Towards a revised planetary boundary for consumptive freshwater use: role of environmental flow requirements

This research paper proposes a revised planetary boundary for human 'blue' water consumption (PB-Water) by incorporating a bottom-up quantification of local water availabilities and environmental flow requirements, resulting in a lower boundary estimate than previous top-down analyses.

• The authors propose a revised planetary boundary for human 'blue' water consumption (PB-Water) based on a bottom-up quantification of local water availabilities that accounts for environmental flow requirements. This approach suggests a PB-Water of approximately 2800 km3 yr−1, which is the average of an uncertainty range between 1100 and 4500 km3 yr−1. This figure is significantly lower than the previous estimate of 4000 km3 yr−1 (the lower end of a 4000–6000 km3 yr−1 range) derived from a simpler top-down analysis.
• With current blue water consumption exceeding 1700 km3 yr−1, the planetary boundary for water is being approached quickly. The authors state that the new estimate is provisional and requires further refinement through up-scaled analyses of local water accessibility and constraints, as well as an examination of tradeoffs with other planetary boundaries, specifically climate change and land use.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2013). Towards a revised planetary boundary for consumptive freshwater use: role of environmental flow requirements. https://www.sei.org/publications/towards-a-revised-planetary-boundary-for-consumptive-freshwater-use-role-of-environmental-flow-requirements/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Towards a revised planetary boundary for consumptive freshwater use: role of environmental flow requirements. 2013. https://www.sei.org/publications/towards-a-revised-planetary-boundary-for-consumptive-freshwater-use-role-of-environmental-flow-requirements/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Towards a revised planetary boundary for consumptive freshwater use: role of environmental flow requirements |date=9 December 2013 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/towards-a-revised-planetary-boundary-for-consumptive-freshwater-use-role-of-environmental-flow-requirements/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2013towards, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Towards a revised planetary boundary for consumptive freshwater use: role of environmental flow requirements}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2013}, month = dec, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/towards-a-revised-planetary-boundary-for-consumptive-freshwater-use-role-of-environmental-flow-requirements/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }