The Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security is an American non-profit research institute created in 1987 to provide independent research and policy analysis on issues of development, environment, and security, with a particular focus on global and regional freshwater issues. It is located in Oakland, California.The Institute's primary focus is on water conservation and demand management. The mission of the Institute is to "[create] and [advance] solutions to the world’s most pressing water challenges".
Indigenous knowledge systems have some of the most comprehensive bodies of information about the nature of climate change and about how to take action to avert dangerous climate change. The inclusion of Indigenous knowledge systems and Indigenous scholars in major scientific assessments is widely advocated for today. However, little is understood about the history of how Indigenous persons have influenced scientific assessments through exercising their agency and leadership, whether national assessments such as the U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA) or international assessments such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The purpose of this article is to show that the NCA represents one of the most consistent and robust inclusions of Indigenous peoples and Indigenous knowledges among national and international scientific assessments, including Indigenous-focused chapters in four of the five major NCA assessment reports. It is important to understand how, over time, Indigenous involvement in the NCA has changed, expanded, and fostered examples that other assessments can draw from. At the same time, significant work remains to further the knowledge, leadership, and influence of Indigenous knowledge holders, Indigenous scientists, and Indigenous leaders in the NCA, and to ensure a sustained process that is invulnerable to political turnover.
Abstract Healthy freshwater ecosystems are crucial for sustainable development, yet they face growing threats from unsustainable water use. However, current water scarcity metrics focus almost exclusively on human demand, overlooking whether sufficient water remains to sustain ecosystems. We address this gap by presenting the first evaluation of ecological water scarcity (EWS) across 1,182 river basins, introducing a novel indicator that recognizes ecosystems as legitimate water users to those of humans. Our findings reveal that in the 2000s, 412 basins (35% globally; 17% annual, 18% seasonal) experienced EWS, with affected areas expanding by 10 million km² since the 1950s. Human intervention intensified EWS in 13% of basins and caused 53% of seasonal and 60% of annual EWS cases. By the 2050s, affected basins range from 392 under RCP2.6–SSP1 to 416 under RCP8.5–SSP5, with persistent hotspots in regions of intensive water use. These findings show that climate mitigation can reduce future EWS risk, but environmental flow protection, water-use efficiency, water recycling, ecologically informed infrastructure operation and ecosystem restoration are also needed to safeguard freshwater ecosystems.
Abstract The American Geophysical Union (AGU) announces the new living collection “Impactful Datasets in Earth, Space, and Environmental Sciences” which recognizes the creation and curation of datasets enabling research, analysis, and decision making beyond what is captured by traditional academic impact metrics. The collection highlights datasets through the dimensions of People, Planet, and Prosperity, and includes a curated set of nominated datasets and accompanying special collection of data papers. Developed with the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) community, the nomination and review process initially invites contributors from across research, operations, and public service, to nominate datasets important to their work, and then submit a data paper that expands upon the nomination text for inclusion in the special collection. This commentary highlights the rationale for the living collection, and the process of nomination. The collection serves as a living reference that strengthens data culture, supports reproducible geoscience, and provides enduring access to critical information for science and society.
Virtual water describes water embedded in the production of goods and offers meaningful insights about the complex interplay between water, trade and sustainability. In this Review, we examine the trends, major players, traded products and key drivers of virtual water trade (VWT). Roughly 20% of water used in global food production is traded virtually rather than domestically consumed. As such, agriculture dominates VWT, with livestock products, wheat, maize, soybean, oil palm, coffee and cocoa contributing over 70% of total VWT. These products are also driving VWT growth, the volume of which has increased 2.9 times from 1986 to 2022. However, the countries leading VWT contributions (with China, the United States, the Netherlands, Germany and India accounting for 34% of the global VWT in 2022) have remained relatively stable over time, albeit with China becoming an increasingly important importer. VWT can mitigate the effects of water scarcity and food insecurity, although there are concerns about the disconnect between consumers and the environmental impacts of their choices, and unsustainable resource exploitation. Indeed, approximately 16% of unsustainable water use and 11% of global groundwater depletion are virtually traded. Future VWT analyses must consider factors such as water renewability, water quality, climate change impacts and socioeconomic implications. The trade of virtual water — the water associated with the production of traded goods — acts as a mechanism for the distribution of water resources between different countries. This Review discusses the major participating countries and industries, and current trends. It concludes by exploring how the analysis of virtual water could be further refined.
