Water resources for agriculture in a changing climate: international case studies

This integrated study examines the implications of changes in crop water demand and water availability for the reliability of irrigation, taking into account changes in competing municipal and industrial demands, and explores the effectiveness of adaptation options in maintaining reliability. It reports on methods of linking climate change scenarios with hydrologic, agricultural, and planning models to study water availability for agriculture under changing climate conditions, to estimate changes in ecosystem services, and to evaluate adaptation strategies for the water resources and agriculture sectors. The models are applied to major agricultural regions in Argentina, Brazil, China, Hungary, Romania, and the US, using projections of climate change, agricultural production, population, technology, and GDP growth.For most of the relatively water-rich areas studied, there appears to be sufficient water for agriculture given the climate change scenarios tested. Northeastern China suffers from the greatest lack of water availability for agriculture and ecosystem services both in the present and in the climate change projections. Projected runoff in the Danube Basin does not change substantially, although climate change causes shifts in environmental stresses within the region. Northern Argentina's occasional problems in water supply for agriculture under the current climate may be exacerbated and may require investments to relieve future tributary stress. In Southeastern Brazil, future water supply for agriculture appears to be plentiful. Water supply in most of the US Cornbelt is projected to increase in most climate change scenarios, but there is concern for tractability in the spring and water-logging in the summer.Adaptation tests imply that only the Brazil case study area can readily accommodate an expansion of irrigated land under climate change, while the other three areas would suffer decreases in system reliability if irrigation areas were to be expanded. Cultivars are available for agricultural adaptation to the projected changes, but their demand for water may be higher than currently adapted varieties. Thus, even in these relatively water-rich areas, changes in water demand due to climate change effects on agriculture and increased demand from urban growth will require timely improvements in crop cultivars, irrigation and drainage technology, and water management.     

Attribution of Maize Yield Increase in China to Climate Change and Technological Advancement Between 1980 and 2010

Crop yields are affected by climate change and technological advancement. Objectively and quantitatively evaluating the attribution of crop yield change to climate change and technological advancement will ensure sustainable development of agriculture under climate change. In this study, daily climate variables obtained from 553 meteorological stations in China for the period 1961-2010, detailed observations of maize from 653 agricultural meteorological stations for the period 1981-2010, and results using an Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZ) model, are used to explore the attribution of maize (Zea mays L.) yield change to climate change and technological advancement. In the AEZ model, the climatic potential productivity is examined through three step-by-step levels: photosynthetic potential productivity, photosynthetic thermal potential productivity, and climatic potential productivity. The relative impacts of different climate variables on climatic potential productivity of maize from 1961 to 2010 in China are then evaluated. Combined with the observations of maize, the contributions of climate change and technological advancement to maize yield from 1981 to 2010 in China are separated. The results show that, from 1961 to 2010, climate change had a significant adverse impact on the climatic potential productivity of maize in China. Decreased radiation and increased temperature were the main factors leading to the decrease of climatic potential productivity. However, changes in precipitation had only a small effect. The maize yields of the 14 main planting provinces in China increased obviously over the past 30 years, which was opposite to the decreasing trends of climatic potential productivity. This suggests that technological advancement has offset the negative effects of climate change on maize yield. Technological advancement contributed to maize yield increases by 99.6%-141.6%, while climate change contribution was from-41.4% to 0.4%. In particular, the actual maize yields in Shandong, Henan, Jilin, and Inner Mongolia increased by 98.4, 90.4, 98.7, and 121.5 kg hm^-2 yr^-1 over the past 30 years, respectively. Correspondingly, the maize yields affected by technological advancement increased by 113.7, 97.9, 111.5, and 124.8 kg hm^-2 yr^-1, respectively. On the contrary, maize yields reduced markedly under climate change, with an average reduction of-9.0 kg hm^-2 yr^-1. Our findings highlight that agronomic technological advancement has contributed dominantly to maize yield increases in China in the past three decades.     

