Background
Water is the primary medium through which society will experience the
effects of climate change. Altered precipitation patterns, enhanced
evapotranspiration rates, loss of snow and ice, declines in groundwater
storage, and increased risk of flooding and droughts will all have
important implications for our water resources. In fact, we are already
experiencing climate-related perturbations to the water cycle, as
manifested through increases in temperatures and frequency of weather
extremes across the globe (IPCC, 2021). However, a critical but often
neglected aspect of predicting future hydrological change is recognizing
the implications of historical land-use decisions that can act to either
enhance or reduce the resilience of both the quality and quantity of
water. Such land use decisions may create ‘locked-in’ effects reflecting
the policies and path dependencies that underpin management inertia
(Unruh and Carrillo-Hermosilla, 2006), as well as physical disturbances
that caused hydrological changes that are difficult to reverse
(Lindenmayer et al. 2011).