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What should you charge for your consulting fees?
How can you raise your consulting rates — and get clients to accept higher fees?
Whether you’re a new consultant or you’ve been in the game for years, pricing your consulting services is one of the most challenging aspects.
After spending over 2 decades helping consultants raise their fees by 30%-400% +, we’ve got the data on what works — and what doesn’t.
This guide will not only help you figure out how much to charge for your consulting services…
…it will help you raise your fees (if you want to).
Let’s dive into our first consulting fee formula, which is an easy option for beginners.
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The project-based method, the value-based method.
Consulting fees positioning & mindset, consulting business financials, consulting projects & clients, consulting demographics, how to set your consulting fees (consulting fees calculator), consulting fees action plan.
The Hourly Formula is when you charge by the hour for your consulting services.
You set an hourly rate, track your hours, and then bill your client by the hour.
This simple, easy method is great for beginners who are working on their first few consulting projects.
However, if you’ve developed deep expertise in your field, we recommend you DON’T use the hourly billing method .
So, how do you actually come up with your hourly price?
Step 1. Open up Google and search for the average salary for your position. Write that number down.
Example: “senior marketing manager average salary” = $98K.
Step 2. Enter the average salary in a salary to hourly converter .
For work hours per week, enter “20.”
As a beginner consultant, you’re typically not working 40-hour weeks.
You’ll spend just as much time winning projects as you do delivering them.
For work weeks per year, enter “48” (or however many weeks you want to work, subtracting the number of weeks you want to take off).
(You can also use our Consulting Fees Calculator if you have a target income in mind )
Step 3. Round your new hourly rate up or down in $25 dollar increments.
Example: A salary of $98,000 equates to a monthly pay of $8167, weekly pay of $2042, and an hourly wage of $102.
$102 = $100 per hour.
This is your starting hourly fee.
If you feel like it is too low, raise it. But don’t lower your fee.
Consultants are notorious for undercharging — especially when they charge by the hour.
Every time you successfully complete a project, increase your hourly rate by $25.
Eventually, you’ll get to the point where charging by the hour is no longer the best method for you or your clients.
One of the issues with the hourly method is that your client feels uncertainty around how much they’ll end up paying you. And uncertainty around a project will stop your client from moving forward.
Using the project-based method will eliminate this uncertainty.
The project-based method is a strong pricing method for beginner and intermediate consultants. It’s a bit more complex than the hourly method. But it removes a lot of the uncertainty around hourly billing. Your client knows what they pay upfront.
Here’s how you set your consulting fees using the project-based method.
Step 1: Create a list of deliverables for the project.
Think about everything your client gets as a result of this project — the “inputs.”
Example: Branding Consulting Project
Step 2: Estimate how long each deliverable will take.
This is where your past experience comes into play.
Use an app like Toggl to track your time spent on each deliverable. If you don’t know the exact number, estimate. Add an extra hour or two just to be on the safe side.
Step 3: Add up all the hours, and times that by your hourly fee.
Example: 30 hours X $100 = $3000
Step 4: Times the total by 1.5.
Projects take longer than you think.
You also have to factor in your time spent marketing, making revisions, etc.
Example: $3000 X 1.5 = $4500 total for the project.
After you get the total, adjust the fee to a number you would feel good about work.
If you don’t feel like you are being compensated fairly for the value you’re providing, you won’t do your best work.
If you are a more experienced consultant with 2-5+ years of experience, we recommend switching to a higher-leverage pricing model like value-based pricing.
Value-based pricing is when you price your services based on the tangible and intangible value you create for your client.
That means you’re not charging for your time. You’re not evening charging for your deliverables.
You are charging based on what your client cares about the most = the results and outcomes you’ll create for them.
Using the value-based method is just as much art as it is science.
You’ll have to improve your sales skills, accounting skills, project management skills, and more.
But there is no better method for raising your rates and creating more value.
Here’s how you set your consulting fees using the value-based method.
Step 1: Have the “Value Conversation” with your client.
The value conversation is where you ask questions to your client to uncover where they want to be — and agree on the value of a successful project.
Example: You’re a marketing consultant speaking with your prospect, Acme Financial Services.
During the value conversation, you learn that they want to win 3 new clients per month.
Each client is worth $500 per month to their business.
Step 2: Write The Intangible Value
Now you have some numbers to work with.
But before you start using those numbers, write the intangible value for the client.
The intangible value is the project’s emotional and subjective factors that influence the buyer’s decision.
