56
6 Emerging Challenges to Transboundary Water Governance
all over the world, is not only threatened by unabated pollution, but also by overabstraction (WWAP 2015).
Out of the various drivers and impacts of the Anthropocene climate change bears
special relevance as its impacts are mainly expressed through changes to hydrology. The 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
summarises the major freshwater-related risks of climate change as follows:
– dramatic decrease of renewable water resources in large areas of the world that
will intensify competition for water among agriculture, ecosystems, settlements,
industry, and energy production, affecting regional water, energy, and food security,
– increased exposure to 20th-century 100-year river floods,
– likely increase in the frequency of meteorological droughts (i.e. less rainfall) and
agricultural droughts (i.e. less soil moisture) in presently dry regions, which is
likely to result in less surface water and groundwater,
– negative impacts on freshwater ecosystems by changing stream flow and water
quality,
– projected reduction of raw water quality, posing risks to drinking water quality
even with conventional treatment as a result of increased temperature, increases in
sediment, nutrient and pollutant loadings due to heavy rainfall, reduced dilution
of pollutants during droughts, and disruption of treatment facilities during floods,
etc.,
– increasing alterations of stream flow in regions with snowfall,
– decrease in total meltwater yields in the long run in glacierfed rivers. Continued
loss of glacier ice resulting in a shift of peak discharge from summer to spring
(Jiménez Cisneros et al. 2014).
In summary: all major indicators point to the conclusion that humanity has already
entered the era of a water crisis as “[g]lobal manipulations of the freshwater cycle
already affect biodiversity, food, and health security and ecological functioning,
carbon sequestration, and climate regulation, undermining the resilience of terrestrial
and aquatic ecosystems”. According to the above-mentioned “planetary boundaries”
metrics while annual planetary freshwater use has not yet reached its upper physical
threshold, the unused theoretically available amount may be seen as already largely
committed to cover necessary human needs in the future (Rockström et al. 2009).
6.3 Political Implications of the Global Water Crisis
6.3.1 Concepts of Water Security
The human-induced global water crisis is not only manifested in terms of hydrology,
but gives rise to a set of complicated social, political and economic implications too.
These complex phenomena are encapsulated by the various concepts of water security. Water security is a relatively new notion that has gradually evolved from its
6 Emerging Challenges to Transboundary Water Governance
all over the world, is not only threatened by unabated pollution, but also by overabstraction (WWAP 2015).
Out of the various drivers and impacts of the Anthropocene climate change bears
special relevance as its impacts are mainly expressed through changes to hydrology. The 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
summarises the major freshwater-related risks of climate change as follows:
– dramatic decrease of renewable water resources in large areas of the world that
will intensify competition for water among agriculture, ecosystems, settlements,
industry, and energy production, affecting regional water, energy, and food security,
– increased exposure to 20th-century 100-year river floods,
– likely increase in the frequency of meteorological droughts (i.e. less rainfall) and
agricultural droughts (i.e. less soil moisture) in presently dry regions, which is
likely to result in less surface water and groundwater,
– negative impacts on freshwater ecosystems by changing stream flow and water
quality,
– projected reduction of raw water quality, posing risks to drinking water quality
even with conventional treatment as a result of increased temperature, increases in
sediment, nutrient and pollutant loadings due to heavy rainfall, reduced dilution
of pollutants during droughts, and disruption of treatment facilities during floods,
etc.,
– increasing alterations of stream flow in regions with snowfall,
– decrease in total meltwater yields in the long run in glacierfed rivers. Continued
loss of glacier ice resulting in a shift of peak discharge from summer to spring
(Jiménez Cisneros et al. 2014).
In summary: all major indicators point to the conclusion that humanity has already
entered the era of a water crisis as “[g]lobal manipulations of the freshwater cycle
already affect biodiversity, food, and health security and ecological functioning,
carbon sequestration, and climate regulation, undermining the resilience of terrestrial
and aquatic ecosystems”. According to the above-mentioned “planetary boundaries”
metrics while annual planetary freshwater use has not yet reached its upper physical
threshold, the unused theoretically available amount may be seen as already largely
committed to cover necessary human needs in the future (Rockström et al. 2009).
6.3 Political Implications of the Global Water Crisis
6.3.1 Concepts of Water Security
The human-induced global water crisis is not only manifested in terms of hydrology,
but gives rise to a set of complicated social, political and economic implications too.
These complex phenomena are encapsulated by the various concepts of water security. Water security is a relatively new notion that has gradually evolved from its