Glaciohydrology of the Himalaya-Karakoram

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. eabf3668
Author(s):  
Mohd. Farooq Azam ◽  
Jeffrey S. Kargel ◽  
Joseph M. Shea ◽  
Santosh Nepal ◽  
Umesh K. Haritashya ◽  
...  

Understanding the response of Himalayan-Karakoram (HK) rivers to climate change is crucial for ~1 billion people who partly depend on these water resources. Policymakers tasked with the sustainable water resources management for agriculture, hydropower, drinking, sanitation, and hazards require an assessment of rivers’ current status and potential future changes. This review demonstrates that glacier and snow melt are important components of HK rivers, with greater hydrological importance for the Indus than Ganges and Brahmaputra basins. Total river runoff, glacier melt, and seasonality of flow are projected to increase until the 2050s, with some exceptions and large uncertainties. Critical knowledge gaps severely affect modeled contributions of different runoff components, future runoff volumes and seasonality. Therefore, comprehensive field- and remote sensing-based methods and models are needed.

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 1847-1861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vahid Aliabadi ◽  
Saeed Gholamrezai ◽  
Pouria Ataei

Abstract Water is the prerequisite for human adaptation to climate change and is the key link among climatic conditions, humans, and the environment. Human behavior can mitigate the impacts of climate change. The present study aimed to evaluate rural people's readiness for sustainable management of water resources. To achieve this goal, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Health Belief Model (HBM) were used as the research framework. The research instrument was a closed-end questionnaire developed on the basis of TPB and HBM. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts in sustainable agriculture. Its reliability was also checked in a pilot study by calculating Cronbach's alpha, the average variance extracted (AVE), R2, and composite reliability (CR). The research sample was composed of 480 villagers from Hamadan province, Iran, who were familiar with sustainable water resources management in the context of the rooftop rainwater harvesting project. The results showed that in TPB, the variables of moral norms, attitude, and self-identity could account for 61 percent of the variance in rural people's intention to adopt the practices of sustainable water resources management. Based on HBM, the variables of perceived benefits, perceived susceptibility, and perceived severity could capture 49 percent of this variance. The results revealed that both theories had the potential to predict rural people's intention to engage in the sustainable management of water resources, but TPB proved to provide a more robust prediction than HBM.


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