Water demand and effects of climate change in the middle Kafue River basin

Abstract

The scholarly theme of the book lends itself to the discipline of earth and atmospheric sciences, with a specific focus on water-climate studies. The book is a scholarly discourse by researchers in the natural sciences, including hydrologists, climate scientists, environmental engineers and water scientists. The purpose of the book is to address the limited complementarity between the water and climate studies, which is crucial in promoting scientific research that informs policy decisions and the implementation of water-security plans. The chapter contributions were sourced from researchers in the project -'Water Security and Climate Adaptation in Southern Africa' at the North-West University, and the research chair network linked to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair on Sustainable Water Research for Climate Adaptation in Arid Environments, based at the Namibia University of Science and Technology. The chapters were selected to represent water-climate models and policy research conducted in different river basins in arid and semi-arid environments. Therefore, the water-climate management tools highlighted in this book include General Circulation Models (GCMs), Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), Africa Flood and Drought Monitor (AFDM), Extreme Precipitation Events (EPEs), R ClimDex, Mixed Strategy Game Models, Standard Precipitation Indices (SPIs), Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) System, Penman Calculator and Saturated Volume Fluctuation (SVF).Four of the nine chapters in this book contain material representing substantial reworking of the primary research and modelling for higher degree studies done at the University of Zambia and the Namibia University of Science and Technology. One chapter is a review of previous studies, and the remaining eight are based on river basin research and modelling projects by researchers from different institutions. As a whole, the book contains more than 50% original content, not published before, and no part of the book has been plagiarised.