KN1 | Global freshwater crisis: Agricultural water management is a key
Session Details
| Speaker: | Dieter Gerten |
| Moderator: | Andreas Haarstrick |
| Date/Time: | 09.10.2024, 10:00 – 11:00 |
| Location: | Aula |
Description
The global freshwater system is under severe pressure: Phenomena such as water scarcity, overdraft of surface and groundwater stocks, modification of large-scale water cycles, degradation and pollution of aquatic ecosystems, impacts of climate change and extremes, and water conflicts are becoming more intensive and widespread, affecting billions of people. Collectively, these developments lead to an ever stronger transgression of the planetary boundary for freshwater change, and a water crisis of global magnitude appears to be unfolding. Against this backdrop, this talk outlines drivers of the current world water situation with a particular view on how agriculture is both a victim and a driver of change. It also shows that improved agricultural water management – such as by more efficient irrigation, water harvesting, soil conservation – is essential for saving water resources, reducing pressure on the planetary boundaries, and meeting several Sustainable Development Goals at once.
About the Speaker
Dieter Gerten is geographer and hydrologist and works as research group leader of the group “Terrestrial Safe Operating Space” (TESS) at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). He is also Professor for Global Change Climatology and Hydrology at the Humboldt University Berlin.
His research focuses on global water resources, particularly on agricultural water scarcity as well as on the impacts of climate change and human activities on water cycles and ecosystems. His team primarily investigates interlinkages between planetary boundaries and the role of the freshwater cycle in the Earth system, based on a terrestrial biosphere model that simulates the key underlying processes and dynamics.
Throughout his career, Gerten has published >150 peer-reviewed papers and books and contributed to the 5th IPCC Assessment Report. In addition, he is in the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal Detritus and served as Associate or Guest Editor of several journals, amongst others of Hydrological Sciences Journal, Earth Perspectives, and PNAS. Furthermore, since 2020 he is co-speaker of the Leibniz Research Network “Earth & Societies”, and member of the Advisory Board of the European Forum for the Study of Religion & Environment.
