Water Sustainability in the Context of Global Warming: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Sustainable water use is becoming a key problem in the present time, since global warming is having a strong impact on usable water resources. This study aims to provide a systematic bibliometric analysis on water sustainability in the context of global warming, in order to provide a clearer view on the existing research trends and to find eventual gaps in research that can be exploited in the future. The selection and analysis of the most relevant papers discussing the chosen topic pointed out a strong increase in research in the last period, dominated by US scientists and research entities, with researchers focusing on either the present impact of global warning on water sustainability and its effects on water supply and ecosystem functioning, or on problem solving and creating a framework for water sustainability in the context of global warming, or on the future perspectives and potential solutions for achieving water sustainability in the future period. The study pointed out that only 6% of the article regarding water sustainability include information about global warming, with an increasing trend in the latter period in both the number of articles and citations, but the field of study seems to be incipient, with a large number of journals publishing a very low number of articles. The main drawbacks identified were the orientation of a large majority of the studies on present day problems and not on future approaches, the complete lack of studies regarding the role of preserving natural habitats or of spontaneous renaturalization, as well as the relative absence of including cultural aspects in addressing water-sustainability issues.