Synergistic outcomes for water availability, the environment, and economic output under climate change and adaptation

Synergistic outcomes for water availability, the environment, and economic output under climate change and adaptation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Synergistic outcomes for water availability, the environment, and economic output under climate change and adaptation Rebecca Lester, David Robertson, Joel Bailey, Georgia Dwyer, Galen Holt, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5519219/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 24 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Sustainability → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Freshwater resources need to simultaneously support environmental and economic outcomes; this is a critical challenge under climate change. Many environmental and economic outcomes have contrasting requirements for water, leading to difficult trade-offs which should be supported by integrated assessments. We analysed the impact of climate change and climate variability on key ecological values and agricultural economic activity simultaneously in a large catchment in Australia and assessed the effect of plausible management adaptation options. Under severe climate change, ecological outcomes were rarely met while the impact on economic outcomes was less severe; annual cropping reliant on low security water allocations was most vulnerable. Under more-likely moderate climate change, altering flow delivery patterns was as effective as altering the total licence volume of environmental water without adversely affecting agricultural benefits. Thus, environmental water management can potentially influence environmental outcomes, while core economic activities continue to be met. Earth and environmental sciences/Hydrology Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Climate change/Climate-change mitigation Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Scientific community and society/Agriculture Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. The authors received research funding support from the Australian Government Murray–Darling Water and Environment Research Program (MD WERP) Supplementary Files LesterRobertsonNatSustSupplementarymaterial.pdf Lester Robertson Nature Sustainability Supplementary material Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 24 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Sustainability → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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