Example: You ask the client “what would a successful outcome do for you personally?”
They tell you that they wouldn’t have to stress about payroll and could enjoy working on things they really enjoyed.
Safety, comfort, peace of mind, ego, and prestige are all examples of powerful intangible benefits.
If you get stuck on the next step calculating the tangible value, ask the client more about the intangible value. Tangible value is often hidden deeper in intangible value.
Example: Stressing about payroll takes up at least 1-hour of the CEO’s time. That’s hundreds of dollars per day wasted stressing.
Step 3: Calculate The Tangible Value
You know that each client is worth $500 per month to your prospect.
And they want to win 3 clients per month.
Now, you can calculate the tangible value.
The tangible value is the quantifiable value your offer provides.
For example, if you help Acme Financial Services win 3 new clients per month, you’ll help them generate:
Ask the prospect if $117K in revenue would mean the project was a success. They will agree because you are using their numbers.
Step 4: Use The ROI Formula
The ROI Formula: Intangible + Tangible + Annual = Value-Based Price
Intangible: Emotional and subjective factors that influence the buyer’s decision.
For example, completing the project will make the CEO’s life much easier — she wants to focus more on running the business rather than stressing about payroll.
Tangible: The quantifiable value your offer provides.
For example, helping your client generate 3 clients per month will generate $18K in monthly recurring revenue.
Annual: The year-over-year (YOY) tangible benefits.
For example, if your service helps your client increase their revenue by 5% — and that will continue for 2+ years — you can factor the YOY growth into your price.
With every value-based price, you want to create a 3-10x ROI for your client. Remember, you are charging based on the ROI you will create.
For example, since the successful completion of your project would result in $117K in new revenue for your client, you can calculate different ROI levels.
You’ll use the numbers in the final step.
Step 5: Offer 3 Pricing Options
Give your client 3 options in your proposal, and allow them to choose their level of risk.
Example: You’re ready to present your pricing options to your prospective client Acme Financial Services.
Option 3 – $24K
Option 2 — $12K
Option 1 — $6000
These prices aren’t random. They are based on the levels of ROI calculated in step 4.
Notice how we lead with Option 3, the highest-priced option.
This helps you leverage the anchoring bias: the first price they see determines how they perceived the rest of your prices.
Option 2 and Option 1 will look more attractive and affordable in comparison to Option 3.
Finally, it’s best if you present your 3 options over a call.
That way, you can answer objections if and when they come up.
Instead of “pitching” your client, you’re collaborating with the client on different ways to help them achieve their goals.
Value-based pricing will raise your consulting fees and provide more value to your clients.
But, as you can see, it takes an experienced consultant to make it work.
For an in-depth look at value-based pricing, take a look at our article: Guide to Value-Based Pricing for Consultants: 10 Experts Share Their Fee Strategies .
And if you’re looking for hands-on coaching to implement value-based pricing in your consulting business, check out our Clarity Coaching Program .
Learn More About Clarity Coaching
Do you feel stuck at lower rates while other consultants command premium consulting fees?
That ends today.
Our new survey reveals exactly what high-earning consultants are charging and how you can set fees confidently to amplify your revenue.
In this must-read report, you’ll discover the pricing secrets of the industry’s top earners.
Learn what consultants across every niche are charging per project, how they structure retainer deals , and what’s holding you back from earning more.
Arm yourself with previously undisclosed data on real-world consulting fees. Gain the knowledge, confidence, and proven strategies to raise your rates significantly. Stop leaving money on the table and start commanding the fees you deserve.
Keep reading to access these exclusive insights and take your income to new heights.
The first step to making your best year ever is within this report.
Before we dive in it’s important to note that none of this is financial or legal advice. We’ve summarized key takeaways from the almost 1000 consultants who participated in this survey.
We’ll get started with some of our key findings from this year’s study.
This is our 4th time doing the Consulting Fees study.
To see the past year’s results, click on one of the links below:
What’s changed over the past 4 years on the topic of consulting fees? Here are some of the trends we’re noticing based on the data.
There are many different ways to price your various consulting offers .
We asked consultants about their pricing strategies. The results might surprise you.
Here’s how consultants set their fees:
One of the highest ROI moves you can make is switching to value-based fees .
Here are some more interesting findings about this data:
Value pricing is a hot topic in the consulting world, and for good reason.
It’s one of the best ways for consultants to create leverage — and increase their earnings without working more.
However, it’s not an easy strategy to implement.
