Assessing Freshwater Provision and Consumption in the Alpine Space Applying the Ecosystem Service Concept

Abstract

A key challenge in the sustainable management of freshwater is related to non-stationary processes and transboundary requirements. The assessment of freshwater is often hampered due to small-scale analyses, lacking data and with the focus on only its provision. Based on the ecosystem service (ES) concept, this study aims at quantitatively comparing potential water supply with the demand for freshwater in the European Alps and their surrounding lowlands. We propose an easy-to-use combination of different mapping approaches, including a large-scale hydrologic model to estimate water supply and the downscaling of regional data to the local scale to map demand. Our results demonstrate spatial mismatches between supply and demand and a high dependency of the densely populated lowlands from water providing mountain areas. Under expected climate variations and future demographic changes, our results suggest increasing pressures on freshwater in the south of the Alps. Hence, sustainable water management strategies need to assure the supply of freshwater under changing environmental conditions to meet the increasing water demand of urbanized areas in the lowlands. Moreover, national water management strategies need to be optimally concerted at the international level, as transboundary policies and frameworks can strengthen future water provision.

Variability of Water Balance under Climate Change Scenarios. Implications for Sustainability in the Rhône River Basin

“…The methodological approach was based on the application of the "Water Yield" hydrological module of the InVEST model (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs [38]), by means of the assessment of five climate scenarios. This tool has been widely used for the study of socio-ecological systems [39,40] and, specifically, of the management of water resources [41,42].…”

A transnational perspective of global and regional ecosystem service flows from and to mountain regions

“…The selected case study focused on a water distribution company, Lake Constance Water Supply, which delivers water from Lake Constance to numerous municipalities in Baden Württemberg, Germany (https://www.bodensee-wasserversorgung.de). We quantified water supply in terms of water runoff from catchments of the Alpine space by the hydropower model from the InVEST toolbox 37 based on root restricting layer depth (mm), plant available water content, average annual precipitation, average annual potential evapotranspiration, and land use/land cover 38 . We identified the amount of water within the watershed of Lake Constance by overlaying the water supply at the landscape scale with the boundaries of the respective watershed.…”

Analyzing Spatial Congruencies and Mismatches between Supply, Demand and Flow of Ecosystem Services and Sustainable Development

“…Finally, the sustainability indicators are partly linked to the UN SDGs, especially to eight SDGs ( Goals 2,4,8,9,11,12,13 and 15). The indicators from the environmental dimension concentrate on Goal 15 (Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss), while the indicators belonging to the economic dimension are strongly linked to Goal 8 (Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all).…”

“…For example, although we distinguished four climatic regions to model fresh water supplies, local heterogeneities are not depicted and need more sophisticated hydrological modeling approaches [9]. We employed significant effort to harmonize data and use Europe-wide datasets, which nonetheless limited the selection of indicators.…”

“…ES provision, however, is highly determined by the spatial characteristics of ESs and environmental conditions [4][5][6]. This may cause trade-offs and synergies among ESs [7,8], or lead to dependencies of people from certain areas (e.g., lowland populations depending on fresh water from mountain regions) [9]. Moreover, interactions among stakeholders influence whether people actually obtain the benefits from ESs, as these power relationships determine access, management and use of ESs [10,11].…”