PICO
Land and water are mutually intertwined and each decision on land is also impacting water and water-related ecological processes. Land use and land cover (LULC) can alter hydrological processes and ecosystem dynamics and thereby affect critical biosphere functions, such as food production. These changes can emerge directly from anthropogenic interventions, or indirectly as the result of climate change.
Novel approaches are needed to assess the impact of LULC changes on the hydrological cycle (e.g. streamflow, groundwater quantity and quality, evaporation and transpiration, soil moisture, and rainfall interception) and its associated water-related ecosystem services (WES), including primarily the production of food. This includes the analysis of non-local and non-linear effects, incorporating socio-ecological systems, and identifying the feedback between land and water systems. In light of these interlinkages, new perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches, such as ecohydrology, agro-hydrology as well as socio-hydrology, are needed to inform effective and equitable water resource management.
This session welcomes studies that explore the impacts of LULC changes on all water resources, hydrological processes, and associated WES, primarily food production. More specifically, we welcome studies including, but not limited to:
• Advances in the quantification of hydrological impacts of LULC changes through agro- eco- and socio-hydrological modelling or the analysis of experimental data
• Advances in multi- and interdisciplinary methodologies for the assessment of the water-land nexus, including considerations on food and water security
• Analysis and evaluation of policy interventions to manage the land-water nexus, such as ecological restoration schemes and nature-based solutions, with respect to their effectiveness and feasibility
• Socio-hydrological and hydro-social approaches dealing with land, water, and ecosystem management, aiming also to highlight feedback loops between social and bio-geophysical dynamics
• Disentanglement of LULC and climate change impacts on water resources (surface and groundwater, green water, atmospheric water) hydrological processes, and associated WES.