Hydrology: Current Research

Water Security under Climate Change and Land Use/Land Cover Changes in Brazil: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Gabriel Vascoa*, Gabriela Chiquito Gesualdob, Jadson Freire Silvac, Jussara Freire de Souza Vianad, Rodrigo de Queiroga Mirandae, Eduardo Mario Mendiondof, Abelardo Antonio de Assuncao Montenegrog, Marco Mancinih and Suzana Maria Gico Lima Montenegroi

Background: Studies on water security, climate change, land use, and land cover changes are, therefore, carried out all over the world, including in Brazil, where a growing body of related literature has been published in various scientific journals. On the one hand, performance analysis and science mapping are two main procedures in bibliometric analysis. They can conveniently show an important quantitative perspective to quickly learn the state, characteristics, and trends of research topics by providing robust indicators to reveal the dynamic mechanics hidden behind the number. The data of research publications on “water security (WS)”, “climate change (CC)” and “land use and land cover changes (LULC)” are all of them linked to “Brazil”, from the Web of Science Core Collection database and Scopus dataset were collected between 1990-2019. As well as, a critical review of the Brazilian National Water Security Plan (PNSH), aims to examine different approaches to water security under climate change and land use/land cover changes, and water governance in the context of the PNSH. Our results highlighted that research on CC and LULC has increased sharply over the past decade, while the WS concept starts to appear in 2014. Summarized information on retrieved WS, CC, LULC studies, such as yearly publications timeline, most popular publication platforms, salient keywords analysis, hot topics, cooperation level, and top-cited articles. That analysis provided the clues to discover the current research emphases and mapping trends of research topics. High rates of deforestation due to the expansion of agricultural lands, the water-food-energy nexus, strongly promoted climate change and land use/ land cover changes research. However, the simultaneous effect of the two stressors on water resources is not often comprehensively investigated. As well as, the environmental consequences of these transformations are still poorly assessed but are strongly needed to support future planning and management of water resources, to mitigate these impacts.