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Sustainable irrigation and climate feedbacks

Nature Food volume 4, pages 654–663 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Agricultural irrigation induces greenhouse gas emissions directly from soils or indirectly through the use of energy or construction of dams and irrigation infrastructure, while climate change affects irrigation demand, water availability and the greenhouse gas intensity of irrigation energy. Here, we present a scoping review to elaborate on these irrigation–climate linkages by synthesizing knowledge across different fields, emphasizing the growing role climate change may have in driving future irrigation expansion and reinforcing some of the positive feedbacks. This Review underscores the urgent need to promote and adopt sustainable irrigation, especially in regions dominated by strong, positive feedbacks.

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Fig. 1: Illustration of the climate impacts of irrigation.
Fig. 2: Conceptual models of climate–irrigation feedbacks.
Fig. 3: Examples of floating photovoltaics.

Rebecca Hernandez (a); iStockphoto.com/Sjo (b)

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Steven M. Grodsky

    Present address: New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, US Geological Survey, Ithaca, NY, USA

  2. Lindsey L. Sloat

    Present address: Land and Carbon Lab, World Resources Institute, Washington, DC, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region’s Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

    Yi Yang

  2. Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Zhenong Jin

  3. Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Nathaniel D. Mueller & Lindsey L. Sloat

  4. Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Nathaniel D. Mueller, Avery W. Driscoll & Lindsey L. Sloat

  5. Wild Energy Center, Institute of the Environment, Davis, CA, USA

    Rebecca R. Hernandez

  6. Department of Land, Air & Water Resources, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Rebecca R. Hernandez

  7. Institute of the Environment, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Steven M. Grodsky

  8. School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Mikhail V. Chester

  9. Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China

    Yong-Guan Zhu

  10. Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Yong-Guan Zhu

  11. Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    David B. Lobell

  12. Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    David B. Lobell

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Contributions

Y.Y., Z.J. and N.D.M. conceived and designed the experiments, analysed the data and wrote the paper. A.W.D., R.R.H., S.M.G., L.L.S., M.V.C., Y.-G.Z. and D.B.L. contributed materials and wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Zhenong Jin or Nathaniel D. Mueller.

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Yang, Y., Jin, Z., Mueller, N.D. et al. Sustainable irrigation and climate feedbacks. Nat Food 4, 654–663 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00821-x

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