Application of relative drought indices in assessing climate-change impacts on drought conditions in Czechia

The common versions (referred to as self-calibrated here) of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) are calibrated and then applied to the same weather series. Therefore, the distribution of the index values is about the same for any weather series. We introduce here the relative SPI and PDSI, abbreviated as rSPI and rPDSI. These are calibrated using a reference weather series as a first step, which is then applied to the tested series. The reference series may result from either a different station to allow for the inter-station comparison or from a different period to allow for climate-change impact assessments. The PDSI and 1–24 month aggregations of the SPI are used here. In the first part, the relationships between the self-calibrated and relative indices are studied. The relative drought indices are then used to assess drought conditions for 45 Czech stations under present (1961–2000) and future (2060–2099) climates. In the present climate experiment, the drought indices are calibrated by using the reference station weather series. Of all drought indices, the PDSI exhibits the widest spectrum of drought conditions across Czechia, in part because it depends not only on precipitation (as does the SPI) but also on temperature. In our climate-change impact experiments, the future climate is represented by modifying the observed series according to scenarios based on five Global Climate Models (GCMs). Changes in the SPI-based drought risk closely follow the modeled changes in precipitation, which is predicted to decrease in summer and increase in both winter and spring. Changes in the PDSI indicate an increased drought risk at all stations under all climate-change scenarios, which relates to temperature increases predicted by all of the GCMs throughout the whole year. As drought depends on both precipitation and temperature, we conclude that the PDSI is more appropriate (when compared to the SPI) for use in assessing the potential impact of climate change on future droughts.     

The impacts of climate change on agricultural production systems in China

Climate change can bring positive and negative effects on Chinese agriculture, but negative impacts tend to dominate. The annual mean surface temperature has risen about 0.5–0.8 °C. The precipitation trends have not been identified during the past 100 years in China, although the frequency and intensity of extreme weather/climate events have increased, especially of drought. Water scarcity, more frequent and serious outbreaks of insects and diseases, and soil degradation caused by climate change have impacted agro-environmental conditions. However, temperature rise prolonged the crop growth seasons and cold damages have reduced in Northeast China. The projection of climate change indicates that the surface temperature will continue to increase with about 3.9 to 6.0 °C and precipitation is expected to increase by 9 to 11 % at the end of 21st century in China. Climate warming will provide more heat and as a consequence, the boundary of the triple-cropping system (TCS) will extend northwards by as much as 200 to 300 km, from the Yangtze River Valley to the Yellow River Basin, and the current double-cropping system (DCS) will move to the central part of China, into the current single cropping system (SCS) area which will decrease in SCS surface area of 23.1 % by 2050. Climate warming will also affect the optimum location for the cultivation of China’s main crop varieties. If no measures are taken to adapt to climate changes, compared with the potential yield in 1961–1990, yields of irrigated wheat, corn and rice are projected to decrease by 2.2–6.7 %, 0.4 %–11.9 % and 4.3–12.4 % respectively in the 2050s. Climate warming will enhance potential evaporation and reduce the availability of soil moisture, thus causing a greater need for agricultural irrigation, intensifying the conflict between water supply and demand, especially in arid and semi-arid areas of China. With adequate irrigation, the extent of the reduction in yield of China’s corn and wheat can be improved by 5 % to 15 %, and rice by 5 % or so than the potential yield in 1961–1990. Adaptive measures can reduce the agricultural loss under climate change. If effective measures are taken in a timely way, then climate change in the next 30–50 years will not have a significant influence on China’s food security.     

径流量Z指数与Palmer指数对河西干旱的监测

利用河西内陆河水文代表站1959-2004年逐月径流量资料、内陆河流域灌溉区1949-2001年耕地面积及代表站1961-2005年的气象资料, 通过对径流量进行正态化处理来确定径流量Z指数, 并以径流量Z指数作为径流干旱指数, 对旱涝等级进行划分; 考虑径流量Z指数的旱涝等级与农业灌溉用水实际情况之间的关系, 给出了径流量Z指数的灌溉指标。将径流量转化为降水量, 改进Palmer旱度模式, 且在作改进后, 又将潜在蒸散量的计算法由利用桑斯威特公式改为利用彭曼公式。结果表明:将径流量考虑到Palmer干旱指数中并改变蒸散量的算法, 使得该指数对河西灌溉区干旱情况的监测均有所改善。对照河西地区的干旱事件, 径流量Z指数监测到的干旱情况, 比Palmer干旱指数改进前、后监测到的干旱情况效果更佳。径流量Z指数能更真实地反映河西灌溉区干旱状况。     

Recent tree-growth reduction in north central China as a combined result of a weakened monsoon and atmospheric oscillations

