| Title: |
Climate change and the world s river basins: anticipating management options
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| Resource Type: |
document --> technical publication --> journal article
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| Country: |
International organisation- network or project
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| Year: |
2007 |
| Availability: |
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
DOI: 10.1890/060148
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| Author 1/Producer: |
Margaret A Palmer
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| Other Authors/Producers: |
Catherine A Reidy Liermann, Christer Nilsson, Martina Flörke, Joseph Alcamo, P Sam Lake, and Nick Bond
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| Author / Producer Type: |
University research group / research institute
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EUGRIS Keyword(s): |
Water resources and their management -->Monitoring and mitigation
Water resources and their management -->River basins
Water resources and their management -->Water resources and their management Overview
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| Short description: |
Rivers are dynamic, and they may change form several times throughout their course due to variations in physical conditions, such as slope and
bedrock geology. Rivers respond to changes in land use and climate through dynamic movements and flow adjustments, which allow rives to absorb
disturbances. Nevertheless this ability does have its limits. Indeed, most of the world’s greatest rivers have experienced major changes in flow, which
in turn have reduced their natural ability to adjust to changes. Given the expected changes in global climate and water demand in the future, this
might result in serious consequences for ecosystems and humans including increased flooding and water shortages. While the impacts of climate
change on water availability and sustainability of ecosystems have received attention, very little is known about the overlapping consequences of
climate change and the impacts caused by dams and other human infrastructures.
American, Swedish, Australian, and German researchers recently investigated river discharge under different scenarios of climate change and water
withdrawal for the 2050s and combined this with data on the impact of dams on large river basins in the world. This enabled the authors to create
global maps that illustrate the potential changes in discharge and water stress for dam-impacted and free-flowing rivers. The authors then identified
different action types (proactive and reactive) that could be applied to the river basins most likely to experience the greatest changes.
The results show that the area of large river basins in need of management interventions (reactive or proactive) due to changes in discharge and water
stress will be much larger for basins impacted by dams than for rivers with free-flowing rivers. Approximately 300,000 km2 for basins with no dam
impacts and 10 million km2 for dam-impacted basins will be likely to require some form of management by 2050. Nearly 1 million people live in the
areas likely to require action. Moreover, the authors estimate that areas of large river basins almost certain to require management intervention
amount to 700,000 km2 for unimpacted basins and 5 million km2 for dam-impacted basins. Approximately 365 million people in these areas are
certain to require intervention.
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Submitted By:
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Professor Paul Bardos WhoDoesWhat?
Last update: 17/11/2007
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