Under the hypothesis that land cover and water use modulate hydrologic response to climatic conditions, we will explore, evaluate and propose nature-based watershed management strategies to mitigate the impacts of global change on water resources in vulnerable Chilean and Chinese catchments during the 21st century.

This collaborative study between Chilean and Chinese research teams on pilot catchments will focus on the following specific objectives:

  1. To foster the exchange of knowledge, technologies and experiences between experts from Chile and China on water resources management.

  2. To develop a comprehensive hydrological simulation framework, based on the Liuxihe and SWAT+ models, to simulate key hydrological processes in vulnerable Chinese and Chilean catchments.

  3. To better understand the main drivers of hydrological changes (including meteorological, land cover and water use) in selected catchments during the last three decades and during the 21 st century, to enhance stakeholders’ skills for managing water resources.

  4. To better understand the joint impact of climate-LULC change and dam operation on water resources, and propose a synergistic effect function (SEF) to quantify this impact.

  5. To define nature-based and generalised recommendations for water resources management and policy making under global change, based on the results obtained in the pilot catchments-