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.

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 Water footprint in family farming

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. e26610615777
Author(s):  
Ana Luiza Grateki Barbosa ◽  
Daniel Brasil Ferreira Pinto ◽  
Rafael Alvarenga Almeida
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Total Water ◽  
Family Farming ◽  
Gray Water ◽  
The Family

Currently, the management of water resources has gained greater visibility and has become indispensable, with the need for different methodologies which consider all water used and incorporated in the processes and products. In this way, the water footprint concept has been introduced to calculate the appropriation of fresh water on the part of the humankind. Thus, the objective of this work was to determine the water footprint in some sectors of family farming in the municipality of Teófilo Otoni – MG, analyzing the agricultural production of crops cultivated exclusively by the sector in 2017 in Teófilo Otoni. The cultivation of pumpkin, banana, chayote, beans, cassava, Maize, peppers, okra, cabbage, and tangerine were studied. Thus, the total water footprint for the year 2017 was 13,996,735.05 m3.t-1, in which the green water footprint represents 86%, the blue water footprint represents 12.5% and the gray water footprint equals 1.5%. The family farming sector of Teófilo Otoni demands an average of 196.73 liters for a production of R$ 1.00.

Changes in the water footprint of urban green spaces over time

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamideh Nouri ◽  
Sattar Chavoshi Borujeni ◽  
Pamela Nagler ◽  
Armando Barreto Munoz ◽  
Kamel Didan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Spaces ◽  
Urban Greenery ◽  
Green And Blue Water

<p>The concept of a sustainable green city based on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)–Goal 11 - sustainable cities and communities – may not be narrowed down to solely intensifying urban green spaces. Sustainability could include urban water management to alleviate possible conflict among “water‐saving” and “greening cities” strategies. Water consumption by urban greenery has a major role in urban water management, particularly in water-scarce regions where green covers are most affected by drought and aridity. More green and blue water resources are required to maintain and expand urban green spaces. Quantifying the water footprint of urban greenery helps to balance greening cities while water saving from both green and blue water resources. We employed remote sensing and artificial intelligence techniques to assess the water consumption and water footprint of a 780‐ha public green space, the Adelaide Parklands in Australia. We estimated the green and blue water footprint of this green space (containing 29 parks) during 2010-2018 on a monthly basis. Our results showed that the mean total water footprint of the Adelaide Parklands was about 7.75 gigaliter per annum over 2010-2018; it varied from 7.19 gigaliter/year in 2018 to 8.45 gigaliter/year in 2012. The blue water footprint was consistently higher than the green water footprint even in wet time of the year. We suggest implementing sponge city and water sensitive urban design (WSUD) techniques to help greening cities while reducing the water footprint of urban green spaces. These approaches have the potential to lessen the pressure on blue water resources and optimise the consumption of green water resources.</p>

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 Dynamics of green and blue water flows and their controlling factors in Heihe River basin of northwestern China

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaisheng Luo ◽  
Fulu Tao
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Flow ◽  
Heihe River Basin ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Heihe River ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Green And Blue Water ◽  
County Scale

Abstract. Climate variation will affect hydrological cycle, as well as the availability of water resources. In spite of large progresses have been made in the dynamics of hydrological cycle variables, the dynamics and drivers of blue water flow, green water flow and total flow (three flows), as well as the proportion of green water (GWC), in the past and future at county scale, were scarcely investigated. In this study, taking the Heihe River basin in China as an example, we investigated the dynamics of green and blue water flows and their controlling factors during 1980–2009 using five statistical approaches and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). We found that there were large variations in the dynamics of green and blue water flows during 1980–2009 at the county scale. Three flows in all counties showed an increasing trend except Jiayuguan and Jianta county. The GWC showed a downward trend in the Qilian, Suzhou, Shandan, Linze and Gaotai counties, but an upward trend in the Mingle, Sunan, Jinta, Jiayuguan, Ganzhou and Ejilaqi counties. In all the counties, the three flows and GWC had strong persistent trends in the future, which are mainly ascribed to rainfall variation. In the Qilian and Shandan counties, rainfall was the major controlling factor for the three flows and GWC. Rainfall controlled the green water and total flows in the Mingle, Linze and Gaotai counties; green water flow and GWC in the Suzhou county; green water flow, total flow and GWC in the Jinta and Ejilaqi counties. Our results also showed that the "Heihe River basin allocation project" had significant influences on the abrupt changes of the flows above-mentioned. Our results illustrate the status of the water resources at county scale, providing a reference for water resources management of inland river basins.

scholarly journals Dynamics of Green and Blue Water Supply Stress Index Across Major Global Cropland Basins

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kul Khand ◽  
Gabriel B. Senay ◽  
Stefanie Kagone ◽  
Gabriel Edwin Lee Parrish
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Stress Index ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Green And Blue Water

