WUR - Water Systems and Global Change Group
The Water Systems and Global Change (WSG) group aims to improve the understanding of anthropogenically driven changes in water cycles in relation to interactions between climate-, water-, energy- and agricultural systems.
We identify four research lines, as illustrated in the figure below.
Cross-cutting
Climate-water information services
We develop excellent science-based climate and water services, tailored to the needs and in interaction with users such as farmers, power companies and water managers.
Future water stress
We develop novel tools to identify and evaluate solutions for future water stress. These tools account for the demand for water by society and nature, the availability of water, and the quality of water. We will study this on the basin, regional, continental and global scale, in spatially explicit models.
We perform integrated assessments of water systems, in which we integrate knowledge on water systems and global change. To this end, we use a variety of models and observations. We combine modeling analyses with participatory approaches. Our water assessments focus on (1) the effect of changing global drivers on water systems, (2) adaptation and (3) mitigation strategies, comprising of novel approaches such as adaptive water management and ecosystem-based adaptation and (4) climate-water services. We thus take an integrated approach across the water, food and energy systems, at multiple spatial and temporal scales.
