Malthus in the Middle East

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-40
Author(s):  
Hussein A. Amery
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Cumulative Effects ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Global Water

Using a Malthusian framework, Chapter 3 draws parallels between political economy of the Southeast Anatolian (Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi or GAP) dam project in Turkey that affects water flow to the downstream neighbors of Syria and Iraq on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) nearing completion on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia – a project that will impound waters destined for Egypt. It finds that in each case, geographical and hydropolitical positioning are the essential elements of downstream state insecurity and therefore a significant causes of deteriorating relations within the respective river basins. While noting that although the riparian states in question have long histories of tension and distrust, the historical record shows that the vast majority of global water disputes are settled peacefully. The chapter presents evidence that in the lower riparian states, rapid population growth, infrastructure development, and climate change present adverse and cumulative effects on water supplies and water management. The author concludes with the argument that the convergence of these factors points to a likely future of water scarcity-induced conflict absent the introduction of policies to boost irrigation efficiency and improve water governance.

scholarly journals Applications of Satellite Remote Sensing to Water Governance and the Mitigation of Climate Change Effects

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilham Ali ◽  
Jay Famiglietti ◽  
Jonathan McLelland
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Water Stress ◽  
Satellite Remote Sensing ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Sensing Data ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Water Issues

Water stress in both surface and groundwater supplies is an increasing environmental and sustainable management issue. According to the UN Environment Program, at current depletion rates almost half of the world's population will suffer severe water stress by 2030. This is further exacerbated by climate change effects which are altering the hydrologic cycle. Understanding climate change implications is critical to planning for water management scenarios as situations such as rising sea levels, increasing severity of storms, prolonged drought in many regions, ocean acidification, and flooding due to snowmelt and heavy precipitation continue. Today, major efforts towards equitable water management and governance are needed. This study adopts the broad, holistic lenses of sustainable development and water diplomacy, acknowledging both the complex and transboundary nature of water issues, to assess the benefits of a “science to policy” approach in water governance. Such negotiations and frameworks are predicated on the availability of timely and uniform data to bolster water management plans, which can be provided by earth-observing satellite missions. In recent decades, significant advances in satellite remote sensing technology have provided unprecedented data of the Earth’s water systems, including information on changes in groundwater storage, mass loss of snow caps, evaporation of surface water reservoirs, and variations in precipitation patterns. In this study, specific remote sensing missions are surveyed (i.e. NASA LANDSAT, GRACE, SMAP, CYGNSS, and SWOT) to understand the breadth of data available for water uses and the implications of these advances for water management. Results indicate historical precedent where remote sensing data and technologies have been successfully integrated to achieve more sustainable water management policy and law, such as in the passage of the California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014. In addition, many opportunities exist in current transboundary and interstate water conflicts (for example, the Nile Basin and the Tri-State Water Wars between Alabama, Georgia, and Florida) to integrate satellite-remote-sensed water data as a means of “joint-fact finding” and basis for further negotiations. The authors argue that expansion of access to satellite remote sensing data of water for the general public, stakeholders, and policy makers would have a significant impact on the development of science-oriented water governance measures and increase awareness of water issues by significant amounts. Barriers to entry exist in accessing many satellite datasets because of prerequisite knowledge and expertise in the domain. More user-friendly platforms need to be developed in order to maximize the utility of present satellite data. Furthermore, sustainable co-operations should be formed to employ satellite remote sensing data on a regional scale to preempt problems in water supply, quantity, and quality.

scholarly journals Analysis of public policies and programmes towards water security in post-apartheid South Africa

Water Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Kwame Adom ◽  
Mulala Danny Simatele
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Private Equity ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Governance Capacity ◽  
Water Provision ◽  
The Government

Abstract Many countries in the world, including South Africa, are water-stressed with increasing pressure on their water resources due to population growth, climate change, and inadequate funding. Post independence in 1994, many policies and programmes were introduced by the government with the aim of promoting water management. While these policies and strategies achieved much in terms of water provision to communities and households, they failed to establish a water-conscious country with sufficient knowledge and expertise in water management. In addition, these policies and programmes are outdated, compartmentalised, complex, and lack robust water governance with resilient stakeholder partnerships that advance the more explicit second phase of the NDP to achieve water security under the threat of climate change. Using data collection tools inspired by the traditional method of participatory research, this paper analyses the structural and systematic factors hindering the implementation of comprehensive policies to achieve water security in South Africa. There is, therefore, an urgent need for South Africa to establish an independent water regulator to ensure coordination between different government departments, including the National Treasury, to strengthen weak governance capacity and to make it independent to attract private equity into the sector and to recover fiscal deficits in the water sector.

scholarly journals Water assessment in transboundary river basins: the case of the Medjerda River Basin

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrianirina Sedera Rajosoa ◽  
Chérifa Abdelbaki ◽  
Khaldoon A. Mourad
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Transboundary River ◽  
Transboundary River Basins ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Over Exploitation

AbstractWater resources in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region) face over-exploitation and over-pollution due to population growth, climate change and the lack of advanced water governance approaches. These challenges become more serious in transboundary river basins and may lead to conflict between riparian countries. The main objective of this paper is to assess water resources and needs at the Medjerda River Basin (MRB), shared by Tunisia and Algeria using the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) system between 2020 and 2050. Four scenarios were built to assess the current and future status of the water supply and demands in both countries. The results show that water demands, and shortages are increasing, and some demand sites will face real water scarcity in the future due to climate change and development practices. Therefore, new allocation and management plans should be examined at the regional level based on real collaboration among all stakeholders.

scholarly journals Climate-water governance: a systematic analysis of the water sector resilience and adaptation to combat climate change in Pakistan