Global food and water insecurity could be serious problems in the upcoming decades with growing demands from the increasing global population and more frequent effect of climatic extremes. As the available water resources are diminishing and facing continuous stress, it is crucial to monitor water demand and water availability to understand the associated water stresses. This study assessed the water stress by applying the water supply stress index (WaSSI) in relation to green (WaSSIG) and blue (WaSSIB) water resources across six major cropland basins including the Mississippi (North America), San Francisco (South America), Nile (Africa), Danube (Europe), Ganges-Brahmaputra (Asia), and Murray-Darling (Australia) for the past 17-years (2003–2019). The WaSSIG and WaSSIB results indicated that the Murray-Darling Basin experienced the most severe (maximum WaSSIG and WaSSIB anomalies) green and blue water stresses and the Mississippi Basin had the least. All basins had both green and blue water stresses for at least 35% (6 out of 17 years) of the study period. The interannual variations in green water stress were driven by both crop water demand and green water supply, whereas the blue water stress variations were primarily driven by blue water supply. The WaSSIG and WaSSIB provided a better understanding of water stress (blue or green) and their drivers (demand or supply driven) across cropland basins. This information can be useful for basin-specific resource mobilization and interventions to ensure food and water security.

scholarly journals Assessing Green and Blue Water: Understanding Interactions and Making Balance between Human and Nature

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ganquan Mao ◽  
Junguo Liu ◽  
Feng Han ◽  
Ying Meng ◽  
Yong Tian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Green And Blue Water ◽  
Crucial Information ◽  
Human And Nature

Abstract. Water resources assessment is crucial for human well-being and ecosystem’s health. Assessments by considering both the blue and green water are of great significance as the green water plays a critical but often ignored role in the terrestrial ecosystem, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Many approaches have been developed for green and blue water valuation, while few of them considers the interrelationship between them. This study proposed a new framework for green and blue water assessment by considering the interactions between them in an arid endorheic river basin where hydrological cycling is dramatically altered by human activities. Results show that even though the green water is the dominant water resources, the blue water is also critical. Most of the blue water are transformed to green water through physically and human induced processes to meet the water demand of ecosystems. Time and spatial variability of water supply and consumption forms totally different blue and green water regimes in different ecosystems. We also found that human use an increasing share of water with the decrease of the water availability. The massive water use by human reduces the water use for natural ecosystems. This indicates that natural ecosystems will take a higher risk of freshwater use when the water use competition increases. This study provides crucial information to better understand the interactions between green and blue water by assessing water resources in an explicit way. It also provides crucial implications for water management aiming to make the balance between humankind and nature.

scholarly journals Optimalisasi Pemanfaatan Sumber Daya Air untuk Meningkatkan Produksi Pertanian

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Nono Sutrisno ◽  
Adang Hamdani
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Paddy Fields ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Water And Food Security

