Year: 2013
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: This chapter deals with adaptation in water (management) law, focusing primarily on floods and droughts in fresh water systems.I will explore whether current water law is sufficiently equipped to meet the challenges of climate change.In other words, through a smart use of existing water laws, can the necessary adaptation measures in the field of fresh water management be carried out, or do we need an adaptation of the law?After a brief overview of the impacts of climate change on fresh water resources in section 2, these questions will be answered through an analysis of the basic elements of international and domestic water law: the right to water, the principle of reasonable and equitable use, and the river basin approach (sections 3, 4 and 5 respectively).Under these basic elements, most water adaptation issues, According to the IPCC, current water management practices are very likely to be inadequate to reduce the negative impacts of climate change on water supply reliability, flood risk, health, energy, and aquatic ecosystems.Improved incorporation of current climate variability into water-related management would make adaptation to future climate change easier. 1 Across the globe, authorities involved in water management are discussing what such incorporation means in practice.The first and foremost theme discussed at the World Water Forumthe world's most important international meeting on water issues, with more than 25,000 participants including many heads of state and ministersduring its 5th session held in Istanbul in 2009, was climate change adaptation.In the Ministerial Declaration adopted at that conference, it was stated that transnational, national, and sub-national plans and programmes have to be developed and implemented 'to anticipate and address the possible impacts of global changes'.2 The Declaration especially mentioned assessments of varying hydrological 1 M L Parry et al. (eds), Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press 2007) 175. 2 Note that the word 'climate change' is avoided here, showing the sensitivity of the topic in an international diplomatic context in 2009.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its 2007 Fourth Assessment Report, summarizes the impacts as follows: 1 More than one-sixth of the world's population live in glacieror snowmelt-fed river basins and will be affected by the seasonal shift in streamflow, an increase in the ratio of winter to annual flows, and possibly the reduction in low flows caused by decreased glacier extent or snow water storage.Sea-level rise will extend areas of salinisation of groundwater and estuaries, resulting in a decrease in freshwater availability for humans and ecosystems in coastal areas.Increased precipitation intensity and variability is projected to increase the risks of flooding and drought in many areas...Many of the semi-arid and arid areas (e.g., Mediterranean basin, western USA, southern Africa, and north-eastern Brazil) will suffer a decrease in water resources due to climate change.Efforts to offset declining surface water availability due to increasing precipitation variability will be hampered by the fact that groundwater recharge will decrease considerably in some already water-stressed regions, where vulnerability is often exacerbated by the rapid increase in population and water demand.Higher water temperatures, increased precipitation intensity, and longer periods of low flows exacerbate many forms of water pollution [such as sediments, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, pathogens, pesticides, salt, and thermal pollution], with impacts on ecosystems, human health, water system reliability and operating costs...
Source: Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks
Parent work: Research Handbook on Climate Change Adaptation Law
Author: Jonathan Verschuuren
Institution: Tilburg University
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2583875439