Access to adequate fresh water supplies is a critically important societal challenge posed by climate change. With rising heat and shifting rainfall patterns, and reduced water storage resilience, fresh water supplies are already diminishing in the western United States, Mexico, the Middle East, and Mediterranean. Water shortages have been implicated in recent international conflict, and a recent Department of Defense study underscores the geopolitical importance of this problem.
Center for Climate and Life scientists focus on the future security of water resources, storage, and access, guided by an improved understanding of the forces that are changing water security at international to local scales. Their research results in informed policy and business decisions that ensure sufficient, reliable access to this basic human need.
Visit climateandlife.columbia.edu to learn more about the Center’s mission to understand how climate change impacts life’s essential resources — food, water, and shelter — and to develop sustainable energy resources.
