DOCSLIB.ORG

Multimodel Assessment of Water Scarcity Under Climate Change

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Multimodel Assessment of Water Scarcity Under Climate Change Multimodel assessment of water scarcity under SPECIAL FEATURE climate change Jacob Schewea,1, Jens Heinkea,b, Dieter Gertena, Ingjerd Haddelandc, Nigel W. Arnelld, Douglas B. Clarke, Rutger Dankersf, Stephanie Eisnerg, Balázs M. Feketeh, Felipe J. Colón-Gonzálezi, Simon N. Goslingj, Hyungjun Kimk, Xingcai Liul, Yoshimitsu Masakim, Felix T. Portmannn,o, Yusuke Satohp, Tobias Stackeq, Qiuhong Tangl, Yoshihide Wadar, Dominik Wissers, Torsten Albrechta, Katja Frielera, Franziska Pionteka, Lila Warszawskia, and Pavel Kabatt,u aPotsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 14412 Potsdam, Germany; bInternational Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya; cNorwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, N-0301 Oslo, Norway; dWalker Institute for Climate System Research, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AR, United Kingdom; eCentre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford OX10 8BB, United Kingdom; fMet Office Hadley Centre, Exeter EX1 3PB, United Kingdom; gCenter for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, 34109 Kassel, Germany; hCivil Engineering Department, The City College of New York, New York, NY 10031; iAbdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, I-34151Trieste, Italy; jSchool of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom; kInstitute of Industrial Science , The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan; pDepartment of Civil Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan; lInstitute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; mCenter for Global Environmental Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba 305-8506, Japan; nLOEWE Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre and Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; oInstitute of Physical Geography, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; qMax Planck Institute for Meteorology, 20146 Hamburg, Germany; rDepartment of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands; sCenter for Development Research, University of Bonn, 53113 Bonn, Germany; tInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria; and uWageningen University and Research Centre, 6708, Wageningen, The Netherlands Edited by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany, and approved August 13, 2013 (received for review January 31, 2013) Water scarcity severely impairs food security and economic pros- resources already constrains development and societal well-being perity in many countries today. Expected future population changes in many countries (4, 5), the expected growth of global population SCIENCE will, in many countries as well as globally, increase the pressure on over the coming decades, together with growing economic pros- SUSTAINABILITY available water resources. On the supply side, renewable water perity, will increase water demand and thus aggravate these resources will be affected by projected changes in precipitation problems (6–8). patterns, temperature, and other climate variables. Here we use Climate change poses an additional threat to water security a large ensemble of global hydrological models (GHMs) forced by because changes in precipitation and other climatic variables five global climate models and the latest greenhouse-gas concen- may lead to significant changes in water supply in many regions tration scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways) to syn- (6–11). The effect of climate change on water resources is, thesize the current knowledge about climate change impacts on however, uncertain for a number of reasons. Climate model water resources. We show that climate change is likely to exacer- projections, although rather consistent in terms of global average bate regional and global water scarcity considerably. In particular, changes, disagree on the magnitude, and in many cases even the the ensemble average projects that a global warming of 2 °C above sign, of change at a regional scale, in particular when it comes to present (approximately 2.7 °C above preindustrial) will confront an precipitation patterns (12). In addition, the way in which pre- additional approximate 15% of the global population with a severe cipitation changes translate into changes in hydrological varia- decrease in water resources and will increase the number of people bles such as surface or subsurface runoff and river discharge (i.e., living under absolute water scarcity (<500 m3 per capita per year) by runoff accumulated along the river network), and thus in re- another 40% (according to some models, more than 100%) com- newable water resources, depends on many biophysical charac- pared