Articles | Volume 26, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3315-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3315-2022
Research article
 | 
01 Jul 2022
Research article |  | 01 Jul 2022

Globally widespread and increasing violations of environmental flow envelopes

Vili Virkki, Elina Alanärä, Miina Porkka, Lauri Ahopelto, Tom Gleeson, Chinchu Mohan, Lan Wang-Erlandsson, Martina Flörke, Dieter Gerten, Simon N. Gosling, Naota Hanasaki, Hannes Müller Schmied, Niko Wanders, and Matti Kummu

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Cited articles

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Arthington, A. H., Bhaduri, A., Bunn, S. E., Jackson, S. E., Tharme, R. E., Tickner, D., Young, B., Acreman, M., Baker, N., Capon, S., Horne, A. C., Kendy, E., McClain, M. E., Poff, N. L., Richter, B. D., and Ward, S.: The Brisbane Declaration and Global Action Agenda on Environmental Flows (2018)​​​​​​​, Front. Environ. Sci., 6, 45, https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2018.00045, 2018. 
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Short summary
Direct and indirect human actions have altered streamflow across the world since pre-industrial times. Here, we apply a method of environmental flow envelopes (EFEs) that develops the existing global environmental flow assessments by methodological advances and better consideration of uncertainty. By assessing the violations of the EFE, we comprehensively quantify the frequency, severity, and trends of flow alteration during the past decades, illustrating anthropogenic effects on streamflow.