Wetting and Drying: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Saving Water from Rice Production

This report from the World Resources Institute examines the potential of improved water management in rice production to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve water. It identifies specific techniques to reduce flooding, analyzes barriers to adoption across several countries, and provides recommendations for research and policy reform to scale these practices.

• Global rice production is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing between 500 and 800 million tons of CO2 equivalent annually. This represents at least 10 percent of all agricultural GHG emissions and at least 1 percent of global GHG emissions.
• Reducing or interrupting the flooding of rice paddies can significantly lower methane emissions because water blocks oxygen from the soil, which otherwise creates conditions for methane-producing bacteria. Techniques such as alternate wetting and drying (AWD), a single mid-season drawdown, dry seeding, and aerobic rice production can theoretically reduce emissions by up to 90 percent compared to full flooding while generally maintaining or increasing yields.
• The practical adoption of water management techniques varies by region and infrastructure. Farmers who pump groundwater in India, the southern United States, and parts of the Philippines have the technical ability to apply these techniques. Conversely, in the Philippines and other Asian countries, limited ability to drain fields during the rainy season makes full-scale AWD likely unfeasible.
• Several barriers hinder the wide-scale adoption of improved water management, including a lack of farmer control over irrigation water, uncertainty regarding yield benefits, limited direct incentives, and a lack of data on cost-effectiveness in major rice-growing areas. There are unexplained discrepancies in yield impacts; for example, mid-season drainage is practiced in China and Japan for yield gains, but similar gains have not been found in the United States.
• To scale these practices, the report recommends that government aid agencies and research organizations fund coordinated assessments at the irrigation district level and global assessments via pilot projects. Additionally, it suggests that governments reform water and energy subsidies and create new incentives for water management in water-stressed regions.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Wetting and Drying: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Saving Water from Rice Production. https://www.wri.org/research/wetting-and-drying-reducing-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-saving-water-rice-production

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Wetting and Drying: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Saving Water from Rice Production. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/wetting-and-drying-reducing-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-saving-water-rice-production.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Wetting and Drying: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Saving Water from Rice Production |url=https://www.wri.org/research/wetting-and-drying-reducing-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-saving-water-rice-production |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendwetting, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Wetting and Drying: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Saving Water from Rice Production}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/wetting-and-drying-reducing-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-saving-water-rice-production}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }