Covenant of Mayors: key criteria for adaptation to climate change in local plans

Global warming has been stated to be unequivocal and human influenced. The emissions and atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased to a degree that they are producing disturbances to the world climatic system. Several climate change impacts have occurred, while others will occur or will be intensified in the future. Ocean acidification, sea-level rise and extreme weather events are some of the projected impacts which, in addition, might have negative effects on the environment, society and the economy. These effects need to be addressed in order to reduce vulnerability to climatic hazards by means of climate change adaptation planning. However, adaptation is a rather unknown topic for many cities that have been focusing more on climate change mitigation. The new Covenant of Mayors (CoM), launched in 2015, includes adaptation to climate change as one of the three main pillars of local action towards 2050: mitigation, adaptation and secure affordable and sustainable access to Energy. The covenant signatories share a common vision to 2050 based on: — Decarbonised territories, thus contributing to keeping average global warming well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, in line with the international climate agreement reached at COP 21 in Paris in December 2015. — More resilient territories, thus preparing for the unavoidable adverse impacts of climate change. — Universal access to secure, sustainable and affordable energy services for all, thus enhancing quality of life and improving energy security. The JRC, as technical and scientific support actor should assure the CoM soundness and provide guidance to support climate change adaptation planning and implementation to signatory cities. The aim of this report is to stablish the rationale behind the essential requirements for successful adaptation in the frame of the CoM, based on literature review and Joint Research Centre’s knowledge on climate change adaptation. The results of this report highlight the need for identification of current and future climatic hazards, an inventory of critical infrastructure, active stakeholder and citizen participation, maladaptation avoidance, and an estimation of adaptation action costs.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Quantifying Anthropogenic Stress on Groundwater Resources.

This study explores a general framework for quantifying anthropogenic influences on groundwater budget based on normalized human outflow (hout) and inflow (hin). The framework is useful for sustainability assessment of groundwater systems and allows investigating the effects of different human water abstraction scenarios on the overall aquifer regime (e.g., depleted, natural flow-dominated, and human flow-dominated). We apply this approach to selected regions in the USA, Germany and Iran to evaluate the current aquifer regime. We subsequently present two scenarios of changes in human water withdrawals and return flow to the system (individually and combined). Results show that approximately one-third of the selected aquifers in the USA, and half of the selected aquifers in Iran are dominated by human activities, while the selected aquifers in Germany are natural flow-dominated. The scenario analysis results also show that reduced human withdrawals could help with regime change in some aquifers. For instance, in two of the selected USA aquifers, a decrease in anthropogenic influences by ~20% may change the condition of depleted regime to natural flow-dominated regime. We specifically highlight a trending threat to the sustainability of groundwater in northwest Iran and California, and the need for more careful assessment and monitoring practices as well as strict regulations to mitigate the negative impacts of groundwater overexploitation

Sustainability of the Global Water Supply: An Exploratory Study of International Managers\u27 Perspectives

Water risk, both in terms of the risk to human life related to such threats as water scarcity and the risk to business related to such challenges as mismanagement of a critical resource, is a topic of increasing interest and importance to policymakers worldwide. The problems associated with water risk are being tackled by international development organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development; by international business organizations such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Resources Institute; and by international aid organizations such as Water.org and countless corporate foundations. There is no shortage of brainpower, passionate commitment, or money spent on finding solutions to a growing problem. However, the problems continue. This research effort’s premise is that solutions to problems around the sustainability of the water supply remain elusive because such considerations have not yet become part of the day-to-day problem-solving routine of managers across the hierarchy of business organizations. In this study, managers in Brazil and South Korea were surveyed on their perspectives on the factors in their external environments that held promise for improving the sustainability of the world’s water supply. Our analysis identifies stakeholders in the external environment with whom managers might build effective coalitions for addressing this critical issue

Using microworlds for policymaking in the context of resilient farming systems

Resilience management of farming systems requires building an understanding of the underlying drivers of the adaptive capacity of the system. In this paper, we use the concept of resilience as a framework to understand how bovine livestock farming systems may adjust to challenging environmental, social, and political conditions. Using an interactive simulation model (microworld), we explored potential developments for livestock farmers in Bourbonnais, France, to the effect of simultaneous changes in the socioeconomic landscape and unpredictable weather conditions resulting from climate change. The results offer insights into the potential trade-offs between systems scale and long-term sustainability by suggesting that sacrificing socioeconomic performance in the short and medium term may increase long-term sustainability and resilience.publishedVersio

Prospective integrated modelling of water scarcity risk in western Switzerland: lessons learned and new challenges for water security assessment