Water Policy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hafiz Qaisar Yasin ◽  
Jessica Breadsell ◽  
Muhammad Naveed Tahir
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Water Sector ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Leadership Policy ◽  
Combat Climate Change ◽  
Water Issues

Abstract Climate change and water security have become the most challenging global issues of this era, especially for developing countries like Pakistan. Amid many hindrances, poor governance has been identified as one of the most pressing reasons for ineffective action to tackle multifaceted and integrative climate-water issues in Pakistan. This article, therefore, applied a systematic literature review methodology to examine the current climate-water governance archetype, including key areas, major elements, critical gaps, and potential strategy in Pakistan. This study found that key climate-water governance areas in Pakistan are: river basin and watershed management, agriculture and irrigation management, urban and domestic water issues, floods, droughts and disaster management, groundwater management, and transboundary management. Moreover, it is revealed that the major governance elements are political commitment and leadership, policy formulation and regulation, institutional capacity and coordination, stakeholder engagement, and resource management, technology, and infrastructure development. The article also discusses how Pakistan has not effectively employed most of the identified governance elements to tackle its climate-water problems, lacking mostly in political, policy, institutional, coordination, and infrastructure aspects. In conclusion, a four-dimensional governance strategy, encompassing leadership, policy, institutions, and stakeholders is proposed to improve water sector resilience and adaptation to combat climate change in Pakistan.

scholarly journals Improving governance in transboundary cooperation in water and climate change adaptation

Water Policy ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1014-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jos Timmerman ◽  
John Matthews ◽  
Sonja Koeppel ◽  
Daniel Valensuela ◽  
Niels Vlaanderen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Oecd Principles

Abstract Climate change adaptation in water management is a water governance issue. While neither climate change nor water respects national borders, adaptation in water management should be treated as a transboundary water governance issue. However, transboundary water management is, in essence, more complex than national water management because the water management regimes usually differ more between countries than within countries. This paper provides 63 lessons learned from almost a decade of cooperation on transboundary climate adaptation in water management under the UNECE Water Convention and puts these into the context of the OECD principles on water governance. It highlights that good water governance entails a variety of activities that are intertwined and cannot be considered stand-alone elements. The paper also shows that this wide variety of actions is needed to develop a climate change adaptation strategy in water management. Each of the lessons learned can be considered concrete actions connected to one or more of the OECD principles, where a range of actions may be needed to fulfil one principle. The paper concludes that developing climate change adaptation measures needs to improve in parallel the water governance system at transboundary scale.

scholarly journals Water Governance in the Aftermath of Rio+20

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Sindico
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
International Law ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Global Institutions ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Setting Process ◽  
Conceptual Background ◽  
Global Water

Abstract This article focuses on water governance in the aftermath of the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (uncsd or Rio+20). Water governance is defined here as a process in which law has a transformational role by allowing policy goals to become tangible and enforceable rights and obligations. Against this conceptual background global water governance appears to be still fragmented and incoherent. More coordination efforts and further harmonisation is needed, but more importantly global institutions are required to allow international law to operate effectively. It is within this context that the uncsd can be seen as an international agenda setting process and three key water related topics appear to be on such agenda: water and sanitation; water and ecosystem services and water and climate change. The article concludes with a call in favour of considering water not just as a public good, but mainly as a driver for sustainable development.

scholarly journals Global Water Governance and Climate Change: Identifying Innovative Arrangements for Adaptive Transformation

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Melo Zurita ◽  
Dana Thomsen ◽  
Neil Holbrook ◽  
Timothy Smith ◽  
Anna Lyth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Global Water

The Alps under climate change: implications for water management in Europe

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Vanham
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Water Sector ◽  
Po River ◽  
Integrated Water Management ◽  
The Alps ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Hydrological Regimes

The Alps function as a water tower for four of the major European river basins. However, a climate change-induced shift in mountain hydrological regimes and the future predicted disappearance of Alpine glaciers at the end of this century will have consequences for water management in both the Alps and the water-dependent lowlands. In this paper the importance of mountain water in the European lowlands and the impact of climate change on the water sector in both the mountains and lowlands are shown. Different demand stakeholders of the Alpine water sector will be affected. Dependent on the particular region in the Alps, problems will be less or more severe but generally adaptation can be achieved by means of the right investments and policies. However, major impacts on the water sector in the lowlands of the Danube, Rhine, Rhone and Po river basins are foreseen. Integrated water management at basin level is required to cope with these challenges.

scholarly journals Participatory Evaluation of Water Management Options for Climate Change Adaptation in River Basins

Environments ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Anabel Sanchez-Plaza ◽  
Annelies Broekman ◽  
Javier Retana ◽  
Adriana Bruggeman ◽  
Elias Giannakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Participatory Evaluation ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
The Impact

Climate and other human-induced changes will increase water scarcity in world areas such as in the Mediterranean. Adaptation principles need to be urgently incorporated into water management and stakeholder engagement needs to be strengthened at all steps of the management cycle. This study aimed to analyse and compare stakeholder-preferred water management options (WMOs) to face climate change related challenges and to foster adaptation in four Mediterranean river basins. The challenges and WMOs of the four river basins identified by stakeholders were analysed examining to what extent the WMOs tackled the identified challenges. The impact of the WMOs resulting from a participatory modelling method was included in a comparative analysis of the stakeholders’ WMOs preferences. The results indicate the participatory approach that was applied allowed local priorities and real-world challenges to be defined with adequate detail as well as the definition of tailored responses. The participatory impact analysis provided an integrated view of the river basin as an interrelated system. The participatory evaluation of the WMOs was able to consider a wide range of elements and was able reflect the combined preferences of the stakeholders. Moreover, it allowed groups of basin actors with highly diverse profiles and concerns to further promote sets of these WMOs as input into decision making processes.

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