Understanding the risks of irrigation expansion for key freshwater dependent habitats

Within the context of WWF-UK's partnership with Coca-Cola, and our wider interest in ensuring sustainable food production, WW-UK is seeking to commission a project to enable us to understand where water withdrawal for irrigation is posing a potential risk to freshwater biodiversity, and how may this change in the future. For the purposes of this study we would like to focus on freshwater dependent sites that have high biodiversity importance.

We recognise that, in many instances, the main water abstraction threats to these sites are not derived from agriculture. However, in the context of our strategic focus on global food production as a driver of biodiversity loss, WWF-UK is interested in understanding the additional potential risk from changes to the volume and location of irrigation for food production. In particular, this piece of work will contribute to our understanding of how future irrigation hotspot locations will be able to address the 'triple-challenge' of simultaneously adapting to and mitigating climate change, protection and enhancement of biodiversity, and producing food.