Here’s a more in-depth look at the data around value pricing:
Performance deals are when you are paid based on the performance and outcome you have created during the project. This is typically above an agreed-upon baseline.
EXAMPLE : Your client is currently making $100K per month. You help take them to $200K per month. With a performance deal, you’re charging a percentage based on the extra value you’re creating. So, if you and the client agree on 10% of the extra value, then you’d be earning $10K per month on the project — in addition to your base pay.
So, how many consultants use the pay-for-performance pricing strategy?
Here’s a segment-based look at the data for performance deals:
One of the best ways to build more predictable revenue into your consulting business is to use monthly retainers .
With a monthly retainer, you’re working with (and billing) your client on a monthly basis. It’s recurring revenue.
Recurring revenue provides predictability and security. Why? Because you know how much revenue you have coming in each month.
Here’s the data on how many consultants use monthly retainers:
Here’s how comparing segments provides more insight into consulting retainers:
Productized consulting is when you strip one of your offers down to its essentials. They’re fixed (non-changing) in terms of both scope and price.
They’re another fantastic way to create greater leverage in your consulting business.
How many consultants offer productized consulting services?
Here’s a further look at the data around productized consulting:
Pricing comes down to your confidence.
We asked consultants about their pricing mindset: how they think about their fees and pricing.
We don’t ever recommend lowering your fees to win consulting business. Doing so sends the wrong signals to the client about your value, and what you can do for their business.
Here’s a deeper look at the type of consultants to lower their fees…
How many consultants offer discounts for specific clients or projects?
After segmenting the data and taking a deeper look, we also found that…
Specialization is a key pricing factor in consulting.
Clients are often willing to pay a premium fee for consultants who’ve demonstrated expertise in their industry.
How many consultants have this specialty expertise?
Here’s a deeper look at the segmented data when it comes to specialization:
As you might expect, the majority of consultants (79%) want to increase their fees.
And 21% of consultants are not actively looking to increase their fees.
When it comes to whether or not consultants list their pricing on their website , the preference is clear.
Here’s a deeper look at the data around listing fees on your consulting website:
Consultants bring up their fees at different stages of the pipeline .
Here’s an inside look at the data around mentioning price with clients:
Upon further inspection, we’ve found some interesting data around this question:
What are consultants charging per hour for delivering consulting work?
So, how does segmentation affect this consulting fees data?
There are many different reasons why consultants aren’t raising their fees despite wishing to do so.
Here’s a deeper look at the data around what’s holding consultants back from raising their fees.
How much are consultants charging for their services? How much are they earning per year?
We asked our list of 45K+ consultants these questions for the latest insights into the financials of small consulting firms.
Here’s how the numbers break down for the average consulting engagement value:
Here’s how average consulting project value breaks down upon further analysis:
Why should you start a consulting business ?
One of the reasons consultants start a consulting business is for the unlimited earning potential.
With the correct strategy and mindset, consultants can earn five/six figures — or even more — per month .
Here’s how much solo consultants and small consulting firms are earning per month:
Here’s a deeper look at the data on how much consultants earn per month:
Consulting is known to be a high profit-margin business — and the data generally supports that:
Here’s a further analysis of the profit margin in consulting:
Here’s a deeper look at the data on who plans to raise their fees:
For the consultants who plan to raise their fees in 2024, here’s how much they plan to raise their fees by:
Here’s more insight into this question and how the data breaks down:
For the first time, we asked consultants about their projects, clients, and how these factors play into their pricing.
How long do entrepreneurial consultants spend on their projects?
Here’s how the segmented data looks in terms of average consulting project length:
How many consultants do firm owners staff on their projects?
Here’s a further look at this particular survey question and data:
How many employees do a consultant’s clients typically have?
Here’s a deeper look at how this data breaks down:
We always ask our list of consultants to tell us about other aspects of their business. This helps us break down the numbers even more.
Here is the demographic data from our list of 45K+ independent consultants and small consulting firm owners.
How much experience do consulting business owners have consulting?
There are many types of consultants . Here are the types of consultants in this study:
You don’t have to work with a ton of clients per year to run a highly profitable consulting business.
And here’s a deeper look at this particular question:
If you want to scale your consulting business , hiring employees or contractors can be a great way to do that.
Here’s an inside look at how the segments play into this data:
For the consultants who do have full-time employees, here’s how many employees they have:
You can be any age and start a consulting business.
61% of consultants polled are male, and 37% are female.
1% preferred not to share or selected “Other.”
Here’s a deeper look at the consulting gender data and consulting fees:
Consultants all around the world took our fees survey.
