permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anton Doroszenko <a.doroszenko@cabi.org>
Date: Thu, Mar 30, 2017 at 10:59 AM
Subject: [SANET-MG] Groundwater depletion embedded in international food
trade
To: SANET <sanet-mg@googlegroups.com>


This paper in Nature, published today, is of interest. You may or may not
be able to access the full paper using the link below, but I have attached
the abstract. It mentions that the USA is one country particularly exposed
to groundwater depletion.



Abstract:



Recent hydrological modelling1
<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v543/n7647/full/nature21403.html#ref1>
and Earth observations2
<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v543/n7647/full/nature21403.html#ref2>,
3
<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v543/n7647/full/nature21403.html#ref3>
have located and quantified alarming rates of groundwater depletion
worldwide. This depletion is primarily due to water withdrawals for
irrigation1
<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v543/n7647/full/nature21403.html#ref1>,
2
<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v543/n7647/full/nature21403.html#ref2>,
4
<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v543/n7647/full/nature21403.html#ref4>,
but its connection with the main driver of irrigation, global food
consumption, has not yet been explored. Here we show that approximately
eleven per cent of non-renewable groundwater use for irrigation is embedded
in international food trade, of which two-thirds are exported by Pakistan,
the USA and India alone. Our quantification of groundwater depletion
embedded in the world’s food trade is based on a combination of global,
crop-specific estimates of non-renewable groundwater abstraction and
international food trade data. A vast majority of the world’s population
lives in countries sourcing nearly all their staple crop imports from
partners who deplete groundwater to produce these crops, highlighting risks
for global food and water security. Some countries, such as the USA,
Mexico, Iran and China, are particularly exposed to these risks because
they both produce and import food irrigated from rapidly depleting
aquifers. Our results could help to improve the sustainability of global
food production and groundwater resource management by identifying priority
regions and agricultural products at risk as well as the end consumers of
these products.



http://www.nature.com/articles/nature21403.epdf?referrer_
access_token=aZwyTLW7lxXXiy-LN1KdiNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0Mhuty
SRvVO3n3D8neokct7T4kchGuuE9uLnP323a2lmyXZRlRx0MhBJiAY0nkqDwn
ZGOTIypgPXGqr3JZNAUzRKbUlozKA00WiWyHfGRv-wet3oc2Cdr0zHSANAZC
b_T5HJlrHqsJDww9tlo3QDdAVuTY1SQXnp2FHbm-vCBFW9iumuNDxhrOcmgV
bBerOZTY%3D&tracking_referrer=www.bbc.co.uk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39431680


Anton Doroszenko

CAB International



P Think Green - don't print this email unless you really need to

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-- 
Lawrence F. London, Jr.
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared