Water resource use and management scenarios in Mediterranean environments in relation to climate change, food security and multisector conflict mitigation (NEXUS)

Mediterranean countries are facing increasing water scarcity, with major implications for productive sectors and ecosystem sustainability. Although several frameworks have been developed to promote optimal water allocations and mitigate sectoral conflicts, their practical implementation remains fragmented. In addition, data scarcity further limits the application of advanced management tools. This thesis aims to develop and apply a set of modelling tools to support multiscale water resource management in the Mediterranean region. This includes both the spatial dimension (from farm to regional scale), and the temporal dimension (from real-time to multi-year forecast). The thesis is structured into four studies. The first examines future irrigation water demand under different climate change scenarios, including an analysis on the effects of rising atmospheric CO₂ concentrations on crop evapotranspiration. The second study introduces ACQUAOUNT-Farm, an IoT platform for real-time irrigation management. The platform is designed to farmers, suggesting optimal irrigation recommendations to minimize water withdrawals. The third study explores the potential of satellite imagery for crop classification through the IOTA² automatic processing chain, providing up-to-date information on cropping patterns at the regional scale. Ultimately, the fourth study develops and applies ACQUAOUNT-DST, an integrated decision support tool for basin-scale water management, evaluating trade-offs between farm scale water optimization and regional management strategies, under changing climatic and socio-economic conditions. By integrating analyses across different operational scales, this thesis aims to strengthen the connections among the different operational scales of water management, supporting the development of a more coordinated framework and contributing to the identification of shared metrics