Articles | Volume 80, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-80-135-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-80-135-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Groundwater urgencies: what can geography offer?
Fanny Frick-Trzebitzky
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Research Unit Water and Land Use, Institute for Social-Ecological Research, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Robert Luetkemeier
Research Unit Water and Land Use, Institute for Social-Ecological Research, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Institute of Physical Geography, Goethe University Frankfurt, Altenhöferallee 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Iordanka Guenova Dountcheva-Robles
Hydrogeology Group, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 02006, Albacete, Spain
David Sanz
Hydrogeology Group, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 02006, Albacete, Spain
Dženeta Hodžić
Research Unit Water and Land Use, Institute for Social-Ecological Research, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60323 Frankfurt, Germany
David Kuhn
Research Unit Water and Land Use, Institute for Social-Ecological Research, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Amit Kumar Srivastwa
School of Human Ecology, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi, Lothian Road, Delhi, 110006, India
Christina Walter
Institute of Geography, University of Augsburg, 86159 Augsburg, Germany
Linda Söller
Research Unit Water and Land Use, Institute for Social-Ecological Research, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Institute of Physical Geography, Goethe University Frankfurt, Altenhöferallee 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Jakob Kramer
Professur für Forst- und Umweltpolitik, University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany
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Short summary
Groundwater is key to the survival of people and ecosystems. Due to global change impacts, conflicts around groundwater thrive and knowledge gaps exist. In the assessment of five case studies we find that groundwater research is in tension between the rapid production of knowledge to solve existential crises and the slow production of knowledge to challenge injustices. Geographic research that combines different perspectives can play an important role in addressing this tension.
Groundwater is key to the survival of people and ecosystems. Due to global change impacts,...