with the effect of population growth alone. For some indica- teristics of the affected region (e.g., orography, vegetation, and tors of moderate impacts, the steepest increase is seen between the soil properties) and is the subject of hydrological models, which present day and 2 °C, whereas indicators of very severe impacts in- represent a second level of uncertainty (11, 13). crease unabated beyond 2 °C. At the same time, the study highlights In the framework of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model In- large uncertainties associated with these estimates, with both global tercomparison Project [ISI-MIP; Warszawski et al. (14) in this climate models and GHMs contributing to the spread. GHM uncer- issue of PNAS] a set of nine global hydrological models, one tainty is particularly dominant in many regions affected by declining global land-surface model, and one dynamic global vegetation water resources, suggesting a high potential for improved water model [here summarized as global hydrological models (GHMs); resource projections through hydrological model development. Materials and Methods] has been applied using bias-corrected forcing from five different global climate models (GCMs) under climate impacts | hydrological modeling | Inter-Sectoral Impact Model the newly developed Representative Concentration Pathways Intercomparison Project (RCPs). The purpose is to explore the associated uncertainties and to synthesize the current state of knowledge about the reshwater is one of the most vital natural resources of the impact of climate change on renewable water resources at Fplanet. The quantities that humans need for drinking and the global scale. In this paper we investigate the multimodel sanitation are relatively small, and the fact that these basic needs are not satisfied for many people today is primarily a matter of access to, and quality of, available water resources (1). Much Author contributions: J.S., K.F., F.P., L.W., and P.K. designed research; J.S., J.H., D.G., I.H., N.A., D.B.C., R.D., S.E., B.M.F., F.J.C.-G., S.N.G., H.K., X.L., Y.M., F.T.P., Y.S., T.S., Q.T., Y.W., larger quantities of water are required for many other purposes, and D.W. performed research; J.S. and T.A. analyzed data; and J.S. wrote the paper. most importantly irrigated agriculture, but also for industrial use, The authors declare no conflict of interest. in particular for hydropower and the cooling of thermoelectric This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. fi power plants (2, 3). These activities critically depend on a suf - 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]. cient amount of freshwater that can be withdrawn from rivers, This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10. lakes, and groundwater aquifers. Whereas scarcity of freshwater 1073/pnas.1222460110/-/DCSupplemental. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1222460110 PNAS | March 4, 2014 | vol. 111 | no. 9 | 3245–3250 Downloaded by guest on September 28, 2021 ensemble projections and the associated spread for changes in a relatively high level of agreement across the multimodel en- annual discharge—taken here as a first-order measure of the semble on the sign of change indicates high confidence. Most of water resources available to humans. We then reconcile these these patterns are consistent with previous studies (8, 11, 17, 18), hydrological changes with global population patterns to estimate but there are also some differences. For example, ensemble pro- how many people will be living in areas affected by a given jections using the previous generation of GCMs and climate sce- change in water resources. Finally, we apply a commonly used narios found a robust runoff increase in southeastern South measure of water scarcity to estimate the percentage of the America (19, 20), where we find no clear trend, or partly even world’s population living in water-scarce countries and to a drying trend. Whereas those latter studies used larger GCM quantify the contributions of both climate change and population ensembles, we apply an unprecedented number of GHMs as well as change to the change in water scarcity. Results are presented as the new RCP climate forcing. At 3 °C of global mean warming, the a function of global mean warming above the present day to ac- pattern of change is similar to that at 2 °C, although the changes are count for the relative independence of regional temperature, enhanced in many regions, and new robust trends emerge in some precipitation, and runoff changes of the rate of warming (15, 16) regions (most notably a strong negative trend in Mesoamerica; SI and to allow for systematic comparison of climate change impacts Appendix,Fig.S1). across scenarios
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Coping with Water Scarcity: What Role for Biotechnologies?
