A Review and Discussion on Modeling and Assessing Agricultural Best Management Practices under Global Climate Change

Understanding the impacts of global climate change on the spatiotemporal pattern of hydrologic cycle and water resources is of major importance in highly developed watersheds all over the world. These impacts are strongly dependent on related changes in intensity and frequency of extreme climate events. Implementation of Best Management Practices (BMPs) and policy approaches at watershed and regional scales is essential for mitigating their negative impacts on soil and water conservation, and sustainable economic development. However, the uncertainty of BMP effectiveness including increasing variability of future water supply and changing magnitudes of nonpoint source pollution has to be accounted for in watershed planning and management. This paper provides a review and discussion on the impacts of global climate change on BMP’s hydrologic performance, the current progress on hydrologic assessment of BMPs, as well as the existing problems and countermeasures. Research challenges and opportunities in the field of hydrologic assessment of BMPs under global climate change are also discussed in this paper.