Matteo Sangiorgio, PhD student under the supervision of the prof. Giorgio Guariso, has published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) a study on the evolution of world agriculture in the new climatic conditions that could occur in the future: Potential for sustainable irrigation expansion in a 3 °C warmer climate.
Climate change is expected to reshape the distribution of irrigated lands. The research investigates global patterns of irrigation water demand and availability in 1.5 °C and 3 °C warmer climates. We find that up to 35% of currently rain-fed croplands, irrigation could be expanded without negative environmental externalities on freshwater resources. Irrigation expansion could improve crop productivity to feed up between 0.3 and 1.4 billion additional people with water storage of different size. This work identifies target regions in the world where investments in irrigation expansion are needed.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the official journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), is an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans the biological, physical, and social sciences. The journal is global in scope and submission is open to all researchers worldwide.
PNAS is one of the world’s most-cited and comprehensive multidisciplinary scientific journals, publishing more than 3,300 research papers annually.
