Assessment of Irrigated Agriculture Vulnerability under Climate Change in Southern Italy

Abstract

Climate change in Mediterranean countries is anticipated to have a strong impact on water availability by exacerbating drought conditions and water scarcity. In this context, efficient irrigation practices are becoming essential for sustaining crop production. This work assesses vulnerability of irrigated agriculture for six irrigation districts and their associated reservoirs in Mediterranean areas across Italy under climate change (1976-2005 versus 2036-2065; RCP 4.5 and 8.5), evaluating changes in irrigation requirements, evaporation from reservoirs, and the availability of freshwater supplies. Irrigation requirements are estimated through a crop water model (SIMETAW_R) integrated into a GIS platform, while inflows to reservoirs are hydrologically modelled as partitioning of precipitation contributing to runoff. Results are aggregated into indicators that show the general decreasing resilience and increasing vulnerability of irrigated agriculture under climate change conditions in each case study. The highest percentage of allowable water losses for irrigation is estimated in the Cuga-Alto Temo system, during the prolonged drought period, to be able to satisfy irrigation demand for less than a year. Climate change may only partially affect irrigation in resilient systems, in which storage capacity and the water level entering into the reservoir are considerably higher than the water distribution volumes.

Drought Vulnerability Indices in Mexico

“…However, no method to do this is unanimously accepted, which opens the door for scientists to select and propose the most appropriate method in each case according to the specific study. For instance, in recent years many studies on vulnerability have been carried out in several countries of the world, all of which use different methods and concepts (e.g., [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]). Likewise, in Mexico different studies on vulnerability to drought have been conducted in some states and regions of the country (e.g., [38][39][40][41]), but none of them have used the same procedures or methods.…”

Techno-Economic Viability of Agro-Photovoltaic Irrigated Arable Lands in the EU-Med Region: A Case-Study in Southwestern Spain

“…On the other hand, more than 80% of the irrigated land-acreage in Spain, involving 7•10 5 irrigators and 2•10 6 -hectare, is serviced by an irrigation district [25]. According to Masia et al [26], surface water from reservoirs represents most of the water stewardshipped and distributed by irrigation districts in the EU-Med region. Concurrently, underground water abstractions in Spain irrigate over one-third of the country irrigable area [27].…”

Water-Food-Energy Nexus under Climate Change in Sardinia

“…However, final case study results will aim at a more articulated disaggregation within the seven main hydrological districts in Sardinia. For water demand, the model considers: (1) open-water evaporation from reservoir surfaces; (2) discharges for hydroelectric generation; (3) spillways in times of overflow; (4) irrigation requirements; (5) industrial water demand (dependent on its GDP); (6) domestic and tourist water requirements and; (7) environmental flows (i.e., the minimum amount of water needed to preserve ecological functions and values in watercourses). With irrigated agriculture being the largest water consumer, this sector was modelled in more detail.…”

“…With irrigated agriculture being the largest water consumer, this sector was modelled in more detail. The crop water requirements per unit-area, and the area planted, were taken into consideration for 13 major crops on Sardinia as a function of current and changing climatic conditions using the SIMETAW-GIS crop water model [7]. Energy production is modelled from sources including oil and gas, solar, wind and hydropower, while energy demand are evaluated for the agricultural, domestic and industrial sectors.…”