Davide danilo Chiarelli

Politecnico di Milano | Polimi · Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Water availability is a major factor constraining humanity's ability to meet the future food and energy needs of a growing and increasingly affluent human population. Water plays an important role in the production of energy, including renewable energy sources and the extraction of unconventional fossil fuels that are expected to become important p...

The increasing global demand for natural rubber (100% increase in the last 15 years) is for most part met by Malaysia and Indonesia, and - to a lesser extent - other countries in South-East Asia and Africa. The consequent expansion of rubber plantation has often occurred at the expenses of agricultural land for staple crops, particularly in South-E...

Pressure on agricultural land has markedly increased since the start of the century, driven by demographic growth, changes in diet, increasing biofuel demand, and globalization. To better ensure access to adequate land and water resources, many investors and countries began leasing large areas of agricultural land in the global South, a phenomenon...

Soil salinization is a global phenomenon that affects large tracts of arid farmland worldwide. It contributes to the loss of soil fertility, declining yields, and – in the most severe cases – land unsuitability for cultivation. Irrigation water applications are both the main cause of and the solution to, anthropogenic (or ‘secondary’) salinization...

Sustainable development and intergenerational responsibility entail the prudent use of natural resources. Water availability can constrain agriculture, a key sector in terms of resources consumed and goods and services provided. The sustainability of its intensification and expansion has been studied, often with a particular focus on water. Agricul...

At the heart of the vision of sustainable development and intergenerational responsibility lies the prudent use of natural resources. Agriculture is a key sector both in terms of resources consumed and of goods and services provided. Recently Its intensification and expansion have been studied and their sustainability evaluated, often with a partic...

Agriculture is the backbone of the Mozambican food system, and it represents not only the most important economic sector in the country but also the main user of natural resources such as water, land and eco-systemic services. However, more than 95% of agricultural areas consists of mostly rainfed smallholder farms, characterized by low yields and,...

Mozambique is one of the richest countries in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of natural resources and agro-ecological assets. However, the country does not look on track for the achievement of the SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and 7 (affordable and clean energy) by 2030. The population with access to electricity is around 30%, while 1.9 million people are estim...

Shallow landslides (SLs) are rapid debris flows slides, typically occurring in the mountain areas, involving the most superficial soil layers up to 5 to 10 m in depth. Damages, and casualties due to shallow landslides are recorded globally, and in literature a variety of models to study landslides have been implemented hitherto. Often times, shallo...

The role of water resources in conflict has been the centre of a polarized scientific debate on the connections between environmental and social sustainability. We investigate whether and how water availability, also in relation to water demand, increases the likelihood of violent conflict, and we analyse how hydrological factors influence social c...

Rising interest in large-scale afforestation and reforestation as a strategy for climate change mitigation has recently motivated research efforts aiming at the identification of areas suitable for the plantation of trees. An often-overlooked aspect of agroforestry projects for carbon sequestration is their impact on water resources. It is often un...

Growing population and rising incomes are leading to an ever-increasing demand for animal-based foods. Pigmeat is currently the most consumed meat globally, even exceeding the consumption of poultry meat. Despite the disproportionate environmental burden of animal production – mostly attributable to associated feed demand, up-to-date country-scale...

Recent years have seen continued investments in new irrigation dams across Africa, which have led to the emergence of new irrigated areas in their vicinity (or ‘command areas’). The ability to irrigate land that was previously only rainfed allows for an increase in crop production and is therefore associated with an increase in the value generated...

The ongoing agrarian transition from smallholder farming to large-scale commercial agriculture promoted by transnational large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) often aims to increase crop yields through the expansion of irrigation. LSLAs are playing an increasingly prominent role in this transition. Yet it remains unknown whether foreign LSLAs by ag...

The mining industry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) represents the most important sector of the country's economy, and the DRC belongs to the world top five diamond producers. Artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) of alluvial diamonds represents an important source of alternative income for subsistence farmers, but it also leads to sever...

Global analyses have revealed virtual drains and gains of water between trading countries, with Mexico ranking as one of the countries with the fastest increase in unsustainable water consumption in agriculture for export markets, since 2000. It is unclear, however, how Mexico has reshaped its crop production and associated reliance on freshwater r...

The poultry industry plays an important role in meat production/supply, with a growth rate of more than 4% p.a. in the last few years. This white meat production requires a large amount of feed that increases competition in the use of natural resources for primary food and other uses. Grains are the primary source of poultry nutrition and oilseeds...

India is the world’s largest consumer and importer of palm oil. In an aggressive push towards self-sufficiency in vegetable oils, the Indian government is prioritizing the rapid expansion of domestic oil palm plantations to meet an expected doubling in palm oil consumption in the next 15 years. Yet the current expansion of oil palm in India is occu...

One of the main challenges for India is increasing food security and promoting economic development using the domestic finite and already stressed natural resources. In the last decades silk production has been booming in India in response to the 2025 silk self-sufficiency goal set by the Indian Ministry of Textile. It is not clear to which extent...

The ongoing agrarian transition from small-holder farming to large-scale commercial agriculture is reshaping systems of production and human well-being in many regions. A fundamental part of this global transition is manifested in large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) by agribusinesses. Its energy implications, however, remain poorly understood. He...