Tree-ring records are a valuable source of information for understanding long-term, regional-scale drought changes. In this study, a tree ring width chronology spanning the last 330?years (A.D. 1681–2010) is developed for the northern fringe of the Asian summer monsoon in north central China based on tree ring widths of the Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) at three sites in the Hasi Mountain (HSM). An annual (running from the previous August to the present July) Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) series is reconstructed for the period A.D. 1698 to 2010 using a linear regression model. This reconstruction accounts for 49?% of the actual PDSI variance during the calibration period (A.D.1951–2005). During the last past 330?years, the year 1759 drought was the most severe and the 1926–1932 drought was the most long-lasting. These drought episodes resulted in huge economic losses and severe famine. Similar periods of drought are also found in the Great Bend of the Yellow River region, northeastern Tibetan Plateau and northern China. Our drought reconstruction is consistent with the dry-wet index derived from historical documents for the Great Bend of the Yellow River region for the last three centuries, revealing that our annual PDSI reconstruction reflects broad-scale climate anomalies and represents drought variations in the northern fringe of the Asian summer monsoon. The PDSI reconstruction correlates significantly with sea surface temperature (SST) in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and northern Indian Ocean at an annual timescale, implying that El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation and the Indian monsoon might be influencing drought variability in the study area. Some extremely dry years of 1707, 1764, 1837, 1854, 1878, 1884, 1926 and 1932 coincided with major El Ni?o events in historical times. The decadal-scale variability is linked to Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and SST variations in the Atlantic Ocean. The observed recent tree growth reduction is unusual when viewed from a long-term perspective.     

Impact of climate change on irrigation water demand of dry season Boro rice in northwest Bangladesh

Climate change will affect irrigation water demand of rice via changes in rice physiology and phenology, soil water balances, evapotranspiration and effective precipitation. As agriculture is the main sector of water use in Bangladesh, estimation of the agricultural water demand in the changing environment is essential for long-term water resources development and planning. In the present paper, a study has been carried out to estimate the change of irrigation water demand in dry-season Boro rice field in northwest Bangladesh in the context of global climate change. The study shows that there will be no appreciable changes in total irrigation water requirement due to climate change. However, there will be an increase in daily use of water for irrigation. As groundwater is the main source of irrigation in northwest Bangladesh, higher daily pumping rate in dry season may aggravate the situation of groundwater scarcity in the region.     

略谈气候异变对中国上古农业转型的影响

结合考古资料,对气候异变与中国上古农业转型的关系进行了论述,认为在全新世时期中国发生过几次较大的降温事件,气候异变一方面给原始农业文化造成严重的损害,另一方面又激发了人们应对这种挑战的勇气和智慧,成为原始农业文化进化和转型的契机;中国上古农业发展中的两次重大转型——农业"边缘"地区游牧经济的形成和黄河中下游地区"沟洫农业"的出现,均与气候异变有关;人类科学地应对和适应气候异变,使中华文明的进程出现了新格局。历史经验表明,自然环境虽然能够对历史过程产生重大影响,但关键是人类如何去应对,人类自身才是历史发展更为重要的决定性因素。     

基于涡度相关的春玉米逐日作物系数及蒸散模拟

作物系数是计算作物蒸散量的关键参数。利用2006—2008年和2011年辽宁锦州玉米农田生态系统的涡度相关、气象、作物发育期及叶面积指数观测数据,分析不受水分胁迫条件下玉米逐日作物系数特征及其与叶面积指数的关系。研究表明:作物系数与玉米农田实际蒸散均呈单峰型变化,约在7月末至8月初达到最大值 (玉米开花吐丝期)。在此基础上,建立了不受水分胁迫条件下玉米逐日作物系数与叶面积指数关系 (达到0.01显著性水平), 同时,采用积温表示的标准化生育期方法模拟相对叶面积指数,并建立了逐日作物系数与相对叶面积指数关系 (达到0.01显著性水平),解决了无叶面积观测地区玉米逐日实际蒸散量的计算。研究结果可为玉米农田用水管理以及灌溉措施的制定提供参考。     

A drought hazard assessment index based on the VIC–PDSI model and its application on the Loess Plateau, China

