Towards an integrated assessment of water security under global change in the Americas

This fact sheet describes an initiative by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research to strengthen adaptive management capacity and water security in the arid Americas through science-policy dialogues and integrated assessments of surface and groundwater use.

• Water security is defined as the sustainable availability of adequate quantities and qualities of water for resilient societies and ecosystems amidst uncertain global change. This security is threatened by human and natural drivers, including population growth, agricultural intensification, land use change, and climate change.
• In the arid Americas, agriculture is a primary driver of water demand, consuming between 70% and 90% of the region's water. Due to high variability in precipitation and streamflow, there is an intensified reliance on groundwater as a strategic resource, which in some areas has resulted in aquifer depletion and risks to ecosystem services and human use.
• The project aims to enhance adaptive management capacity through several goals: documenting the impacts of climate change and variability on water use, developing shared groundwater diagnostic methodologies, improving the understanding of electrical energy pricing and agricultural water use, and conducting comparative studies across the Arid Americas.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2013). Towards an integrated assessment of water security under global change in the Americas. https://iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/03/CRA_005.pdf

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Towards an integrated assessment of water security under global change in the Americas. 2013. https://iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/03/CRA_005.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Towards an integrated assessment of water security under global change in the Americas |date=September 2013 |url=https://iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/03/CRA_005.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2013towards, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Towards an integrated assessment of water security under global change in the Americas}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2013}, month = sep, url = {https://iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/03/CRA_005.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }