Stockholm Seminars presents: Water as the bloodstream of the biosphere

If the pressure on the water cycle at local, regional or the global scale becomes too great it can lead to unpredictable and potentially irreversible changes. In recent years the functions and importance of “green” water, the soil moisture from precipitation, used by plants via transpiration, is becoming increasingly understood. And studies how the water “bloodstream” is globally connected, shows that local land-uses changes can be connected to rainfall modifications in faraway areas.

On this year’s World Water Day and celebrating the 200th Stockholm Seminar, three generations of water resilience researchers at Stockholm Resilience Centre share their research and reflections on the multiple ways that freshwater sustain the biosphere and human development.

This will take us on a journey from the Blue Planet Prize 2018 awardee Prof. Malin Falkenmark’s lifework of articulating water’s fundamental role for Earth’s life support system, innovating the understanding of water scarcity, and propelling the recognition of green water as a valuable and manageable resource; to centre director Dr. Line Gordon’s decade long research unravelling the critical roles of “invisible” water for social-ecological resilience; and Dr. Lan Wang-Erlandsson’s account of the newest advancements towards a revised freshwater planetary boundary that acknowledges all facets of water for supporting a stable and habitable Earth.

Programme details