Project properties

Title Water Scarcity and Drought
Group Water Systems and Global Change
Project type thesis
Credits 36
Supervisor(s) Inge de Graaf
Samuel Sutanto
Lisanne Nauta
Sida Liu
Bryan Marinelli
Examiner(s) Carolien Kroeze
Contact info Maria del Pozo (maria.delpozogarcia@wur.nl) MIL
Wouter Smolenaars (wouter.smolenaars@wur.nl) MCL, MES and MUE
Begin date 2024/01/01
End date
Description Theme introduction

-The availability of sufficient water of good quality is essential for people and natural ecosystems and is a key issue in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.
-In many regions worldwide water demands continue to rise driven by increasing population, economic developments, expansion of irrigated land, and climate change.
-It is expected that, due to climate change and human interactions, droughts will intensify and increase in duration and frequency for many regions in the world. This will increase our dependency on groundwater to satisfy human water uses and puts ecosystems at risk.
-In order to reduce risks and find solutions, it is needed to accurately quantify how much water is required to sustain heathy ecosystems and how best to manage our freshwater resources.• The availability of sufficient water of good quality is essential for people and natural ecosystems and is a key issue in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.
-In many regions worldwide water demands continue to rise driven by increasing population, economic developments, expansion of irrigated land, and climate change.
-It is expected that, due to climate change and human interactions, droughts will intensify and increase in duration and frequency for many regions in the world. This will increase our dependency on groundwater to satisfy human water uses and puts ecosystems at risk.
-In order to reduce risks and find solutions, it is needed to accurately quantify how much water is required to sustain heathy ecosystems and how best to manage our freshwater resources.


Projects & possibilities for students

The WSG group is working on water scarcity and drought from many different angles:
-We are interested in (global scale) model development and data analysis (Inge de Graaf, Sida Liu, Lisanne Nauta, Samuel Sutanto), as well as the link between models and governance (Raffaele Vignola).
-Current model developments are for example: improving the VIC-WUR model by including groundwater flow and environmental flow requirements in the assessments of future water stress, linking water and future food security. We are also using the model results in a global climate service (Samuel Sutanto).
-We are also interested in analysing the occurrences of drought and heatwaves as single and/or as compound events, including forecasting and projection of these extreme events (Samuel Sutanto, Inge de Graaf).
-We link water scarcity and drought events with their impacts (Inge de Graaf, Bryan Marinelli, Samuel Sutanto)
-Additionally, we want to see how models could support governance decisions and how governance actors can help in improving current modelling frameworks (Raffaele Vignola).

We are looking for students with a variety of interests for example (but not limited by) in model development and testing, case study analysis on model and governance questions, and in combining modelling with social science. For a topic that involves modelling and data-analysis (topics with Inge or Samuel) basics in R and/or Python are required
Used skills Possible methods used in the thesis:
- Model conceptualization & development
- Indicator development & analysis
- Sensitivity analysis
- Scenario analysis
- Data processing & analysis
- Field studies & experiments
- Case study analysis
- Policy document analysis
- Social network analysis
- Interviews, surveys & focus groups
- Mixed methods
Requirements