Here’s where they are from:
Want to know exactly how much you should be charging to reach your income goals?
For that, we developed a Consulting Fees Calculato r.
In 4 steps, you’ll learn your daily billable rate and your ideal hourly rate so that you can reach your target income.
It’s an invaluable tool to help you get clear on how much you should be charging your clients.
That said, we advise you to move towards greater leverage — away from billing based on your time. Here’s how you can do that:
Here are three action items for you if you’re serious about raising your rates and increasing your revenue.
No matter your level of experience, the Consulting Success® team can help you raise your consulting fees.
Our Momentum program is for newer consultants who want to follow a step-by-step system to predictably and reliably get to 6-figures per year or more.
Our Clarity program is for consultants committed to maximize their value and fees through personal coaching and strategy on more advanced pricing strategies, marketing systems to generate consistent leads — to grow and scale their business.
Whether you’re struggling to price your services based on value, want to build in more recurring revenue, or want to know how to structure an equity deal properly, our programs will help you increase your pricing with confidence.
That concludes the Consulting Fees Study.
What did you learn?
More importantly, how are you going to use this information to increase your value, raise your prices, and reach your target income?
Information without action won’t get you anywhere.
I challenge you to take what you’ve learned here to make your consulting business better.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about this study.
Leave a reply in the comments — and share your thoughts below!
Wonderful survey! You’ve done a great job surveying such a large pool of consultants and sharing the results! I was curious if you’re willing to maybe show us a breakdown by industry? I’m operating in the IT/Tech consulting and I’m curious how the numbers look for that…Cheers!
Thanks Bogdan – appreciate the comment and support!. We will look into this and notify you with any updates.
very incisive,detailed information and very helpful .Thank you Micheal.Solid hard work and your generosity in sharing with us Micheal.God bless you!
Great work, yet again. Really impressed with your output. Would it be possible to get this as a .pdf please? I’d love to share it with my MBA students, but the current format doesn’t lend itself.
Much appreciated Joe. We don’t have a PDF available but why not provide the direct link to the study to all your students. They can access it on their phones, tablets or computers : )
The depth and quality of your content is unique. I’ve recently joined a specialist consultancy (small team 50+) part of an international consultancy and advisory organisation. I would love for some collaboration in the future, I’m only in 2 months so have to settle before I start recommending external support to the Senior Management Team, they have a great foundation to expand from.
Appreciate that Peter and congratulations on the new position, that’s exciting!
Very comprehensive study. It shows in detail what consultants all over the world are doing. Thanks, Michael!
Appreciate the feedback Earline. The team did a great job on the study and we’re looking forward to putting out the next one.
Hi Michael Thanks for the report. I was wondering how can we have access to the data sources. Thanks
Hamed, you’re very welcome. We aren’t providing access to the data currently. Wish you great success.
I am very happy to read the above information. It is really helpful for me, I learned many new things from your website. Big thanks to you all for everything and I am really very happy. Can you share which is the best placement consultancy in Pune
As I was reading your article I must say it was quite helpful. Most of the time small businesses go that far or stuck at some point because they don’t know what to do. As being the CEO of well-known business consulting firm Makateb. I appreciate the way you explained the cause of how they affect business. I also appreciate the way you delivered their remedies. Most people don’t know it and that’s why they had to stop in the middle. You did a great job by mentioning the major factors that became hurdles (most of the time). From Insufficient Funding to Failure to Seek Out-side Assistance, Talent Deficits to Destructive New Technology, all of these are major obstacles for business whether it’s a small one or reaching the heights of success. If a company overcome these obstacles, they’re more likely to grow. In the end, I just want to say you did a great job by sharing this article with people who are struggling with this.
Thanks for the good info. Interesting to see it all broken down like that.
You’re very welcome Jonathan, appreciate the comment.
Very insightful. Lots of hard work has been put into this and then shared very generously with everybody. Greatly appreciated. Thank you and God Bless.
Thank you Michael, appreciate your comment and glad it resonates with you.
An interesting read on consulting fees, it gives you something to think about.
Glad you found it interesting John and hope it helps. If you have other questions get in touch.
Very interesting and insightful piece of work. Greatly appreciated. By any chance you have also the comparison for consultancy rates between countries : e.g. US , India, Europe, China, Asia, Australia ?? Does the argument of going to LCC for a more cost effective rates still hold giving that Consulting firms are increasing their rates through various approaches and justification, even though there are clear differences in cost of living and GDP for each country?
