The Ogalalla Aquifer is a vast underground lake that irrigates farms across the US Great Plains. It took thousands of years to fill, but human use could drain it in roughly a century.
Desalination is an extraordinarily expensive option.
SAM MOOY/AAP
A dozen leading researchers have issued an urgent call to action for the Murray-Darling Basin, arguing that the billions spent on water-efficient irrigation have done little for the rivers’ health.
At present, the Middle East and North African region contains 7% of the world’s population but only has access to 1.5% of its renewable freshwater supply through rainfall.
Under the proposal, irrigators would have to submit a statement that tallies with aerial images of their water use.
AAP Image/Cubbie Group
Allegations of water theft have thrown the Murray-Darling Basin Plan into crisis. The solution could involve users declaring their annual water use, subject to random audits - like a tax return.
Irrigation pumps along the Barwon River in New South Wales.
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
The system that allocates water use in Australia’s largest river basin relies on a shared commitment by states to uphold the rules. New allegations of water theft threaten to break that trust.
Children walk through a maize plantation in Zimbabwe, one of the countries in which irrigated areas might be double the officially-recognised area.
Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo
Official statistics in Tanzania do not capture small-scale irrigation, meaning that it’s impact is unclear. Yet new research reveals that it’s two to three times greater than previously thought
Water and agriculture is high on the agenda at this year’s climate talks.
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Jeremy Bird, International Water Management Institute
The current climate talks in Morocco are a golden opportunity for making strides on the adaptation of African agriculture. African countries need the tools necessary to do so.
The Millennium drought had a huge impact on the Murray-Darling river system.
suburbanbloke/Flickr/Wikimedia Commons
Droughts are much bigger and slower than other natural disasters that hit Australia - meaning that despite their huge impacts, we still haven’t figured out how best to protect ourselves.
The Ord River was targeted for agricultural expansion in the 20th century.
isthatdaves/Wikimedia Commons
Ever since British settlement, water rights in Australia’s north have favoured landowners over traditional owners, effectively locking Aboriginal people out of agricultural development.
Blue-green algae in the Murray River upstream of Mildura in April.
Darren Baldwin
Toxic algal blooms were unheard of in Australia’s major waterways before 1991. Now the Murray River has been struck by four major events in less than a decade, with more likely in the future.
Barkindji protest outside Parliament in Canberra.
Murray Butcher
For the Barkindji people, the Darling River has been a symbol of Aboriginal survival since colonial times. Now, the once busy NSW town of Wilcannia is in danger of losing its water.
Northern rivers could increase Australia’s irrigated land by 50%. But we need to think about the environmental impacts.
Robin Hutton/Flickr
It’s full steam ahead for bringing vast increases in farming to northern Australia. In fact, probably too fast to adequately consider the environmental impacts.
Maize is a staple food in South Africa. Its production is likely to decline by half this year due to drought. The poor will be the hardest hit.
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South Africa has been hit by a severe drought and will not be able to produce enough maize - its staple food - in 2016. This will prompt a rise in imports and therefore food prices.
Open-air irrigation: so last century.
Bidge/Wikimedia Commons
Managing Director, Triple Helix Consulting; Chief Executive Officer, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research; Professorial Fellow, ANU Fenner School for the Environment and Society, Australian National University