Drought is a complex natural hazard that is poorly understood and difficult to assess. This paper describes a VIC–PDSI model approach to understanding drought in which the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) Model was combined with the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). Simulated results obtained using the VIC model were used to replace the output of the more conventional two-layer bucket-type model for hydrological accounting, and a two-class-based procedure for calibrating the characteristic climate coefficient (K _j ) was introduced to allow for a more reliable computation of the PDSI. The VIC–PDSI model was used in conjunction with GIS technology to create a new drought assessment index (DAI) that provides a comprehensive overview of drought duration, intensity, frequency, and spatial extent. This new index was applied to drought hazard assessment across six subregions of the whole Loess Plateau. The results show that the DAI over the whole Loess Plateau ranged between 11 and 26 (the greater value of the DAI means the more severe of the drought hazard level). The drought hazards in the upper reaches of Yellow River were more severe than that in the middle reaches. The drought prone regions over the study area were mainly concentrated in Inner Mongolian small rivers, Zuli and Qingshui Rivers basin, while the drought hazards in the drainage area between Hekouzhen–Longmen and Weihe River basin were relatively mild during 1971–2010. The most serious drought vulnerabilities were associated with the area around Lanzhou, Zhongning, and Yinchuan, where the development of water-saving irrigation is the most direct and effective way to defend against and reduce losses from drought. For the relatively humid regions, it will be necessary to establish the rainwater harvesting systems, which could help to relieve the risk of water shortage and guarantee regional food security. Due to the DAI considers the multiple characteristic of drought duration, intensity, frequency, and spatial extent, and because it is based on the VIC–PDSI model and GIS technologies, the DAI could provide some new way on directly comparing the drought hazards over different regions during a long-term period. The result of this study may be useful to decision makers when formulating drought management policies to alleviate the risk of water shortages and guarantee regional food security.     

Temporal and geographical variation in the onset of climatological spring in Northeast China

Indications of earlier onset of spring have been observed in behavior of diverse animal and plant species in the Northern Hemisphere in response to recent climate warming. Knowledge of changes in the spring onset is a critical requirement for understanding ecosystem adaption to climate change, especially for agricultural regions. In this study, we present a climatological approach for detecting the temporal and spatial variability in onset of spring with particular emphasis on how they vary along geographical parameters. Yearly dates for spring onset were computed for 71 climate stations in Northeast China based on daily surface air temperature records. These analyses were conducted for the two study periods (1960–2004 and 1979–2004). We also examined the boundary shifts of spring onset for three selected dates between the periods of 1960–1978 and 1979–2004. The results showed that advancement of spring onset was more pronounced for the period of 1979–2004 than for the period of 1960–2004 (4.0 vs. 2.2 days/decade). For the 22 stations where the spring advancement was statistically significant in the two periods, the mean rate of advancement was ?0.6 days/decade during the period of 1960 to 1978. The trends of advancement of spring onset decreased with both increasing latitude and altitude up to 300 m above sea level, and these geographical effects were clearer during 1979–2004. Analysis of boundary shifts of three specific dates revealed that the spring onset has moved to higher latitudes for each date with an average shift of about 1° of latitude (about 110 km). Our results suggest that attempts to address how ecosystems will adapt to spring advancement associated with climate warming should consider the differences in response rates and geographical effects across the study area.     

Is irrigated agriculture in the Murray Darling Basin well prepared to deal with reductions in water availability?

The “Big Dry”, a prolonged dry period in Australia from 1997 to 2009, dried out much of the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) and resulted in large agricultural losses and degraded river ecosystems. Climate projections are that dry conditions in the MDB are likely to be more regular and severe than ever before, and recent policy initiatives are likely to reduce consumptive water use and redirect water to ecosystem management. This paper aims to develop an understanding of the interactions between water policy and irrigation practices by deriving lessons from drought management in irrigated agriculture of the MDB during the Big Dry, and furthermore, to draw out lessons to enhance the preparedness of irrigated agriculture for a future drier climate and reduced water availability. Reviews of irrigation farmers’ practices, attitudes and capacity to manage during prolonged droughts in the MDB, and the evolution of agricultural water policy in Australia since 1990 were made. It is clear that farmers could be better prepared to deal with a drier climate if their water management practices, e.g. irrigation methods and soil moisture measuring tools are improved, if the impediments to the uncertainty of water allocation and low water availability could be overcome, and if well-targeted research and extension could assist farmers to use water more wisely. It is also clear that Australian water policy could be better prepared in terms of assisting irrigated agriculture to deal with a drier climate. Key areas are reduction of barriers and distortions to water trading, optimizing the environmental water allocation, and seeking mutual benefits between environmental water allocation and irrigated agriculture, improvement of the cost-effectiveness of investments in water supply infrastructure, facilitating carryover and capacity sharing at larger scales, and provision of accurate, accessible and useful water information at different scales. An approach to irrigation practice and water policy is proposed based on past experience and potential opportunities. The approach is a set of linked strategies for more robust agricultural production and a more sustainable environment under a drier climate and reduced water availability.     

