Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1007/s00267-022-01662-3
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Ecological sustainability assessment of water distribution for the maintenance of ecosystems, their services and biodiversity
Author Schlattmann, A.; Neuendorf, F.; Burkhard, K.; Probst, E.; Pujades, E.; Mauser, W.; Attinger, S.; von Haaren, C.
Source Titel Environmental Management
Year 2022
Department CHS
Volume 70
Issue 2
Page From 329
Page To 349
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Supplements https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1007%2Fs00267-022-01662-3/MediaObjects/267_2022_1662_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1007%2Fs00267-022-01662-3/MediaObjects/267_2022_1662_MOESM2_ESM.pdf
https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1007%2Fs00267-022-01662-3/MediaObjects/267_2022_1662_MOESM3_ESM.pdf
https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1007%2Fs00267-022-01662-3/MediaObjects/267_2022_1662_MOESM4_ESM.pdf
Keywords Sustainability assessment; Water distribution; Biodiversity; SDGs; Ecosystem Services; GIS
Abstract Water provision and distribution are subject to conflicts between users worldwide, with agriculture as a major driver of discords. Water sensitive ecosystems and their services are often impaired by man-made water shortage. Nevertheless, they are not sufficiently included in sustainability or risk assessments and neglected when it comes to distribution of available water resources. The herein presented contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6) and Life on Land (SDG 15) is the Ecological Sustainability Assessment of Water distribution (ESAW-tool). The ESAW-tool introduces a watershed sustainability assessment that evaluates the sustainability of the water supply-demand ratio on basin level, where domestic water use and the water requirements of ecosystems are considered as most important water users. An ecological risk assessment estimates potential impacts of agricultural depletion of renewable water resources on (ground)water-dependent ecosystems. The ESAW-tool works in standard GIS applications and is applicable in basins worldwide with a set of broadly available input data. The ESAW-tool is tested in the Danube river basin through combination of high-resolution hydro-agroecological model data (hydrological land surface process model PROMET and groundwater model OpenGeoSys) and further freely available data (water use, biodiversity and wetlands maps). Based on the results, measures for more sustainable water management can be deduced, such as increase of rainfed agriculture near vulnerable ecosystems or change of certain crops. The tool can support decision making of authorities from local to national level as well as private enterprises who want to improve the sustainability of their supply chains.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=26269
Schlattmann, A., Neuendorf, F., Burkhard, K., Probst, E., Pujades, E., Mauser, W., Attinger, S., von Haaren, C. (2022):
Ecological sustainability assessment of water distribution for the maintenance of ecosystems, their services and biodiversity
Environ. Manage. 70 (2), 329 - 349 10.1007/s00267-022-01662-3