The recent dry summers brought water management in agriculture on the political agenda and to headlines in the media. The importance of agricultural water management will be further increasing in the context of rapidly advancig climate change.
Background and Objective:
Although current water use in agriculture lies below one percent of the total amount of water extracted, the issue of water management has gained in importance in the context of recent dry summers. Agricultural water management will remain of high topicality in the context of advanced climate change and its manifestations such as increasing temperatures and evaporation rates. For Thünen Institute as a federal research institution with economic, ecological and technological focus it is important to consider not only water protection but also water use in agriculture in order to provide political advice and contribute to the development of water use strategies.
The joint projekt LAWAMAD aims to analyse the options for improved water management in German agricultural landscape with the objective to increase water availability for irrigation.
Approach:
The project will address the issue of water availability, demand and use from different perspectives, each elaborated within a separate subproject:
Focusing on preselected landscapes, the project will demonstrate which water storage and irrigation options are available, which implications these have, and how legal
and support frameworks are to be adjusted in order to promote the implementation of appropriate water management options. For all German regions the irrigation needs and irrigation benefits in the context of climate change will be quantified.