    ISSN 1729-0554 LAND AND WATER DISCUSSION 7 PAPER LAND AND WATER DISCUSSION PAPER 7 Coping with water scarcity: What role for biotechnologies? As one of its initiatives to mark World Water Day 2007, whose theme was "Coping with water scarcity", FAO organized a moderated e-mail conference entitled "Coping with water scarcity in developing countries: What role for agricultural biotechnologies?". Its main focus was on the use of biotechnologies to increase the efficiency of water use in agriculture, while a secondary focus was on two specific water-related applications of micro-organisms, in wastewater treatment and in inoculation of crops and forest trees with mycorrhizal fungi. This publication brings together the background paper and the summary report from the e-mail conference. Coping with water scarcity: What role for biotechnologies? ISBN 978-92-5-106150-3 ISSN 1729-0554 9 7 8 9 2 5 1 0 6 1 5 0 3 TC/M/I0487E/1/11.08/2000 LAND AND WATER Coping with Water DISCUSSION PAPER Scarcity: What Role for 7 Biotechnologies? By John Ruane FAO Working Group on Biotechnology Rome, Italy Andrea Sonnino FAO Research and Extension Division Rome, Italy Pasquale Steduto FAO Land and Water Division Rome, Italy and Christine Deane Faculty of Law University of Technology, Sydney Australia FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2008 The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
    [Show full text]
  • The Water-Energy Nexus: Challenges and Opportunities Overview
    U.S. Department of Energy The Water-Energy Nexus: Challenges and Opportunities JUNE 2014 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY BLANK Table of Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................. iii Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................................. v Chapter 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 DOE’s Motivation and Role .................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 The DOE Approach ................................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Opportunities ............................................................................................................................................. 4 References ..........................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Four Billion People Affected by Severe Water Scarcity
    Briefing paper Four billion people affected by severe water scarcity Number of people living in water scarce areas Research published in Science Advances on water scarcity by Prof. Hoekstra and Dr. Mesfin Mekonnen, researchers from University of Twente, reveals that as many as four billion people worldwide live under water scarcity for at least one month of the year. Their research shows that the earlier estimates did not capture the monthly variability of water scarcity and that the number of people affected by severe water scarcity are much higher. For example, the entire population of 37 countries and more than half of the population of 97 countries live under severe water scarcity during at least one month per year (Figure 1). This information is key in addressing Sustainable Development Goal 6.4 which aims to substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity. Blue water scarcity is a result of the cumulative impact of the blue water footprint of agriculture, domestic water supply and industry. In areas where blue water scarcity is greater than 1 – moderate, significant and severe water scarcity – environmental flow requirements are not met, which can lead to degradation of natural ecosystems, loss of valuable ecosystem services and negative impacts on subsistence uses, such as access to drinking and other household water and loss of local fisheries. Figure 1: Percentage of population experiencing severe water scarcity at least one month of a year. Source: Water Footprint Network Data from M.M. Mekonnen & A.Y. Hoekstra, University of Twente Trade risk and water scarcity As nations work toward securing food, water, energy and other essential inputs for people’s well being, livelihoods and the country’s economic development, most countries rely on imports as well as exports of goods and services.
    [Show full text]
  • Life Cycle Assessment and Water Footprint of Hydrogen Production Methods: from Conventional to Emerging Technologies
    environments Article Life Cycle Assessment and Water Footprint of Hydrogen Production Methods: From Conventional to Emerging Technologies Andi Mehmeti 1,* ID , Athanasios Angelis-Dimakis 2 ID , George Arampatzis 3 ID , Stephen J. McPhail 4 and Sergio Ulgiati 5 1 Department of Science and Technology, Parthenope University of Naples, 80143 Naples, Italy 2 School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK; [email protected] 3 School of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete, 731 00 Chania, Greece; [email protected] 4 DTE-PCU-SPCT, ENEA C.R. Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, Italy; [email protected] 5 Department of Science and Technology, Parthenope University of Naples, 80134 Naples, Italy; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +39-327-556-3659 Received: 26 December 2017; Accepted: 2 February 2018; Published: 6 February 2018 Abstract: A common sustainability issue, arising in production systems, is the efficient use of resources for providing goods or services. With the increased interest in a hydrogen (H2) economy, the life-cycle environmental performance of H2 production has special significance for assisting in identifying opportunities to improve environmental performance and to guide challenging decisions and select between technology paths. Life cycle impact assessment methods are rapidly evolving to analyze multiple environmental impacts of the production of products or processes. This study marks the first step in developing process-based streamlined life cycle analysis (LCA) of several H2 production pathways combining life cycle impacts at the midpoint (17 problem-oriented) and endpoint (3 damage-oriented) levels using the state-of-the-art impact assessment method ReCiPe 2016.
