi-faceted nature of water scarcity.

Citation

Liu, J., Yang, H., Gosling, S. N., Kummu, M., Flörke, M., Pfister, S., …Oki, T. (2017). Water scarcity assessments in the past, present and future. Earth's Future, 5(6), 545-559. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016EF000518

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 16, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Mar 21, 2017
• Publication Date: 2017-06
• Deposit Date: Apr 19, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 19, 2017
• Journal: Earth's Future
• Electronic ISSN: 2328-4277
• Publisher: Wiley Open Access
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 545-559
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/2016EF000518
• Keywords: Freshwater resources, green water, water quality, environmental flow requirements, virtual water, water footprint
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/851399
• Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016EF000518/abstract