#R GETDATA INLAND WATER DRIVER#

The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) AQUASTAT Database defines total water withdrawal as: вЂњAnnual quantity of water withdrawn for agricultural, industrial and municipal purposes. Water withdrawal:В Water withdrawals, ( also sometimes known as вЂwater abstractionsвЂ™), are defined as freshwater taken from ground or surface water sources (such as rivers or lakes), either permanently or temporarily, and used for agricultural, industrial or municipal (domestic) uses. Water stress in Northern Europe, Canada, much of Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania is typically low or low-to-medium. Most countries across South Asia are experiencing high water stress medium-to-high across East Asia, the United States and much of Southern and Eastern Europe. Many, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Syria, Pakistan, Libya have withdrawal rates well in excess of 100 percent - this means they are either extracting unsustainably from existing aquifer sources, or produce a large share of water from desalinisation. 3ДЄs shown, several countries across the Middle East, North Africa & South Asia have extremely high levels of water stress. The World Resources Institute categorise water stress in the following ways: if withdrawals are less than 10 percent of resources then a country has low water stress 10-20 percent is low-to-medium stress 20-40 percent medium-to-high 40-80 percent high stress and greater than 80 percent is extremely high stress. This is measured based on freshwater withdrawals as a share of internal (renewable) resources. The visualization provides a measure of levels of water stress across the world. Poorer progress in increasing crop yields in recent decades in Sub-Saharan Africa has been partly attributed (among other factors including fertilizer application rates and crop varieties) to lower uptake of irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Levels of irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa have increased, and continue to have, lower levels of irrigation relative to South Asia and the Middle East & North Africa.

India irrigates 35 percent of its agricultural area. As we see, irrigation is particularly prevalent across South & East Asia and the Middle East Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Korea all irrigate more than half of their agricultural area. The share of total agricultural area (which is the combination of arable and grazing land)В which is irrigated is shown in the chart.

#R GETDATA INLAND WATER DRIVER#

It has also been a strong driver in the quantity of water used for agriculture. Irrigation - the deliberate provision or controlled flooding of agricultural land with water - has been an important input factor in the observed increase of crop yields across many countries in recent decades. Similarly, if total renewable sources remain constant, per capita levels can fall if a countryвЂ™s population is growing.ДЄs we see, per capita renewable resources are declining in many countries as a result of population increases. If renewable resources decline - as can happen frequently in countries with large annual variability in rainfall, such as monsoon seasons - then per capita renewable withdrawals will also fall. Per capita renewable resources depend on two factors: the total quantity of renewable flows, and the size of the population. The chart shows the level of renewable internal freshwater resources per capita. If rates of freshwater withdrawal begin to exceed the renewable flows, resources begin to decline. Renewable internal flows are therefore an important indicator of water security or scarcity. вЂRenewable internal freshwater flowsвЂ™ refer toВ to internal renewable resources (internal river flows and groundwater from rainfall) in the country. To maintain sustainable levels of water resources, rates of water withdrawals must be below rates of freshwater replenishment.

R getdata inland water