Harrison, fees can certainly be different based on where you live. However, that doesn’t need to be a limiting factor. There are consultants living in countries considered less developed who are still able to charge and earn significant rates – especially if your clientele is global. We don’t have a country by country breakdown here.
I have appreciated your presentation of consultancy fees. This will help me to undertake a consultancy am about to begin
I sell equipment. It’s often to start-ups or people adding a brand new service to their business. I’m interested in encouraging some of my customers to be consultants for others. I think my new customers would benefit from more thorough help, and it would allow me to draw a line between what I offer and do not offer (i.e. I’m not a business consultant – but here are some options).
In a value-based model, how do you keep clients from sucking you dry? How do you put constraints along with the list of services? My customers tend to ask questions for a lingering 5 years and call and text all hours of the night and on weekends. Does being a consultant in the first place naturally discourage this? Do you charge hourly after the standard deliverables, or maybe include a specified number of support hours as a line item? Thanks! Great information here.
Hi Sam, great questions. Start by defining very clear responsibilities of what each part is required to do and what the expectations are. And when a client asks additional questions or for help that is outside the scope of the engagement offer to provide them with another proposal to help them with that separate work.
Michael, Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! This has been an invaluable article because I am starting my own consulting company and had no idea how I was going to determine what I should charge for services. Thank you for giving me options and the information I need to succeed. Bless you, Tammy
Glad it helps Tammy!
I find it interesting when you said that consultants are earning a lot per month wherein they have increased some percentage from 2018 to 2019. And they might be named more now because it’s already 2023, so it must be helpful to do your research and compare rates from various companies and professionals to find those that you can afford if you are starting out in your business. For example, it might also be different when you hire experts in professional technology consulting for businesses compared to those helping entrepreneurs in other fields.
How did you arrive at these numbers? 500 per client = 1500/mo *12=18k per year revenue
You know that each client is worth $500 per month to your prospect. And they want to win 3 clients per month. Now, you can calculate the tangible value. The tangible value is the quantifiable value your offer provides. For example, if you help Acme Financial Services win 3 new clients per month, you’ll help them generate: $18K in monthly recurring revenue. $117K in total revenue after a year.
The $117K is the total sum of the revenue generated from months 1 through 12:
1500 3000 4500 6000 7500 9000 10500 12000 13500 15000 16500 18000 – 117000
I like that you talked about consulting companies that will charge by the hour, because it is a simple method that is perfect for those that are new to the industry. In my opinion, IT consulting services that do or offer those kinds of options will be perfect for the people who are also starting with their business. They would need their help int technological aspects, but they would need to stick to their budget to prevent them from overspending their capital on one area.
I’ve always felt the challenge with value-based fees is it assume the prospect has nowhere else to go or turn to. Sure, if you’re the only game in town you can estimate the value of the project and set your rate accordingly. But if you’re in a competitive environment it doesn’t work as well. People will be comparing what you offer against others – and while you can differentiate yourself to a certain amount – you can’t go multiples higher of what anyone else is charging. Pricing is ultimately a story and above a certain level you get into RFP territory. I think early on people need to decide which tier their playing in and find the right pricing to match.
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July 17, 2024
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:
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by Desert Research Institute
Where hidden water tables meet the Earth's surface, life can thrive even in the driest locations. Offering refuge during times of drought, shallow groundwater aquifers act like water savings accounts that can support ecosystems with the moisture required to survive, even as precipitation dwindles.
As climate change and human water use rapidly deplete groundwater levels around the world, scientists and policy makers need better data for where these groundwater-dependent ecosystems exist.
Now, a new study maps these ecosystems in dryland regions globally, examines their protection status, and explores how they overlap with human communities.
The research, published July 17 in Nature , is the first time that groundwater-dependent ecosystems have been mapped on a global scale . Led by scientists from The Nature Conservancy and the Desert Research Institute (DRI), the global effort brought researchers together from universities, non-profit organizations, and institutions from seven countries.
Their results show that 53% of these ecosystems are in areas with known groundwater depletion , while only 21% exist on protected lands or regions with policies in place for their protection.
"Until now, the location of these ecosystems has been largely unknown, hindering our ability to track impacts, establish protective policies, and implement conservation projects to protect them," says Melissa Rohde, Ph.D., ecohydrologist and environmental consultant who is the lead author on the study.
Rohde completed the research as part of her doctoral dissertation at the State University of New York's College of Environmental Science and Forestry and her joint work at The Nature Conservancy.