Water security is an emerging concept, whose assessment and quantification are under development, and of which water scarcity can be considered as a basic research need. This paper draws on four research projects conducted by the authors in western Switzerland and has five key messages: (i) scenarios that account for both hydro-climatic and socio-economic changes are necessary to grasp their respective impacts on water scarcity; (ii) the spatial and temporal resolution of integrated models need to be adapted to the issue tackled; (iii) the involvement of stakeholders in co-producing future water demand scenarios and testing the capacity of plausible adaptation strategies to reduce water tensions is needed to increase the plausibility of modelled situations; (iv) hydrological approaches must evolve towards a geographical integration of territories, in particular to better grasp the different water users, and (v) interdisciplinary research is necessary to assess both the quantity and quality of water resources, and to include both social and governance processes in modelling. Rooted in a comprehensive perspective, the authors argue that such methodological developments would help move towards a dynamic and prospective view of water security. La sécurité hydrique est un concept émergent, dont l’évaluation et la quantification sont en cours de développement. La quantification du stress hydrique peut être considérée comme une recherche de base pour la sécurité hydrique. Cet article s’appuie sur quatre projets de recherche menés par les auteurs en Suisse occidentale permettant de délivrer cinq messages clés : (i) des scénarios tenant compte à la fois des changements hydro-climatiques et socio-économiques sont nécessaires pour saisir leurs impacts respectifs sur la pénurie d’eau ; (ii) la résolution spatiale et temporelle des modèles intégrés doit être adaptée à la question traitée ; (iii) l’implication des parties prenantes pour coproduire des scénarios de demande en eau future et tester des stratégies d’adaptation permettant de réduire les tensions hydriques est nécessaire afin d’augmenter la plausibilité des situations modélisées ; (iv) les approches hydrologiques empiriques doivent évoluer vers une intégration géographique des territoires, notamment pour mieux appréhender les différents usagers de l’eau, et (v) des recherches interdisciplinaires sont nécessaires pour évaluer les ressources en eau en termes de quantité et de qualité, et pour inclure les processus sociaux et de gouvernance dans les exercices de modélisation. Dans une perspective globale, nous pensons que de tels développements méthodologiques permettraient d’évoluer vers une vision dynamique et prospective de la sécurité hydrique

Cálculo del índice de vulnerabilidad climática de recursos hídricos en la región Cajamarca 2018

RESUMEN El cambio climático afectará el bienestar humano y tendrá un efecto a diferentes escalas donde los impactos al agua como recurso vital son de mayor importancia, de modo que la gestión adecuada y sustentable es necesaria en este contexto. Para poder determinar la vulnerabilidad de los recursos hídricos se debe considerar todos los aspectos relacionados en su gestión por lo que se ha optado por realizar una evaluación integral utilizando la metodología planteada por Sullivan & Meigh (2005) la cual está basada en diversos estudios previos acerca de la vulnerabilidad del agua en diversas partes del mundo. En la región de Cajamarca, Perú, se han realizado varios estudios de los recursos hídricos, pero no de una manera integrada y comprensible con los aspectos ambientales, sociales y económicos. Para determinar el grado de vulnerabilidad se ha utilizado el Índice de Vulnerabilidad Climática (IVC). El IVC considera 6 dimensiones para determinar este índice: Recursos, Acceso, Capacidad, Uso, Medio ambiente y Geo espacial; cada uno de los cuales se determinó a partir de sub-dimensiones específicas para la región de Cajamarca en base a los aspectos ambientales, sociales y económicos más actualizados de reportes, informes y documentos de instituciones públicas y privadas. Los datos obtenidos como indicadores de las sub-dimensiones de fuentes secundarias fueron sistematizados, analizados y normalizados para poder determinar el IVC. Como producto final se crearon mapas de la región Cajamarca, mostrando las dimensiones y el IVC a nivel provincial haciendo una comparación entre las provincias de Cajamarca a través de un análisis espacial de todas las sub-dimensiones y dimensiones. Se encontró que la mayoría de provincias presentan un valor de IVC entre 50 y 60 en una escala de cero a cien a excepción de la provincia de Cajamarca pero cercano a este rango. Esto demuestra que los recursos hídricos en la región de Cajamarca presentan un grado de vulnerabilidad MEDIO siendo la provincia de Cajamarca la de mayor vulnerabilidad. Es importante mencionar que este estudio puede ser mejorado con el uso de otras sub-dimensiones o con la actualización de las mismas usando la metodología propuesta. Como conclusiones, se evaluó y calculó el IVC de los recursos hídricos considerando un enfoque integral, se establecieron los aspectos ambientales, sociales y económicos, se obtuvieron y sistematizaron las dimensiones y sub-dimensiones, se analizaron los datos con el software ArcGIS, y se mencionaron alternativas para disminuir el grado de vulnerabilidad. Finalmente, se recomendó para futuros estudios, considerar el contexto en este tipo de análisis, actualizar la información obtenida constantemente, trabajar en conjunto con las organizaciones públicas y privadas, y enfatizar más en la gestión de recursos hídricos para el cambio climático.ABSTRACT Climate change will affect human well-being and will have an effect at different scales where the impacts on water as a vital resource are of greater importance, so that adequate and sustainable management is necessary in this context. In order to determine the vulnerability of water resources, all the aspects related to its management must be considered, which is why it has been decided to carry out an integral evaluation using the methodology proposed by Sullivan & Meigh (2005), which is based on several previous studies about of water vulnerability in different parts of the world. In the Cajamarca region, Peru, several studies on water resources have been carried out, but not in an integrated and comprehensible way with the environmental, social and economic aspects. To determine the degree of vulnerability, the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) has been used. The CVI considers 6 dimensions to determine this index: Resources, Access, Capacity, Use, Environment and Geo space; each of which was determined from specific subdimensions for the Cajamarca region based on the most up-to-date environmental, social and economic aspects of reports, reports and documents from public and private institutions. The data obtained as indicators of the sub-dimensions of secondary sources were systematized, analyzed and normalized in order to determine the CVI. As a final product, maps of the Cajamarca region were created, showing the dimensions and the CVI at the provincial level making a comparison between the provinces of Cajamarca through a spatial analysis of all sub-dimensions and dimensions. It was found that most provinces have a CVI value between 50 and 60 on a scale of zero to one hundred except for the province of Cajamarca but close to this range. This shows that the water resources in the Cajamarca region present a MEDIUM degree of vulnerability, with the province of Cajamarca being the most vulnerable. It is important to mention that this study can be improved with the use of other sub-dimensions or with the update of them using the proposed methodology. As conclusions, the CVI of the water resources was evaluated and calculated considering an integral approach, the environmental, social and economic aspects were established, the dimensions and sub-dimensions were obtained and systematized, the data were analyzed with the ArcGIS software, and it was mentioned alternatives to reduce the degree of vulnerability. Finally, it was recommended for future studies, to consider the context in this type of analysis, to update the information obtained constantly, to work in conjunction with public and private organizations, and to emphasize more in the management of water resources for climate change