Significance Foreign investors have acquired vast tracts of land globally since the early 2000s, yet the food security implications of this phenomenon are poorly understood. The ability to close crop yield gaps through commercial agriculture must be weighed against local impacts on food access. We combine agricultural, remote sensing, and household...

Climate change is expected to affect crop production worldwide, particularly rain-fed agricultural regions. It is still unclear to what extent the global patterns of rain-fed agriculture will be reshaped by the projected changes in precipitation and evapotranspiration and how changes in water availability will limit the ability to sustainably expan...

Significance Climate change is expected to reshape the distribution of irrigated lands. Using climatic projections from three global climate models, we investigate global patterns of irrigation water demand and availability in 1.5 °C and 3 °C warmer climates. We find that in up to 35% of currently rain-fed croplands, irrigation could be expanded as...

Recently vast tracts of land have been acquired by foreign and domestic‐foreign partnerships to satisfy an increasing demand for agricultural products, often resulting in the conversion of forested landscapes into agricultural fields. Those conversions often occur in areas characterized by high slope angles with the potential to cause mass wasting...

Significance Water’s ability to generate value in irrigated agriculture remains poorly quantified at the global scale. The valuation of irrigation water is an important piece of information not only for agribusiness investors interested in the acquisition of land and water entitlements but also for farmers and rural communities that are negotiating...

Accurately assessing green and blue water requirements from croplands is fundamental to promote sustainable water management. In the last decade, global hydrological models have provided important insights into global patterns of water requirements for crop production. As important as these models are, they do not provide monthly crop-specific and...

Water scarcity raises major concerns on the sustainable future of humanity and the conservation of important ecosystem functions. To meet the increasing food demand without expanding cultivated areas, agriculture will likely need to introduce irrigation in croplands that are currently rain-fed but where enough water would be available for irrigatio...

Since the turn of the century, rubber plantations have been expanding their footprint across Southeast Asia in response to an increasing global demand for rubber products. Between 2000 and 2014, the area cultivated with rubber more than doubled. It is not clear how this major change in the agricultural landscape of Southeast Asia, the main area of...

Erosion is one of the major threats listed in the Soil Thematic Strategy of the European Commission and the Alps are one of the most vulnerable ecosystems, with one of the highest erosion rates of the whole European Union. This is the first study investigating the future scenarios of soil erosion in Val Camonica and Lake Iseo, which is one of the l...

Recent studies have highlighted the reliance of global food production on unsustainable irrigation practices, which deplete freshwater stocks and environmental flows, and consequently impair aquatic ecosystems. Unsustainable irrigation is driven by domestic and international demand for agricultural products. Research on the environmental consequenc...

Soil erosion is addressed as one of the main hydrogeological risks in the European Union. Since the average annual soil loss rate exceeds the annual average formation rate, soil is considered as a non-renewable resource. Besides, human activities, human-induced forces and climate change have further accelerated the erosion processes. Therefore, und...

Soil erosion is a naturally dynamic phenomenon, but human activities, human-induced forces and climate change have further accelerated this process. As a consequence, the mean annual soil loss rate in Europe exceeds the average soil formation rate. That means soil can be actually considered as a non-renewable resource. Therefore, understanding spat...

We propose an experimental setup to measure soil erosion and related it with sediment transport using rainfall simulator on a large plots experimental area. Experiments were carried out in fulfilment of the HERASE project, aimed at investigating the seasonal variations of soil erosion in the Oglio basin, an Alpine and Pre-alpine watershed with an a...

Questo lavoro si inserisce nell'ambito del progetto Hydrogeological modeling for Erosion Risk Assessment from SpacE (HERASE) finanziato da Fondazione Cariplo (Grant Nr.2016-0768) e che ha l'obiettivo di mettere a punto un modello per la stima dell'erosione dei suoli nel bacino alpino del fiume Oglio (~1800 km 2). La metodologia di analisi è basata...

The growing global demand for food, fibers, and biofuels and the consequently, increasing prices of agricultural products have made investments in agriculture a priority for some governments and corporations. Since 2008, about 50 million ha of arable land have been purchased or leased worldwide, with an alarming and unprecedented increase in the nu...

Water is a major factor limiting crop production in many regions around the world. Irrigation can greatly enhance crop yields, but the local availability and timing of freshwater resources constrains the ability of humanity to increase food production. Innovations in irrigation infrastructure have allowed humanity to utilize previously inaccessible...

Humanity faces the grand challenge of feeding a growing, more affluent population in the coming decades while reducing the environmental burden of agriculture. Approaches that integrate food security and environmental goals offer promise for achieving a more sustainable global food system, yet little work has been done to link potential solutions w...

In Italia ci sono circa 4 milioni di ettari di terreno agricolo e forestale a rischio di erosione o frana e recenti stime del Ministero dell'Ambiente (2013) indicano che sarebbero necessari 40 miliardi di Euro per ridurre il rischio dovuto alla perdita di suolo sul territorio nazionale. Il progetto Hydrogeological modeling for Erosion Risk Assessme...

Concerns over climate change and future food and energy security have combined to heighten demand for agricultural land. In order to increase the agricultural resources under their control, many countries and investors have acquired more than 40 Mha of land in the global South. In targeted countries, these large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) have...