What Do We Know about Water Scarcity in Semi-Arid Zones? A Global Analysis and Research Trends

Abstract

Water supply is strategic for the development of society. The water distribution in nature follows patterns linked to geographic and territorial issues. Climate fluctuations aggravate shortage problems in semi-arid regions. This study aims to develop a systematic review of research on water scarcity in semi-arid areas through bibliometric methods that allow the analysis of its structure, performance, evolution, and future trends. The methodology considers three phases: (i) literature review, (ii) data cleaning and processing, and (iii) analysis of the research field and future trends. The intellectual structure of water scarcity in semi-arid zones covers 2206 documents with the collaboration of sixty-one countries, distributed in studies carried out in 54 years (1967 to 2021). This field of research has been growing, especially since the 21st century (93.1% of the documents). The countries that study the issue the most are those with high population rates and large consumption patterns, such as the United States and China. There are two central areas of interest led by the terms "water scarcity" and "water stress" due to the intensive use of the resource for agriculture and the management of the water–energy–climate nexus. Thus, the most significant journals studied relate remote sensing to resource management, and the most cited are related to agriculture. This research made it possible to consider future topics such as the study of anthropogenic effects and climate change, the accuracy and applicability of models, and future trends in conventional and unconventional agriculture and resources.