Since agriculture accounts for 70% of water use and up to 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, it contributes to and is threatened by climate change. Adapting water management policies and practices to the existing climate variability by building resilience is the best way to prepare for potential climate change. Improved water harvesting and storages (such as reservoirs, dams, pools, pits, retaining ridges, etc.), supplementing the water requirement for rain-fed crops, highly efficient irrigation systems and best practices are fundamental for addressing increasing variability of rainfalls, and reducing the adverse impacts of extreme events of floods and droughts.

ICID addresses these issues through its Working Group on Global Climate Change and Agricultural Water Management (WG-CLIMATE).The looming climate change and its likely impacts on water management for agriculture require cooperation cutting across institutional and disciplinary boundaries. It calls for intensification of data collection networks, research into methodologies to downscale the climate impacts on water and agriculture, review of the operation of storage systems, enhancing soil water storage with water harvesting structures, and sharing knowledge and information. WG-CLIMATE has the mandate to review the progression of and predictions for Global Climate Change (GCC) and climate variability and to explore and analyze the medium-term implications of climate change and climate variability for irrigation, drainage, and flood management. It stimulates discussion and raises awareness of water related GCC issues within the ICID network and at national scales among scientists and policy makers. The working group collaborates with global partners like UN System wide Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) under the leadership of WMO.