Evaluation of SEBS for estimation of actual evapotranspiration using ASTER satellite data for irrigation areas of Australia

Spatial knowledge of land surface evapotranspiration (ET) is of prime interest for environmental applications, such as optimizing irrigation water use, irrigation system performance, crop water deficit, drought mitigation strategies, and accurate initialization of climate prediction models especially in arid and semiarid catchments where water shortage is a critical problem. The recent drought in Australia and concerns about climate change have highlighted the need to manage water resources more sustainably especially in the Murrumbidgee catchment which utilizes bulk water for food production. This study deals with the application of a Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) algorithm based on Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection radiometer (ASTER) data and field observations has been proposed and tested for deriving ET over Coleambally Irrigation Area, located in the southwest of NSW, Australia. We have used 12 ASTER scenes covering the time period of 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2009 for estimating the actual ET over the study area. To validate the proposed methodology, the ground-measured ET was compared to the ASTER-derived actual ET values for the study area. The derived ET value over the study area is much closer to the field measurement. From the remote sensing results and observations, the root mean square error is 0.89 and the mean absolute percentage difference is 2.87 %, which demonstrate the reasonability of SEBS ET estimation for the study area.     

SOME ADVANCES IN CLIMATE WARMING IMPACT RESEARCH IN CHINA SINCE 1990

Increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will strengthen the naturalgreenhouse effect,which could lead to global climate warming and more other changes.China is alargely agricultural country with a large size of population and the relative shortages of farminglands and water resources,thus increasing the importance of climate warming for national economydevelopment.Therefore,Chinese government and scientists have paid great attention to theimpact-assessment of climate warming on national economy in China,especially during the past 10years.This presentation will briefly describe some major issues of climate warming impact researchon national vegetation,agriculture,forest,water resources,energy use and regional sea level forChina,etc.As a result,all climate change scenarios derived by GCMs suggest a substantial change in thecharacteristic natural vegetation types.It is also shown that comparing with the distributionsimulated under the normal time period 1951—1980 as the present climate,by 2050 large changesin cropping systems would occur almost everywhere in China.Climate warming would lead toincrease cropping diversification and multiplication.Unfortunately,the possible net balancebetween precipitation and evapotranspiration would be negative and it would lead to reduce thegrain production in China significantly due to enhanced moisture stress in soil.The most evidentinfluence of climate warming on water resources would happen in Huanghe-Huaihe-Haihe Basin andthe water supply-demand deficit would be substantially enhanced in this area.And also,a warmerclimate for China will alter the energy requirement for domestic heating and cooling,that is,reduce energy use for heating in northern China and increase energy consumption for cooling insouthern China.     

近十年来我国气候变暖影响研究的若干进展

近年来，我国政府和科技界十分关注气候王馥棠变暖对我国经济发展可能影响的评估, 开展了许多重大项目和课题的研究。该文仅就气候变暖对我国自然植被、农业、森林、水资源、能源利用和区域海平面上升等领域影响评估研究的若干有意义的初步结果简要归纳和评述如下:取自不同GCM模型的未来气候变化情景下的影响评估模拟表明，我国的特征性自然植被类型将会发生明显的变化。同当前气候（1951~1980年）下的模拟分布相比，到2050年我国几乎所有地方的农业种植制度均将发生较大变化；气候变暖将导致复种指数增加和种植方式多样化，但降水与蒸散之间可能出现的负平衡和土壤水分胁迫的增加以及生育期的可能缩短，最终将导致我国主要作物的产量下降。气候变暖对我国水资源最明显的影响将会发生在黄淮海流域，这个区域的水资源供需短缺将大大提高。同时，气候变暖将改变我国室内取暖和降温的能源需求关系:北方冬季取暖的能源消耗将减少, 而南方夏季降温的能源消耗将会增加。海平面的上升将使我国三个主要沿海低洼脆弱区，即珠江三角洲、长江三角洲和黄河三角洲，面临部分遭受海水淹没的威胁。     

中国北方干旱化年代际特征与大气环流的关系

用CRU和ECMWF资料分析了近代中国北方干湿变化特征及其与东亚大气环流异常特征的关系.结果表明:中国北方干旱化具有显著的年际、年代际特征,20世纪70年代末干湿发生显著转变,西北东部和华北地区变干趋势明显,北方大部分地区干旱现象严重;中国北方地区当前的干旱化时空格局与东亚夏季风异常特征密切相关,夏季风减弱以及由此造成水汽输送量减少是导致干旱化发展的主要原因,而低层大气反气旋环流增强和气旋性环流减弱是引起干旱化的异常环流特征.     

