Climate Change and Water Scarcity: The Case of Saudi Arabia

DeNicola, Erica; Aburizaiza, O. S.; Siddique, Azhar; Khwaja, Haider A.; Carpenter, David O.

doi:10.1016/j.aogh.2015.08.005

Cited by 237 publications

(158 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The Global Water Partnership (2000) and Al Saidi (2017) have pointed out that water scarcity in most global communities requires that their security be treated as a main topical issue within sustainable development at large. It is, however, observed that obstacles such as rising climate vulnerabilities exacerbate water scarcity (Natural Resource Defence Council, 2010;Ziervogel et al, 2014;DeNicola et al, 2015;Nhamo et al, 2018), thus raising profound concerns as to how a sustainable supply of critical resources can be attained. This underlines the persistent necessity for society globally to strive for a balanced system across the management of natural resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on integrated water resource management and its relevance in understanding the water-energy-climate change nexus in South Africa

Mathetsa

Simatele

Rampedi

et al. 2019

J. energy South. Afr.

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It is increasingly acknowledged that the water-energy-climate change (WECC) nexus is one of the synergies that pose a significant risk to achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs), specifically numbers six, seven and thirteen. There are suggestions that climate change outcomes such as increased temperature and drought episodes have implications for water availability, which in turn affects energy production in countries dependent on hydropower, pump-storage or coal-generated electricity, including South Africa. This development therefore calls for improved understanding of how to effectively manage the challenges that arise from this nexus, to mitigate the impacts it may have on achieving the associated SDGs. This study, which is based on an in-depth appraisal of existing developments, assessed the potential of the integrated water resource management framework in understanding the WECC nexus and its implications for South Africa’s sustainable development endeavours, particularly in the context of water resource management and utilisation. The study revealed South Africa’s lack of integrated, effective, and efficient institutions and policy framework to comprehensively manage the challenges emanating from this nexus. It identified an urgent need to develop systems and processes through which South Africa can handle the challenges as well as capture the benefits that may be obtained from this nexus.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on integrated water resource management and its relevance in understanding the water-energy-climate change nexus in South Africa

Mathetsa

Simatele

Rampedi

et al. 2019

J. energy South. Afr.

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“…The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has explained the vulnerability of climate change in terms of exposure to hazards and the capacity to adapt. Understanding the interaction of climatic parameters and environment is likely to reduce vulnerability, such as growing new crops suitable to climate change and efficient management of water resources [13,14]. Increase in temperature might decrease dissolved oxygen (DO) and increase dissolved organic matter (DOM) and salinity in source water [2,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends of Climate Change in Saudi Arabia: Implications on Water Resources

Tarawneh

Chowdhury

2018

Climate

108

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Climate change is an important factor for sustainable water resource management in the arid and semi-arid countries. In this study, future trends of temperature and rainfall were assessed for several regions in Saudi Arabia. The linear and Mann-Kendall analyses showed an increase of temperature in all regions and decrease of rainfall in many regions. Following trend analysis, the outputs of the NCAR Community Climate System Model were obtained for three emission scenarios (high: representative concentration pathways RCP8.5; high medium: RCP6; and low: RCP2.6) for the assessment periods of 2025-2044, 2045-2064 and 2065-2084 respectively, and compared with the average values from the reference period (1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005). In all emission scenarios, temperature showed an increase from 1986 to 2005 in all regions. For RCP8.5, increase of temperature are in the ranges of 0.8-1.6 • C, 0.9-2.7 • C and 0.7-4.1 • C during 2025-2044, 2045-2064 and 2065-2084 respectively. However, rainfall showed variable patterns with respect to emission scenarios and assessment periods. In most regions, the RCP6 showed decrease in rainfall from the reference period while the RCP8.5 and RCP2.6 showed variable patterns. The increase of temperature and variable pattern of rainfall may increase uncertainty in developing sustainable water resource management strategies.

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“…The increased water requirements of growing populations, and their agricultural and industrial needs, are compounded by shrinking of temperate regions and subsequent expansion of hot arid zones around the world, exacerbating issues of water insecurity in developing nations (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], ; Stringer et al, ). Though much work has focused on understanding the complex relationships between water demand and supply, without adequate understanding of variation in water turnover and water requirements across populations living in different environments, large number of people may continue to face a growing risk of water insecurity (DeNicola, Aburizaiza, Siddique, Khwaja, & Carpenter, ; Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development, ; UNESCO, ).…”

Section: Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Water turnover among human populations: Effects of environment and lifestyle

Swanson

Pontzer

2019

American J Hum Biol

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Objectives: To discuss the environmental and lifestyle determinants of water balance in humans and identify the gaps in current research regarding water use across populations. Methods: We investigated intraspecific variation in water turnover by comparing data derived from a large number of human populations measured using either dietary survey or isotope tracking. We also used published data from a broad sample of mammalian species to identify the interspecific relationship between body mass and water turnover. Results: Water facilitates nearly all physiological tasks and water turnover is strongly related to body size among mammals (r2=0.90). Within humans, however, the effect of body size is small. Instead, water intake and turnover vary with lifestyle and environmental conditions. Notably, despite living physically active lives in conditions that should increase water demands, the available measures of water intake and turnover among small-scale farming and pastoralist communities are broadly similar to those in less active, industrialized populations.Conclusions: More work is required to better understand the environmental, behavioral, and cultural determinants of water turnover in humans living across a variety of ecosystems and lifestyles. The results of such work are made more vital by the climate crisis, which threatens the water security of millions around the globe.

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Climate Change and Water Scarcity: The Case of Saudi Arabia

Abstract: International, multidisciplinary cooperation and collaboration will be needed to promote global water security and to protect human health, particularly in low-income countries that do not have the resources necessary to adapt on their own.

Cited by 237 publications

References 24 publications

Perspectives on integrated water resource management and its relevance in understanding the water-energy-climate change nexus in South Africa

Perspectives on integrated water resource management and its relevance in understanding the water-energy-climate change nexus in South Africa

Trends of Climate Change in Saudi Arabia: Implications on Water Resources

Water turnover among human populations: Effects of environment and lifestyle

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