    [Show full text]
  • Freshwater Resources
    3 Freshwater Resources Coordinating Lead Authors: Blanca E. Jiménez Cisneros (Mexico), Taikan Oki (Japan) Lead Authors: Nigel W. Arnell (UK), Gerardo Benito (Spain), J. Graham Cogley (Canada), Petra Döll (Germany), Tong Jiang (China), Shadrack S. Mwakalila (Tanzania) Contributing Authors: Thomas Fischer (Germany), Dieter Gerten (Germany), Regine Hock (Canada), Shinjiro Kanae (Japan), Xixi Lu (Singapore), Luis José Mata (Venezuela), Claudia Pahl-Wostl (Germany), Kenneth M. Strzepek (USA), Buda Su (China), B. van den Hurk (Netherlands) Review Editor: Zbigniew Kundzewicz (Poland) Volunteer Chapter Scientist: Asako Nishijima (Japan) This chapter should be cited as: Jiménez Cisneros , B.E., T. Oki, N.W. Arnell, G. Benito, J.G. Cogley, P. Döll, T. Jiang, and S.S. Mwakalila, 2014: Freshwater resources. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Field, C.B., V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach, M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, and L.L. White (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 229-269. 229 Table of Contents Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................................ 232 3.1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Linking Environment and Conflict Prevention the Role of the United Nations
    FULL REPORT LINKING ENVIRONMENT AND CONFLICT PREVENTION THE ROLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS CSS peace ETH Zurich © CSS and swisspeace 2008 Center for Security Studies (CSS) ETH Zurich Seilergraben 45-49 - SEI CH – 8092 Zürich Tel.: +41-44-632 40 25 Fax: +41-44-632 19 41 [email protected] www.css.ethz.ch swisspeace Sonnenbergstrasse 17 P.O. Box CH - 3000 Bern 7 Tel.: +41-31-330 12 12 Fax: +41-31-330 12 13 [email protected] www.swisspeace.ch A report by Simon A. Mason, Adrian Muller Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich Albrecht Schnabel, Rina Alluri, Christian Schmid swisspeace, Bern Supervised by Andreas Wenger (CSS), Victor Mauer (CSS), and Laurent Goetschel (swisspeace) This is the full report, which can be accessed at <www.css.ethz.ch> and <www.swisspeace.ch> as well as in the “CSS Environment and Conflict Transformation” Series (www.isn.ethz.ch > “Publishing House” > “Publication Series”). An 18-page summary of this full report can be accessed at the same websites. Cover photo Paul Klee, Rosenwind 1922,39 Ölfarbe auf Grundierung auf Papier auf Karton 38,2 x 41,8 cm Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Schenkung Livia Klee Contents Foreword..................................................................................................................................... 4 Acronyms and Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures and Tables...........................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Water Theft in Rural Contexts Abstract
    Water theft in rural contexts Rob White Distinguished Professor of Criminology School of Social Sciences University of Tasmania AUSTRALIA Contact author – Rob White: [email protected]; +61 3 6226 2877 Abstract Water theft is a phenomenon that is set to grow in the light of climate change, chronic drought, freshwater scarcity, and conflicts over natural resources. Drawing upon recent developments pertaining to poor regulation and the stealing of water from the Murray- Darling river system in Australia, this paper explores the cultural and political economic dimensions of water theft in the context of rurality and criminality. Framed within the overarching perspective of green criminology, the article examines water theft through the lens of rural folk crime as well as failures of regulation and environmental law enforcement. It raises issues relating to the social construction of victims of water theft, human (such as Indigenous people) and non-human (such as ecosystems). This article argues that the geographical location of water theft is integral to the dynamics of the harms committed, and the response of both governments and residents to the crime. Key words: water theft; green criminology; rural folk crime; Murray-Darling river; environmental regulation © 2019 White. This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/) Water theft in rural contexts – White Introduction In July 2017, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation Four Corners investigation revealed a series of improper conducts pertaining to the Murray-Darling Basin, the largest fresh-water system in Australia (ABC, 2017). Four Corners is a long-running investigative current affairs television program produced by the national public broadcaster (the ABC).
