Groundwater Resources Assessment under the Pressures of Humanity and Climate Change (GRAPHIC)
The GRAPHIC project seeks to improve our understanding of how groundwater contributes to the global water cycle and thus how it supports ecosystems and humankind. In recent years, the demands of a growing population have seriously degraded groundwater resources. In addition to this, global warming will cause changes to groundwater recharge rates, and rising sea levels will cause saltwater intrusion. These two influences decrease the amount of usable groundwater. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of groundwater resources is needed for their sustainable use. Specifically, an evaluation of the changes to groundwater composition, storage and groundwater flux (recharge and discharge rates) should be made. This project will deal with groundwater resource assessment and future forecasting under various population pressures and climate change scenarios.

UNESCO Sector: Division of Water Sciences
Responsible Staff: Jose Luis Martin, Alice Aureli
More information: Download the GRAPHIC Brochure (pdf 2.3MB) or visit http://www.chikyu.ac.jp/USE/GRAPHIC/GRAPHIC.htm