Our History

The Third Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2001) already highlighted that groundwater serves as the primary source of drinking water for much of the world, but noted a significant lack of research on the potential impacts of climate change. Upon reviewing this issue, numerous interactions between climate change and groundwater were identified. Climate change affects precipitation and evapotranspiration, which directly impacts the groundwater cycle. However, the indirect effects of climate change are even more profound, including rising sea levels, retreating glaciers, increased flooding, and shifts in vegetation, soil, and land use, all of which influence groundwater availability and quality.

Considering all these aspects and with the motivation to foster awareness raising and knowledge building around the topic, Nico Goldscheider, Ian Holman and Arie Issar established a new IAH working group in the autumn of 2003, at the IAH Council Meeting in Bled, Slovenia, which took was unanimously accepted. 40 members from 18 different countries showed interest in joining the working group. It established contacts with IPCC and GRAPHIC – Groundwater Resources Assessment under the Pressures of Humanity and Climate Change, a project by UNESCO IHP, IGRAC and GWSP), and some other organisations and projects dealing with similar topics. A special session on the “Impact of climatic changes on groundwater resources”, chaired by W. Dragoni (Italy) and B.S. Sukhija (India) was organized at the 32nd International Geological Congress in August 2004 in Florence.

The group successfully carried out various activities until 2008, including workshops and publications. In 2007 Arie Issar departed from his position and the group continued with Ian Holman and Nico Goldscheider co-chairing. After four years addressing the increasing importance of the topic on the international environmental agenda, a proposal to upgrade the status of working group was made. In 2008, the IAH Commission on Groundwater and Climate Change (IAH-CGCC) was formed, with Nico as first Chair and Ian Holman as co-Chair. Richard Taylor took on the role of Chair in 2010, and Ian Holman and Zaihua Liu were the co-Chairs. In 2010, the IAH Secretariat approved an application to re-launch the IAH Commission on Groundwater & Climate Change (IAH-CGCC) with a revised mandate (2012-2015) and two new co-Chairs, Bridget Scanlon and Jianyao Chen. In 2017 Tibor Stigter took over the role of Chair from Richard, and Jodie Miller took over the role of co-Chair from Bridget. In 2024 Saulo Vieira took over the role as co-Chair from Jodie.

2003-2007

2007-2009

2010-2011

2011-2016

2016-2024

2025-Present