    [Show full text]
  • Narratives of Scarcity: Understanding the 'Global Resource Grab'
    Working Paper Working Narratives of scarcity: understanding the ‘global resource grab’ Ian Scoones, Rebecca Smalley, Ruth Hall, Dzodzi Tsikata February 2014 Working Paper 076 www.future-agricultures.org Abstract Global resource scarcity has become a central policy concern, with predictions of rising populations, natural resource depletion and hunger. Resulting narratives of scarcity drive behaviour and justify actions to harness resources considered ‘under-utilised’, leading to contestations over rights and entitlements and producing new scarcities. Yet scarcity is contingent, contextual and above all political. We present an analysis of three framings – absolute scarcity, relative scarcity and political scarcity – associated with the intellectual traditions of Malthus, Ricardo and Marx, respectively. A review of 134 global and Africa-specific policy and related sources produced over the past six years demonstrates how diverse framings of scarcity – what it is, its causes and what is to be done – are evident in competing narratives that animate debates about the future of food and farming in Africa and globally. We argue that current mainstream narratives emphasise absolute and relative scarcity, while ignoring political scarcity. We suggest a more political framing of scarcity requires paying attention to how resources are distributed between different needs and uses, and so different people and social classes. This requires, we argue, a policy emphasis for land and resource issues on rights and access, and distributional issues, centred on equity and justice. Working Paper 076 2 www.future-agricultures.org 1. Introduction agribusiness and civil society material concerning agriculture, natural resources, food availability and the global land rush? We considered material that addresses Understandings of what has been called the ‘global these issues at a global level, as well as material that resource grab’ – the large-scale acquisition of land and focuses on sub-Saharan Africa.
    [Show full text]
  • Toward a Formal Definition of Water Scarcity in Natural-Human Systems W
    WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 49, 4506–4517, doi:10.1002/wrcr.20249, 2013 Toward a formal definition of water scarcity in natural-human systems W. K. Jaeger,1 A. J. Plantinga,2 H. Chang,3 K. Dello,4 G. Grant,5 D. Hulse,6 J. J. McDonnell,7 S. Lancaster,8 H. Moradkhani,9 A. T. Morzillo,10 P. Mote,4 A. Nolin,8 M. Santelmann,11 and J. Wu1 Received 27 February 2012; revised 8 April 2013; accepted 9 April 2013; published 8 July 2013. [1] Water scarcity may appear to be a simple concept, but it can be difficult to apply to complex natural-human systems. While aggregate scarcity indices are straightforward to compute, they do not adequately represent the spatial and temporal variations in water scarcity that arise from complex systems interactions. The uncertain effects of future climate change on water scarcity add to the need for clarity on the concept of water scarcity. Starting with a simple but robust definition—the marginal value of a unit of water we— highlight key aspects of water scarcity and illustrate its many biophysical and socioeconomic determinants. We make four central observations. First, water scarcity varies greatly across location, time, and a multitude of uses that are valued either directly or indirectly by society. Second, water scarcity is fundamentally a normative, anthropocentric concept and, thus, can and should be distinguished from the related, purely descriptive notion of water deficit. While such an anthropocentric perspective may seem limiting, it has the potential to encompass the vast range of interests that society has in water.
