Water demand for global bioenergy production: trends, risks and opportunities

"The availability of freshwater resources is an increasingly important in many parts of the world. A growing population and changing dietary trends mean a steeply rising water demand. Under the impact of climate change the population at risk of water stress could increase substantially by the end of the century. In this context, water demand for bioenergy production might place an additional burden on water availability worldwide and induce increased competition over water resources in an increasing number of regions. However, bioenergy demand also leads to new opportunities to develop strategies to adapt to climate change in agriculture: a number of crops that are suitable for bioenergy production are drought tolerant and relatively water efficient and by adopting such crops farmers may better cope with a change in precipitation patterns and increased rates of evapotranspiration1 (ET) due to higher temperature."