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Groundwater depletion embedded in international food trade

Overview of attention for article published in Nature, March 2017
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (97th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
63 news outlets
blogs
9 blogs
policy
5 policy sources
twitter
826 X users
facebook
16 Facebook pages
googleplus
4 Google+ users
reddit
2 Redditors
video
1 YouTube creator

Citations

dimensions_citation
628 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
878 Mendeley
citeulike
3 CiteULike
Title
Groundwater depletion embedded in international food trade
Published in
Nature, March 2017
DOI 10.1038/nature21403
Pubmed ID
Authors

Carole Dalin, Yoshihide Wada, Thomas Kastner, Michael J. Puma

Abstract

Recent hydrological modelling and Earth observations have located and quantified alarming rates of groundwater depletion worldwide. This depletion is primarily due to water withdrawals for irrigation, but its connection with the main driver of irrigation, global food consumption, has not yet been explored. Here we show that approximately eleven per cent of non-renewable groundwater use for irrigation is embedded in international food trade, of which two-thirds are exported by Pakistan, the USA and India alone. Our quantification of groundwater depletion embedded in the world's food trade is based on a combination of global, crop-specific estimates of non-renewable groundwater abstraction and international food trade data. A vast majority of the world's population lives in countries sourcing nearly all their staple crop imports from partners who deplete groundwater to produce these crops, highlighting risks for global food and water security. Some countries, such as the USA, Mexico, Iran and China, are particularly exposed to these risks because they both produce and import food irrigated from rapidly depleting aquifers. Our results could help to improve the sustainability of global food production and groundwater resource management by identifying priority regions and agricultural products at risk as well as the end consumers of these products.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 826 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 878 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 2 <1%
Germany 1 <1%
France 1 <1%
Brazil 1 <1%
Netherlands 1 <1%
Sweden 1 <1%
South Africa 1 <1%
Canada 1 <1%
Mexico 1 <1%
Other 4 <1%
Unknown 864 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 170 19%
Researcher 158 18%
Student > Master 111 13%
Student > Bachelor 58 7%
Student > Doctoral Student 44 5%
Other 132 15%
Unknown 205 23%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Environmental Science 205 23%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 106 12%
Engineering 93 11%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 83 9%
Social Sciences 32 4%
Other 91 10%
Unknown 268 31%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1131. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 30 June 2023.
All research outputs
#13,216
of 25,551,063 outputs
Outputs from Nature
#1,342
of 98,232 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#216
of 323,632 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature
#27
of 876 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,551,063 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 98,232 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 102.6. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 323,632 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 876 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its contemporaries.