Preface

Our constantly evolving planet has witnessed many biological and geological events in the past, marked by epochs that have altered its functioning in fundamental ways, through major changes in climate regime, tectonics and volcanism or by the mass extinction of species. We know that humans have influenced the environment in many ways in the past, but since the industrial revolution and even more during the ‘‘great acceleration in the human enterprise’’ following World War II, humans have assumed the role of a dominating force in changing the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, hydroand cryosphere and hence affecting crucial functioning of the Earth system. We are exhausting resources, causing multiple changes without understanding their interrelated and complex outcomes. We have accelerated major processes (e.g. erosion, nitrogen applied to the land mass) while decelerating others (e.g. loss in delivery of river water and sediments to the world’s oceans) in a very short period, and rapidly altered our relationship with the environment in the beginning of a new geological epoch, termed ‘‘the Anthropocene’’. This implies the significant role of human activities in creating a lasting impact on and in codetermining the future evolution of the planet. Human activities also impact the global water system as part of the Earth system in a significant way and change the way water moves around the globe like never before. Thus, understanding and managing the global cycle of water, an irreplaceable resource vital to all aspects of both environmental and social systems on this planet, is fundamental for achieving global environmental sustainability. Since its inception, the Global Water System Project (GWSP) has coordinated and supported a broad research agenda to study the complex global water system with its interactions of environmental and social components as a continuum and coupled system, and helped to understand its complex feedback processes. The GWSP Conference ‘‘Water in the Anthropocene: Challenges for Science and Governance. Indicators, Thresholds and Uncertainties of the Global Water System’’ held in Bonn in 2013, synthesized the major achievements in global water research within the last decade. It presented global as well as regional perspectives of the water system’s responses at different scales and explored its management vis-a-vis globally relevant change. This book is an important outcome of the conference, identifying how research can assist policy and practice of sustainable freshwater management in the era of the Anthropocene. The book covers global, regional and local perspectives and