Changes in exceptional hydrological and meteorological weekly event frequencies in Greece

The aim of the present study is, primarily, to compare the frequencies of exceptional hydrological and meteorological weekly events, employing the self-calibrated versions of Palmer’s drought indices (PDSI and PHDI, respectively), from 17 stations across Greece in the decade 1997–2006 with these of 1961–1990; on second level, to identify the trends and define the time lags between these two indices for the study period 1961–2006. The changes in the spatial distribution of exceptional weekly event frequencies between the most recent decade and the baseline period were similar for both drought indices. When 1997–2006 was compared with 1961–1990, the number of stations with a frequency of exceptionally dry weekly events >93rd percentile, increased by seven stations (41%) for PDSI and nine (53%) for PHDI, at the expense of exceptionally moist weekly spells. PDSI was found to lead PHDI by three to 20?weeks. If exceptional weekly events continue to be more frequent in the future, major implications for natural water resources are expected.     

How stable are Australian farmers’ climate change risk perceptions? New evidence of the feedback loop between risk perceptions and behaviour

The exact relationship between people’s climate change attitudes and behaviour is a topic that engages policy-makers and researchers worldwide. Do climate change attitudes influence behaviour or is it possible that behaviour can change attitudes? This study uses a unique repeated survey dataset of 275 farmers (irrigators) in the southern Murray-Darling Basin from 2010–11 to 2015–16, to explore the dynamic relationship between climate change risk perceptions and farm adaptation behaviour. Farmers who had an increased risk exposure (expressed through higher debt, larger irrigated areas, greater share of permanent crops, and located in areas with higher temperatures and less rainfall) were more likely to agree climate change posed a risk. Whilst farmers became more accepting towards climate change over the time-period, a significant percentage of these attitudes were unstable. One reason suggested for this instability is the presence of a feedback loop between risk perceptions and behaviour. Namely, new evidence was found that farmers who agreed climate change was a risk in 2010–11, were more likely to undertake farm production decisions to reduce that risk (e.g. changing crop mix, reducing irrigated area and consequently selling water entitlements) – which had the impact of negatively feeding back and reducing their stated climate change risk perceptions in 2015–16. Conversely, farmers who were originally deniers were more likely to undertake somewhat riskier farm production decisions (e.g. increasing water utilisation rates and irrigation areas) – which consequently had the impact of positively increasing their climate change risk perceptions in 2015–16.     

Impact of Climate Change and Variability on Irrigation Requirements: A Global Perspective

Anthropogenic climate change does not only affect water resources but also water demand. Future water and food security will depend, among other factors, on the impact of climate change on water demand for irrigation. Using a recently developed global irrigation model, with a spatial resolution of 0.5° by 0.5°, we present the first global analysis of the impact of climate change and climate variability on irrigation water requirements. We compute how long-term average irrigation requirements might change under the climatic conditions of the 2020s and the 2070s, as provided by two climate models, and relate these changes to the variations in irrigation requirements caused by long-term and interannual climate variability in the 20th century. Two-thirds of the global area equipped for irrigation in 1995 will possibly suffer from increased water requirements, and on up to half of the total area (depending on the measure of variability), the negative impact of climate change is more significant than that of climate variability.     

Do we need to include soil evolution module in models for prediction of future climate change?

Climate change induce increases in precipitation in Northern Europe that may in turn affect soil evolution by increasing the amounts of water flowing through soils. However, there is a general lack of consideration of the impact of climate change on soil evolution. We propose here to use agricultural soil drainage—that also increases the amount of water flowing through soils—as an analogy to climate change. We thus studied the impact of 16 years of agricultural drainage in one cropped plot of the most common type of soils of Northern Europe. To estimate the importance of the soil evolution induced by drainage, we compared it to the long term natural evolution of that soil. The recent increase in water fluxes by agricultural drainage (16 years) has resulted in an increase in the intensity and velocity of the natural pedological processes. The increased amount of water flowing thorough soils due to drainage is of same order of magnitude than that that would be induced by climate change in the next 50–100 years in northern Europe. Our results demonstrated thus that climate change will significantly affect soil evolution. This evolution induces losses of the finest particles involved in organic carbon sequestration and thus has a feedback effect on climate change. Therefore we consider that soil evolution in response to climate change has to be explicitly studied and included in models predicting global climate change.