Alleviating groundwater depletion while realizing food security for sustainable development

Groundwater depletion was one of humanity's greatest challenges for both food and environmental security. Here we tried to address these challenges through a meta-analysis in three major global groundwater-depleted agricultural regions and a case study with the long-term field experiment with factorable and systematic solu-tions. We showed groundwater depletion was particularly evident in the important regions for global food production, such as the High Plains of the United States, the Ganges Plains of India, and North China Plain, resulting from a 262.5 mm gap between crop water demand and rainfall. In order to solve this problem, the long-term field study in North China Plain indicated that the factor adjustment (minimum irrigation) within the traditional system and systematic change from traditional wheat-maize rotation to double-cropped maize could achieve both sustainable groundwater use and high calorie yield, accompanying by low integrated environ-mental impacts. Our results provided essential insights in similar areas for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for food and environmental security.

Automated summary

Groundwater depletion is a major challenge for global food and environmental security. Through a meta-analysis and a case study, we investigated the issue in three major agricultural regions. The study revealed that groundwater depletion is particularly severe in important food production areas such as the High Plains of the United States, the Ganges Plains of India, and the North China Plain, resulting in a 262.5 mm gap between crop water demand and rainfall. The long-term field experiment in the North China Plain showed that factor adjustment within the traditional system and systematic changes in crop rotation can achieve sustainable groundwater use and high calorie yield with low environmental impacts. These findings are essential for achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.