<p><strong>Abstrak</strong>. Indonesia memiliki potensi sumber daya air yang sangat besar, tetapi pemanfaatannya masih rendah, yaitu sekitar 20 persen dari potensi yang ada. Terdapat pengaruh negatif bila pemanfaatan air hanya sedikit, yaitu dapat mengakibatkan banjir dan longsor pada saat musim hujan serta kekeringan Musim Kemarau (MK). Tujuan dari penulisan ini adalah menyampaikan hasil kajian optimalisasi pemanfaatan sumber daya air untuk meningkatkan produksi pertanian yang dilakukan melalui  panen air dengan prinsip <em>eco-efficient </em> agar air tersedia sepanjang tahun dan berkelanjutan. Salah satu pemanfaatan sumberdaya air secara optimal adalah untuk meningkatkan produksi pertanian pada lahan sawah irigasi, lahan sawah tadah hujan dan lahan kering.  Implementasinya dilakukan dengan jalan meningkatkan ketersediaan air dan menerapkan efisiensi penggunaan air sehingga dapat memperpanjang masa tanam atau meningkatkan indeks pertanaman (IP) dan ekstensifikasi pertanian. Sampai saat ini, sudah cukup banyak infrastruktur air yakni embung, dam parit, dan<em> long storage </em>yang dibangun oleh Kementerian Pertanian. Disamping itu Kementerian PUPR dalam kurun waktu 2015-2019, telah menargetkan pembangunan 65 bendungan untuk mendukung ketahanan air dan ketahanan pangan. Secara keseluruhan saat ini terdapat 230 bendungan yang mencukupi bagi 11 persen layanan lahan irigasi seluas 7,2 juta ha.  Hal ini berarti, air irigasi dari bendungan dapat mengairi lahan sawah sepanjang tahun. Untuk mendukung optimalisasi sumber daya air, diperlukan ketersediaan air sepanjang tahun dan berkelanjutan. Pengelolaan sumber daya air harus dilakukan secara menyeluruh dari DAS tersebut, baik <em>blue water</em>  maupun <em>green water</em> dan pengelolaannya harus tepat yaitu menerapkan konservasi lahan dan air di hulu dan pendistribusian secara hemat dan adil. Optimalisasi penggunaan sumber daya air untuk pertanian bertujuan untuk meningkatkan produksi pertanian dengan tetap memperhatikan kelestarian lingkungan seperti menjaga ekosistem sungai tetap baik, mengantisipasi kerusakan sumber daya air dan memanfaatkan secara efisien tidak berlebihan.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Abstract</strong>. <em>Indonesia has a huge potential of water resources, but it is untapped efficiently with only around 20 percent utilized. There is a negative effect if only a small amount of water is used, which can result in floods and landslides during the rainy season and dry season dryness. The purpose of this paper is to deliver a study of optimizing the use of water resources to increase agricultural production carried out through water harvesting with the principle of eco-efficient so that water is available throughout the year and is sustainable. One of the optimal utilization of water resources is to use it for agricultural production in irrigated paddy fields, rainfed lowland and dry upland. It is implemented by increasing water availability and using water efficiently which is in turn it can extend the planting period or increase the cropping index and agricultural extensification. Recently, The Ministry of Agriculture has built adequate water management infrastructures such as reservoirs, ditch dams, and long storages. In addition, within the 2015-2019 periods, the Ministry of PUPR targeting the construction of 65 dams to support water and food security. There are currently 230 dams had been built which are sufficient to irrigate  11 percent of irrigated land or 7.2 millions hectares. This means that the water from dams can irrigate paddy fields continouosly throughout the year. To optimize the use of water resources, water availability is sustainably needed throughout the year. Water resources management must be carried out thoroughly within the watershed, both for blue water and green water. It must be precisely excetuted by implementing land and water conservation in upstream followed by distribution in an efficient and equitable manner. Optimizing the use of water resources for agriculture aims to increase agricultural production while still taking into account environmental sustainability such as maintaining a good river ecosystem, anticipating damage to water resources and utilizing efficiently not excessively</em><em>.</em></p>

A step forward toward the high-resolution assessment of virtual water flows at the company’s scale

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena De Petrillo ◽  
Marta Tuninetti ◽  
Francesco Laio
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
The State ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Food Trade ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Final Consumer

&lt;p&gt;Through the international trade of agricultural goods, water resources that are physically used in the country of production are virtually transferred to the country of consumption. Food trade leads to a global redistribution of freshwater resources, thus shaping distant interdependencies among countries. Recent studies have shown how agricultural trade drives an outsourcing of environmental impacts pertaining to depletion and pollution of freshwater resources, and eutrophication of river bodies in distant producer countries. What is less clear is how the final consumer &amp;#8211; being an individual, a company, or a community- impacts the water resources of producer countries at a subnational scale. Indeed, the variability of sub-national water footprint (WF in m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;/tonne) due to climate, soil properties, irrigation practices, and fertilizer inputs is generally lost in trade analyses, as most trade data are only available at the country scale. The latest version of the Spatially Explicit Information on Production to Consumption Systems model&amp;#160; (SEI-PCS) by Trase provides detailed data on single trade flows (in tonne) along the crop supply chain: from local municipalities- to exporter companies- to importer companies &amp;#8211; to the final consumer countries. These data allow us to capitalize on the high-resolution data of agricultural WF available in the literature, in order to quantify the sub-national virtual water flows behind food trade. As a first step, we assess the detailed soybean trade between Brazil and Italy. This assessment is relevant for water management because the global soybean flow reaching Italy may be traced back to 374 municipalities with heterogeneous agricultural practises and water use efficiency. Results show that the largest flow of virtual water from a Brazilian municipality to Italy -3.52e+07 m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; (3% of the total export flow)- comes from Sorriso in the State of Mato Grosso. Conversely, the highest flow of blue water -1.56e+05 m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;- comes from Jaguar&amp;#227;o, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, located in the Brazilian Pampa. Further, the analysis at the company scale reveals that as many as 37 exporting companies can be identified exchanging to Italy; &amp;#160;Bianchini S.A is the largest virtual water trader (1.88 e+08 m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; of green water and 3,92 e+06 m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; of blue water), followed by COFCO (1,06 e+08 m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; of green water and 6.62 m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; of blue water) &amp;#160;and Cargill ( 6.96 e+07 m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; of green water and 2.80 e+02 m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; of blue water). By building the bipartite network of importing companies and municipalities originating the fluxes we are able to efficiently disaggregate the supply chains , providing novel tools to build sustainable water management strategies.&lt;/p&gt;

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