Climate change and water security: Estimating the greenhouse gas costs of achieving water security through investments in modern irrigation technology

S. Mushtaq, T.N. Maraseni and K. Reardon-Smith

Agricultural Systems, 2013, vol. 117, issue C, 78-89

Abstract: There are significant concerns about the longer term impact of climate change and climate variability on water availability in Australia. Modern irrigation technologies are seen as a way to manage climate change impacts and improve water security. However, while modern irrigation technologies may save volumes of water, it is likely that they will result in increased on-farm energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, suggesting potential conflicts in terms of mitigation and adaptation policies. Five irrigation technology transformation scenarios—three historical and two adoption—were developed to evaluate industry-wide tradeoffs between water savings, energy consumption (and GHG emissions), and economic returns associated with irrigation technology transformations under current Australian Government water resource policies.

Keywords: Greenhouse gas emissions; Economic and hydrological modelling; Irrigation technologies; Integrated trade-offs framework; Australia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agisys:v:117:y:2013:i:c:p:78-89

DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2012.12.009

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