Salt of the Earth : Quantifying the Impact of Water Salinity on Global Agricultural Productivity
Salinity in surface waters is on the rise throughout much of the world. Many factors contribute to this change including increased water extraction, poor irrigation management, and sea-level rise. To date no study has attempted to quantify impacts...
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2019
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okr-10986-330702021-05-25T09:31:13Z Salt of the Earth : Quantifying the Impact of Water Salinity on Global Agricultural Productivity Russ, Jason Damania, Richard Desbureaux, Sebastien Escurra, Jorge Rodella, Aude-Sophie Zaveri, Esha WATER QUALITY WATER SALINITY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY YIELD LOSS Salinity in surface waters is on the rise throughout much of the world. Many factors contribute to this change including increased water extraction, poor irrigation management, and sea-level rise. To date no study has attempted to quantify impacts on global food production. In this paper we develop a plausibly causal model to test the sensitivity of global and regional agricultural productivity to changes in water salinity. To do so, we utilize several local and global datasets on water quality and agricultural productivity and a model which isolates the impact of exogenous changes in water salinity on yields. We then train a machine learning model to predict salinity globally in order to simulate average global food losses from 2000-2013. These losses are found to be high, in the range of the equivalent of 124 trillion kilocalories, or enough to feed over 170 million people every day, each year. Global maps building on these results show that pockets of high losses occur on all continents but can be expected to be particularly problematic in regions already experiencing malnutrition challenges. 2019-12-23T17:53:43Z 2019-12-23T17:53:43Z 2019-12-10 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/641121576064837061/Salt-of-the-Earth-Quantifying-the-Impact-of-Water-Salinity-on-Global-Agricultural-Productivity http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33070 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper India Vietnam |
repository_type |
Digital Repository |
institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
institution |
Digital Repositories |
building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
collection |
World Bank |
language |
English |
topic |
WATER QUALITY WATER SALINITY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY YIELD LOSS |
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WATER QUALITY WATER SALINITY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY YIELD LOSS Russ, Jason Damania, Richard Desbureaux, Sebastien Escurra, Jorge Rodella, Aude-Sophie Zaveri, Esha Salt of the Earth : Quantifying the Impact of Water Salinity on Global Agricultural Productivity |
geographic_facet |
India Vietnam |
description |
Salinity in surface waters is on the
rise throughout much of the world. Many factors contribute
to this change including increased water extraction, poor
irrigation management, and sea-level rise. To date no study
has attempted to quantify impacts on global food production.
In this paper we develop a plausibly causal model to test
the sensitivity of global and regional agricultural
productivity to changes in water salinity. To do so, we
utilize several local and global datasets on water quality
and agricultural productivity and a model which isolates the
impact of exogenous changes in water salinity on yields. We
then train a machine learning model to predict salinity
globally in order to simulate average global food losses
from 2000-2013. These losses are found to be high, in the
range of the equivalent of 124 trillion kilocalories, or
enough to feed over 170 million people every day, each year.
Global maps building on these results show that pockets of
high losses occur on all continents but can be expected to
be particularly problematic in regions already experiencing
malnutrition challenges. |
format |
Working Paper |
author |
Russ, Jason Damania, Richard Desbureaux, Sebastien Escurra, Jorge Rodella, Aude-Sophie Zaveri, Esha |
author_facet |
Russ, Jason Damania, Richard Desbureaux, Sebastien Escurra, Jorge Rodella, Aude-Sophie Zaveri, Esha |
author_sort |
Russ, Jason |
title |
Salt of the Earth : Quantifying the Impact of Water Salinity on Global Agricultural Productivity |
title_short |
Salt of the Earth : Quantifying the Impact of Water Salinity on Global Agricultural Productivity |
title_full |
Salt of the Earth : Quantifying the Impact of Water Salinity on Global Agricultural Productivity |
title_fullStr |
Salt of the Earth : Quantifying the Impact of Water Salinity on Global Agricultural Productivity |
title_full_unstemmed |
Salt of the Earth : Quantifying the Impact of Water Salinity on Global Agricultural Productivity |
title_sort |
salt of the earth : quantifying the impact of water salinity on global agricultural productivity |
publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/641121576064837061/Salt-of-the-Earth-Quantifying-the-Impact-of-Water-Salinity-on-Global-Agricultural-Productivity http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33070 |
_version_ |
1764477971072024576 |