Ecosystems that depend on groundwater vary widely, Rohde notes, from desert springs, to mountain meadows and streams, to coastal wetlands and forests. These ecosystems are often hot spots for biological diversity worldwide, and are under increasing threat from climate change and human exploitation.
When Rohde's colleagues at The Nature Conservancy offices around the world set out to conserve them, they found themselves running into a persistent lack of data—catalyzing Rohde's mapping effort. "These ecosystems encompass these places we really care about, but their reliance on groundwater has been unacknowledged," she says.
Without a global dataset for the location and depths of groundwater, the research team had to get creative.
They gathered six years of data from NASA's Landsat satellite, which provides satellite imagery that can be used to estimate leaf water content, evapotranspiration, vegetation greenness, open water, and land temperatures and climate data that characterizes water availability. Then, they used more than 30 thousand data points of confirmed groundwater-dependent ecosystem locations to train a computer model how to identify them based on the satellite data.
"Our team at DRI had been using satellite remote sensing data to locate and characterize changes in groundwater-dependent ecosystems across the western US for many years, and this was the perfect opportunity to expand this work globally," says Christine Albano, Ph.D., ecohydrologist at DRI.
The analysis takes advantage of the fact that an ecosystem supported by groundwater will remain greener, cooler, and wetter than other places throughout the dry season, and this can be seen with satellite imagery .
"Our approach leverages what we already know about the characteristics of these ecosystems," Rohde says, noting that the way groundwater cools the ground surface is just one of the many ways that these ecosystems provide refuge to plants and animals.
"It continues to amaze me that we now have the data and technology to capture and analyze information for places the size of a basketball court or a swimming pool, and that we can do this across the entire globe," says Albano.
"Having this level of spatial detail is critical for this analysis, because it is often the groundwater-dependent springs or wetlands that are about this size, or even smaller, that are the most critical to people and wildlife."
The result is a global map of where ecosystems dependent on groundwater existed from 2015–2020, combined with a statistical likelihood of the researchers' confidence in each location's groundwater dependence.
"A few years ago, an analysis like this would not have been possible, but we can now leverage recent advances in machine learning and cloud computing to fill critical knowledge gaps for conservation at a global scale," says Kirk Klausmeyer, Director of Data Science for The Nature Conservancy in California and co-author of the study.
By testing the computer model's ability to identify known groundwater-dependent ecosystems, they estimate accuracy at around 87%.
"The intention of our map is that it be used as a starting point," Rohde says. "It provides essential information on where they are likely located and most at risk of groundwater depletion, so that we can advance the protection of these biologically diverse ecosystems, and the societies dependent upon them."
The map shows these ecosystems are more intact and extensive in Central Asia, the Sahel region of Africa, and South America, where pastoral communities are common. This contrasts with their depletion and fragmentation in parts of the world where groundwater pumping and agricultural irrigation reign, such as North America and Australia.
In the latter regions, many of these ecosystems have already been lost, as groundwater tables fall below the level where plant roots or streams can reach them.
To illustrate the role of these ecosystems in supporting rural livelihoods, the study also focused on the Greater Sahel region of Africa, where four conflict hotspots overlap with locations containing a high number of groundwater-dependent ecosystems.
Climate change is exacerbating food insecurity in these locations, resulting in expanded crop cultivation into previously pastoral lands, demonstrating the importance of recognizing the complex interactions of climate change and land and water conservation efforts.
"These ecosystems have a direct impact on the rural livelihoods of pastoralists," Rohde says.
"While sustainable groundwater management policies may be politically tractable in some regions, humanitarian assistance that protects ecosystems for sustaining rural livelihoods or reducing conflict might be more appropriate in other regions. There needs to be creative solutions to preserving these ecosystems, and that's going to vary a lot depending on where you are in the world."
Despite the study's determination that 21% of groundwater-dependent ecosystems are under some level of protection, Rohde's other research has demonstrated that very few ecosystems are effectively protected where legislation exists. Without a better understanding of how groundwater is supporting ecosystems, even protected lands could be undermined if groundwater is lost due to unsustainable use outside protected boundaries .
"We need to acknowledge that groundwater is critical for many ecosystems," Rohde says.
"Groundwater is being pumped at rates higher than it can be replenished, but we aren't managing or regulating it to the extent necessary to prevent further ecosystem impacts. If we want to achieve our global biodiversity goals and our climate goals, then we need to connect the dots between groundwater and ecosystems."
Journal information: Nature
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