Monday, August 4, 2025
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions
Environmental Magazine
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Recycling
  • Air
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Water
No Result
View All Result
Environmental Magazine
  • Home
  • News
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Recycling
  • Air
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Water
No Result
View All Result
Environmental Magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home Water

Study recognizes crucial role of groundwater in planetary health

January 5, 2024
in Water
A A

Karst-system-Croatia

An international study classifies groundwater as a keystone ecosystem and proposes ways to improve its protection to preserve biodiversity and mitigate climate change

Water is the basis of all life on Earth. However, the crucial role of groundwater in sustaining both humanity and biodiversity over the long term is frequently neglected. In a recently published paper, an international team of researchers has outlined, for the first time, why groundwater should be treated as a keystone ecosystem. “Groundwater is not only in itself a major ecosystem but is also of critical relevance to ecosystems on the Earth’s surface,” emphasized Professor Robert Reinecke of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), a specialist in Earth system modeling. He made major contributions to the paper, which outlines concepts for improved groundwater protection to reduce the loss of biodiversity and to compensate for the effects of climate change.

Urban populations depend on it
Groundwater is the largest unfrozen reserve of freshwater on Earth. It supplies the drinking water needs of almost 50 percent of the world’s urban population. Countries such as Denmark, for example, obtain their drinking water entirely from groundwater. “Throughout the world, some 1,000 cubic kilometers of water are pumped to the Earth’s surface every year. Sadly, we consume far more than what is naturally replenished,” said Reinecke. About a third of the largest groundwater catchment areas are at risk of depletion, indicating an ongoing decline in groundwater levels.

The supply of drinking water for humans clearly is one aspect of the problem. Another aspect is the dependence of ecosystems on groundwater, which has been repeatedly overlooked in global biodiversity conservation agendas so far. Roughly 52 percent and thus more than half of all surface areas have a medium-to-high interaction with groundwater. This figure increases to 75 percent when excluding deserts and high mountains, regions where groundwater is scarce or the water table can be very deep. “Interaction in this context means that water from rivers and lakes enters the groundwater while groundwater, in its turn, rises to the surface and feeds wetlands, rivers, and other kinds of surface water areas.” Reinecke adds that groundwater is also a valuable habitat for thousands of different subterranean creatures, including cavefish, blind eels, and transparent shrimp.

Researchers propose a groundwater conservation agenda
As the researchers stated in their report published in Global Change Biology: “Disregarding the importance of groundwater as an ecosystem ignores its critical role in preserving surface biomes. To foster timely global conservation of groundwater, we propose elevating the concept of keystone species into the realm of ecosystems, claiming groundwater as a keystone ecosystem that influences the integrity of many dependent ecosystems.” 51 researchers from various countries – from Australia to India and the Philippines, from Italy and Finland to Brazil and Canada – participated in the study.

With regard to German law, Robert Reinecke points out that groundwater is not yet defined as a habitat under the German Federal Nature Conservation Act but only as a resource and is thus not subject to the corresponding protection. “We need to change this very urgently,” emphasized Reinecke, citing the statistics collected by the German Environment Agency (UBA) that show that the quality of approximately 32 percent of all groundwater bodies in Germany is poor because of chemical contamination. The main causes of this are nitrate levels and pollution by pesticides.

The researchers propose eight key themes to design a science-policy integrated groundwater conservation agenda. As given ecosystems above and below the ground intersect at many levels, it is essential to consider groundwater as a vital element determining the health of our planet – to mitigate the loss of biodiversity and provide a counterbalance to climate change. “Water is indispensable to life on Earth. If we don’t pay sufficient attention to the ecological integrity of the freshwater resources of our planet, we not only put the sustainability of whole ecosystems at risk but we also jeopardize our own way of life,” concluded Reinecke.

ShareTweetSharePinSendShare

Related Articles

Water

Rivers advocacy group and technology firm partner to strengthen river resilience

July 30, 2025
Water

UKWIR research explores FOG-based wastewater charging

July 25, 2025
Water

Project begins outfall-by-outfall monitoring in real-time on River Roding

July 16, 2025
Water

SCOPE supports Welsh Water response to severe storm

July 16, 2025
Water

Yorkshire schools SuDS partnership boosts flood resilience

July 8, 2025
Water

Open-source AI models support water quality monitoring

July 8, 2025

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

As Consumer Tax Credits Vanish, What Do You Need to Know?

July 24, 2025

Making Sense of the Year So Far in EV Sales

July 11, 2024

Don't miss it

Energy

Virginia’s Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Embraces Renewables, Natural Gas and Community Planning for Data Centers

August 3, 2025
Energy

Sweden, an Early Climate Leader, Is Retreating From Its Environmental Commitments, Part of an EU Trend

August 3, 2025
Fossil Fuels

BLM Calls New Oil and Gas Rules ‘Noncontroversial,’ Exempts Them From Public Comment

August 1, 2025
News

Landfill Tax reforms could trigger shortage of aggregates, says trade group

August 1, 2025
Fossil Fuels

EPA Delays Compliance with Methane Rule, Fulfilling Oil and Gas Industry’s Request

July 31, 2025
Energy

Solar and Batteries Lead US Power Plant Additions by a Lot. How Does This Square With the Trump Administration’s Agenda?

July 31, 2025
Environmental Magazine

Environmental Magazine, Latest News, Opinions, Analysis Environmental Magazine. Follow us for more news about Enviroment and climate change from all around the world.

Learn more

Sections

  • Activism
  • Air
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Fossil Fuels
  • News
  • Uncategorized
  • Water

Topics

Activism Air Climate Change Energy Fossil Fuels News Uncategorized Water

Recent News

Virginia’s Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Embraces Renewables, Natural Gas and Community Planning for Data Centers

August 3, 2025

Sweden, an Early Climate Leader, Is Retreating From Its Environmental Commitments, Part of an EU Trend

August 3, 2025

© 2023 Environmental Magazine. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Recycling
  • Air
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Water

© 2023 Environmental Magazine. All rights reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.