Cálculo del índice de vulnerabilidad climática de recursos hídricos en la región Cajamarca 2018

RESUMEN El cambio climático afectará el bienestar humano y tendrá un efecto a diferentes escalas donde los impactos al agua como recurso vital son de mayor importancia, de modo que la gestión adecuada y sustentable es necesaria en este contexto. Para poder determinar la vulnerabilidad de los recursos hídricos se debe considerar todos los aspectos relacionados en su gestión por lo que se ha optado por realizar una evaluación integral utilizando la metodología planteada por Sullivan & Meigh (2005) la cual está basada en diversos estudios previos acerca de la vulnerabilidad del agua en diversas partes del mundo. En la región de Cajamarca, Perú, se han realizado varios estudios de los recursos hídricos, pero no de una manera integrada y comprensible con los aspectos ambientales, sociales y económicos. Para determinar el grado de vulnerabilidad se ha utilizado el Índice de Vulnerabilidad Climática (IVC). El IVC considera 6 dimensiones para determinar este índice: Recursos, Acceso, Capacidad, Uso, Medio ambiente y Geo espacial; cada uno de los cuales se determinó a partir de sub-dimensiones específicas para la región de Cajamarca en base a los aspectos ambientales, sociales y económicos más actualizados de reportes, informes y documentos de instituciones públicas y privadas. Los datos obtenidos como indicadores de las sub-dimensiones de fuentes secundarias fueron sistematizados, analizados y normalizados para poder determinar el IVC. Como producto final se crearon mapas de la región Cajamarca, mostrando las dimensiones y el IVC a nivel provincial haciendo una comparación entre las provincias de Cajamarca a través de un análisis espacial de todas las sub-dimensiones y dimensiones. Se encontró que la mayoría de provincias presentan un valor de IVC entre 50 y 60 en una escala de cero a cien a excepción de la provincia de Cajamarca pero cercano a este rango. Esto demuestra que los recursos hídricos en la región de Cajamarca presentan un grado de vulnerabilidad MEDIO siendo la provincia de Cajamarca la de mayor vulnerabilidad. Es importante mencionar que este estudio puede ser mejorado con el uso de otras sub-dimensiones o con la actualización de las mismas usando la metodología propuesta. Como conclusiones, se evaluó y calculó el IVC de los recursos hídricos considerando un enfoque integral, se establecieron los aspectos ambientales, sociales y económicos, se obtuvieron y sistematizaron las dimensiones y sub-dimensiones, se analizaron los datos con el software ArcGIS, y se mencionaron alternativas para disminuir el grado de vulnerabilidad. Finalmente, se recomendó para futuros estudios, considerar el contexto en este tipo de análisis, actualizar la información obtenida constantemente, trabajar en conjunto con las organizaciones públicas y privadas, y enfatizar más en la gestión de recursos hídricos para el cambio climático.ABSTRACT Climate change will affect human well-being and will have an effect at different scales where the impacts on water as a vital resource are of greater importance, so that adequate and sustainable management is necessary in this context. In order to determine the vulnerability of water resources, all the aspects related to its management must be considered, which is why it has been decided to carry out an integral evaluation using the methodology proposed by Sullivan & Meigh (2005), which is based on several previous studies about of water vulnerability in different parts of the world. In the Cajamarca region, Peru, several studies on water resources have been carried out, but not in an integrated and comprehensible way with the environmental, social and economic aspects. To determine the degree of vulnerability, the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) has been used. The CVI considers 6 dimensions to determine this index: Resources, Access, Capacity, Use, Environment and Geo space; each of which was determined from specific subdimensions for the Cajamarca region based on the most up-to-date environmental, social and economic aspects of reports, reports and documents from public and private institutions. The data obtained as indicators of the sub-dimensions of secondary sources were systematized, analyzed and normalized in order to determine the CVI. As a final product, maps of the Cajamarca region were created, showing the dimensions and the CVI at the provincial level making a comparison between the provinces of Cajamarca through a spatial analysis of all sub-dimensions and dimensions. It was found that most provinces have a CVI value between 50 and 60 on a scale of zero to one hundred except for the province of Cajamarca but close to this range. This shows that the water resources in the Cajamarca region present a MEDIUM degree of vulnerability, with the province of Cajamarca being the most vulnerable. It is important to mention that this study can be improved with the use of other sub-dimensions or with the update of them using the proposed methodology. As conclusions, the CVI of the water resources was evaluated and calculated considering an integral approach, the environmental, social and economic aspects were established, the dimensions and sub-dimensions were obtained and systematized, the data were analyzed with the ArcGIS software, and it was mentioned alternatives to reduce the degree of vulnerability. Finally, it was recommended for future studies, to consider the context in this type of analysis, to update the information obtained constantly, to work in conjunction with public and private organizations, and to emphasize more in the management of water resources for climate change

