Concerns regarding proposed groundwater Earth system boundary

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorCuthbert, M. O.
dc.contributor.authorGleeson, Tom
dc.contributor.authorBierkens, M. F. P.
dc.contributor.authorFerguson, G.
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, R. G.
dc.date.accessioned2025-09-22T16:20:51Z
dc.date.available2025-09-22T16:20:51Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractGroundwater, the largest store of accessible freshwater on Earth, is under increasing pressure as a resource1 and its over-exploitation can harm dependent ecosystems, increase the severity of hydrological drought, and cause land subsidence and salinization2. It is, therefore, a welcome development that groundwater has been explicitly incorporated in the endeavour to quantify safe and just Earth system boundaries (ESBs) in a recent article by Rockström et al.3. However, here we raise concerns about the proposed groundwater ESB, by showing how it is based on an incorrect conceptual understanding of groundwater system dynamics and nomenclature. The proposed boundary is thus potentially misleading, with important implications for assessing the global status of groundwater resources with regards to safe and just water management.
dc.description.reviewstatusReviewed
dc.description.scholarlevelFaculty
dc.description.sponsorshipM.F.P.B. acknowledges support from the ERC Advanced Grant scheme (grant number 101019185 – GEOWAT). R.G.T. acknowledges a fellowship (number FL-001275) from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) under the Earth 4D: Subsurface Science and Exploration programme.
dc.identifier.citationCuthbert, M.O., Gleeson, T., Bierkens, M.F.P. et al. Concerns regarding proposed groundwater Earth system boundary. Nature, 635, E4–E5 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08082-9
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08082-9
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/22788
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherNature
dc.rightsCC BY 4.0
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectenvironmental impact
dc.subjecthydrology
dc.subject.departmentSchool of Earth and Ocean Sciences
dc.subject.departmentDepartment of Civil Engineering
dc.titleConcerns regarding proposed groundwater Earth system boundary
dc.typeArticle

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
cuthbert_m_nature_2024.pdf
Size:
1 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Faculty and Staff Publications
 
University of Victoria Libraries

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.