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Managing Water Resources under Climate Uncertainty: Examples from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Australia – a new book by Sangam Shrestha, A.K. Anal, P.A. Salam and Michael van der Valk (eds) – has just been published by Springer. The book describes the impacts of climate change on the water cycle in Asia and Europe, and compares options for adaptation while looking at different regions that each have their own particularities. The book contains examples from the Mediterranean, Central Highlands of Vietnam, the Citarum River Basin (Indonesia), Nam Ou River Basin (Lao), Koshi River Basin, Chaliyar River Basin (Kerala, India), Mekong tributaries (including Can Tho, Sesan and Sre Pork Basin), Cambodia, Bhutan, South-Eastern Indian coast, Leh (Northwestern Himalaya, India), Nepal (Disaster Risk Reduction), Adelaide (Australia), Mexico, Chindwin River (Myanmar), Brahmaputra River. With a foreword by Michel Jarraud (Secretary-General of WMO and Chair of UN-Water) and Blanca Jiménez (Director, Division of Water Sciences, UNESCO).
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Overuse of surface water and an increasing reliance on nonrenewable groundwater resources have been reported over various regions of the world, casting significant doubt on the sustainable water supply and food production met by irrigation. To assess the limitations of global water resources, numerous indicators have been developed, but they rarely consider nonrenewable water use. In addition, surface water over-abstraction is rarely assessed in the context of human and environmental water needs. Yoshihide Wada and Marc Bierkens performed a transient assessment of global water use over the historical period 1960–2010 as well as the future projections of 2011–2099, using a newly developed indicator: the blue water sustainability index (BlWSI).
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Smart agricultural practices and an extensive grain-trade network enabled the Romans to thrive in the water-limited environment of the Mediterranean, a new study shows. The stable food supply brought about by these measures promoted population growth and urbanisation, however, pushing the Empire closer to the limits of its food resources. A model of ancient water movement shows how trade practices might affect today’s urban centers as the climate changes. Ancient water networks made the Roman Empire vulnerable.
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Wetlands International is pleased to invite you for an evening reception in the European Parliament on 10 December 2014, hosted by Mr Ricardo Serrão Santos, Member of the European Parliament. The event will bring together Members of the European Parliament, the European Commission and practitioners in Disaster Risk Reduction and development.
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On 4–5 June 2014 the Netherlands Hydrological Society (NHV), together with the Dutch Foundation for Applied Water Research (STOWA), organized a symposium on the implications of the new climate scenarios for water management. The symposium «New climate scenarios – implications for water management» was set in the framework of global developments regarding future scenarios on climate variability and change, and their impact on hydrology and water resources. It built on the presentation of new scenarios for the climate of the Netherlands for the periods 2036–2065 ('2050') and 2071–2100 ('2085') by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in April 2014. A summary in English lists the main findings, notions and recommendations from the discussions during the symposium.
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On 11 June 2014 Francesca de Châtel successfully defended her PhD thesis on water in Syria. The Jordan River has been reduced to 2% of its historic size and is heavily polluted. Across Syria, rivers are shrinking, springs have dried up, and the desert is spreading. The water crisis in the Middle East, the most water-scarce region in the world, is rapidly worsening, yet decision-makers appear unwilling to acknowledge its severity and water remains low on the political agenda. How can this gap between the reality of growing scarcity on the ground and the continued illusion of plenty be explained?
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In May 2013, a year ago, Thomas Friedman, writing for the International Herald Tribune and New York Times, was one of the first to acknowledge the importance of drought, the lack of water and possibly climate change in the Syrian revolution. »Kids without books, teachers or classes for a long time — that’s trouble. Big trouble.«, he wrote. And »the drought and unemployment were important in pushing people toward revolution«, a Syrian lady was quoted. Building on this and on other information, Peter Gleick, in his paper «Water, Drought, Climate Change, and Conflict in Syria», to be published in July 2014, also concludes that drought, water and agricultural management, and climatic conditions are factors in the Syrian conflict.
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On 19 May 2014 Viet Nam acceded to the UN Watercourses Convention, making it the 35th country to join this global instrument. The accession by Viet Nam to the United Nations Watercourses Convention triggered its entry into force by bringing the number of Parties to the required total of 35. The 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (United Nations Watercourses Convention) will enter into force on 17 August 2014.
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