ABSTRACT

This chapter summarizes the major science fi ndings and policy recommendations that are detailed in the previous chapters, and represents one of the fi rst global-scale and systematic syntheses to address the paucity of data and limited understanding of the effects of climate change and variability and coupled human activities on groundwater resources. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently (2008) identifi ed several gaps in knowledge related to climate change and water, and most notably the need to improve understanding of climate change and variability effects on groundwater (Bates et al. 2008). The following fi ndings and recommendations address many of these knowledge gaps.