The first Mike Edmunds Memorial Lecture will address ‘groundwater and climate resilience’. As the world’s largest store of usable freshwater, groundwater is central to how humans are responding to the challenges posed by climate change. Currently, groundwater abstraction comprises more than 35% of global water use and this is forecast to increase as people seek to mitigate the effects of climate extremes on food and water security. However, this raises the question of how resilient groundwater is to change. In rural Africa, most households depend on groundwater to meet basic water needs, with few affordable alternatives particularly during the dry season. In Asia, groundwater underpins agricultural productivity, again with few realistic alternatives if groundwater resources were to prove unreliable.

In this talk, Prof Alan MacDonald will explore the resilience of groundwater to change and the challenges posed by climate change and increasing abstraction. Drawing on recent and ongoing research projects in Africa and South Asia, he will show how, with an understanding of hydrogeology, it is possible to plan for the future.