Global wa
ter use is domina
ted by agricul
ture and has considerable influence on people鈥檚 livelihood and ecosys
tems, especially in semiarid and arid regions. Me
thods
to address
the impac
ts of wa
ter wi
thdrawal and consump
tion on
terres
trial and aqua
tic ecosys
tems wi
thin life cycle assessmen
t are s
till sparse and very generic. Regionalized charac
teriza
tion fac
tors (CFs) for a groundwa
ter-fed we
tland a
t the arid coas
t of Peru are developed for groundwa
ter and surface wa
ter wi
thdrawal and consump
tion in order
to address
the spa
tial dependency of wa
ter use rela
ted impac
ts. Several agricul
tural scenarios for 2020 were developed in a workshop wi
th local s
takeholders and used for calcula
ting
to
tal biodiversi
ty impac
ts. In con
tras
t to assump
tions used in
top-down approaches (e.g.,
t1">Pfister et al. Environ. Sci Technol.2009, 43, 4098), irrigation with surface water leads in this specific region to benefits for the groundwater-fed wetland, due to additional groundwater recharge from surplus irrigation water. However, irrigation with groundwater leads to ecological damage to the wetland. The CFs derived from the different scenarios are similar and can thus be used as general CFs for this region, helping local decision-makers to plan future agricultural development, including irrigation technologies, crop choices, and protection of the wetland.