    [Show full text]
  • Water Scarcity, Conflict, and Security in a Climate Change World: Challenges and Opportunities for International Law and Policy
    Texas A&M University School of Law Texas A&M Law Scholarship Faculty Scholarship 3-2009 Water Scarcity, Conflict, and Security in a Climate Change orld:W Challenges and Opportunities for International Law and Policy Gabriel Eckstein Texas A&M University School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar Part of the Environmental Law Commons, International Law Commons, Law and Society Commons, Natural Resources Law Commons, and the Water Law Commons Recommended Citation Gabriel Eckstein, Water Scarcity, Conflict, and Security in a Climate Change orld:W Challenges and Opportunities for International Law and Policy, 27 Wis. Int'l L.J. 409 (2009). Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/333 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Texas A&M Law Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Texas A&M Law Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WATER SCARCITY, CONFLICT, AND SECURITY IN A CLIMATE CHANGE WORLD: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW AND POLICY GABRIEL ECKSTE1N* I. Introduction ................................................................................ 4 10 II. Climate Change and Fresh Water Resources ............................. 414 A . D roughts and Floods ........................................................... 415 B. Agriculture and Food Security ............................................ 419 C . H um
    [Show full text]
  • Water Facts and Trends
    Facts and trends Water Version 2 Introduction Everyone understands that water is essential to life. But many are only just [ now beginning to grasp how essential it is to everything in life – food, energy, transportation, nature, leisure, identity, culture, social norms, education, gender equality and virtually all the products used on a daily basis. In particular, water, energy and climate change need to be tackled together, and these are linked to agriculture too. Therefore, this paper is [ only a piece of the puzzle and should not be viewed in isolation from other sustainability concerns. Since 2004, the WBCSD has consolidated its position as the leading business voice on water in major policy events. The project has produced a set of tools intended to help companies integrate water issues in their strategic planning. These tools include Water Scenarios to 2025 (2006) and the Global Water Tool (2007). From the start, WBCSD water publications have documented successful experiences in water management within and outside a company's fenceline. A prime example of this is Collaborative he WBCSD’s Water Project aims to Actions for Sustainable Water Management (2005). enhance awareness in the Tbusiness community of critical This working document provides an overview of some basic facts and societal challenges water issues while actively promoting related to water. It has been developed by the WBCSD secretariat and is intended to mutual understanding between business support the ongoing dialogue within the WBCSD membership and with other and non-business stakeholders. stakeholders in civil society and government. The emphasis in this document is on water Engaging leading companies availability and people’s use of water for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes.
    [Show full text]
  • Drought and Desertification in Iran
    hydrology Article Drought and Desertification in Iran Iraj Emadodin *, Thorsten Reinsch and Friedhelm Taube Institute for Crop Science and Plant Breeding, Group of Grass and Forage Science/Organic Agriculture, Hermann-Rodewald-Straße 9, 24118 Kiel, Germany * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +49-431-880-1516 Received: 1 April 2019; Accepted: 5 August 2019; Published: 7 August 2019 Abstract: Iran has different climatic and geographical zones (mountainous and desert areas), mostly arid and semi-arid, which are suffering from land degradation. Desertification as a land degradation process in Iran is created by natural and anthropogenic driving forces. Meteorological drought is a major natural driving force of desertification and occurs due to the extended periods of low precipitation. Scarcity of water, as well as the excessive use of water resources, mainly for agriculture, creates negative water balances and changes in plant cover, and accelerates desertification. Despite various political measures having been taken in the past, desertification is still a serious environmental problem in many regions in Iran. In this study, drought and aridity indices derived from long-term temperature and precipitation data were used in order to show long-term drought occurrence in different climatic zones in Iran. The results indicated the occurrence of severe and extremely severe meteorological droughts in recent decades in the areas studied. Moreover, the De Martonne Aridity Index (IDM) and precipitation variability index (PVI) showed an ongoing negative trend on the basis of long-term data and the conducted regression analysis. Rapid population growth, soil salinization, and poor water resource management are also considered as the main anthropogenic drivers.
    [Show full text]