Healthy waterways and ecologically sustainable cities in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration (northern China) : challenges and future directions

The cities across the northern dry region of China are exposed to multiple sustainability challenges. Beijing-Hebei-Tianjin (BTH) urban agglomeration, for example, experiences severe water shortages due to rapidly expanding urban populations, industrial use, and irrigation-intensive agriculture. Climate change has further threatened water resources security. Overuse of water resources to meet the demand of various water sectors has far-reaching health and environmental implications including ecosystem sustainability. Surface water and groundwater pollution present public health risks. Despite the extraordinary policies and efforts being made and implemented by the Government of China, the BTH region currently lacks coordination among stakeholders leading to poor water governance. Consultation among scientists, engineers and stakeholders on regional water security issues is crucial and must be frequent and inclusive. An international symposium was held in Shijiazhuang in early November 2019 to identify some of the key water security challenges and scope of an idealized future eco-city in the region by developing a sustainability framework. This work drew on experiences from across China and beyond. Scientists agree that integration of science, technology, and governance within an appropriate policy framework was particularly significant for combating the issue of water insecurity, including in the region's newly developed city, Xiong'an New Area. An emerging concept, “Healthy Waterways and Ecologically Sustainable Cities” which integrates social, ecological and hydrological systems and acts as an important pathway for sustainability in the 21st century was proposed in the symposium to tackle the problems in the region. This high level biophysical and cultural concept empowers development goals and promotes human health and wellbeing. The framework on healthy waterways and ecologically sustainable cities can overcome sustainability challenges by resolving water resource management issues in BTH in a holistic way. To implement the concept, we strongly recommend the utilization of evidence-based scientific research and institutional cooperation including national and international collaborations to achieve the Healthy Waterways and Ecologically Sustainable Cities goal in the BTH in future. This article is categorized under: Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Giri Kattel, Jessica Reeves and Kim Dowling” is provided in this record*

Examining Drinking Water Security in Rural Areas of Iran: Perspectives from a Quantitative Analysis

Water is one of the basic needs of individuals and communities. In a way, without it, the growth and sustainability of societies is not possible. In recent decades, due to the effects of climate change and human activities, many parts of the world have faced water-related crises. Hence, this issue has jeopardized the sustainability of villages, especially in developing countries. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to quantify drinking water security in rural areas of Iran during the years 2013-2019. For this purpose, this paper has developed a rural water security assessment framework with four dimensions and ten indicators. The scale of the rural water security index is between 1 and 5. Based on findings, three dimensions: “availability”, “accessibility” and “water health and sanitation”, all show an upward trend, reflecting an overall improvement of water-related infrastructure in rural areas. Whereas the “economic value of water” dimension depicts a steady trend. Also, for the period of 2013-2019, the results show the improvement of rural drinking water security in Iran