THREAT OF WATER SHORTAGES

Threat of water shortages due to climate change in Middle East

Threat of water shortages due to climate change in Middle East

Introduction

Water needs are defined for the purposes of this entry as the requirements of Earth systems for water, and the entry specifically explores the interactions between humans and the environment in the use of water and the impacts of those uses on the functioning of Earth's ecosystems. The needs of Earth's ecosystems (including humans as a part of these ecosystems) for water are relevant both because water is an important aspect of human-environment interactions and also because water features, water availability, and water use are defining elements of place. Geography has a rich tradition of research on water and wetland ecosystems and human use of water resources. This entry addresses several aspects of water needs: the need of Earth's ecosystems for water, human uses of water, the impact of various human uses on water quantity and water quality, and the linkages between water and energy. In this paper we, try to focus on the risk of water shortages due to Climate change in the Middle East.

Background

“Climate change” is closely related to “global warming” but can be thought of as a more complex set of phenomena, many of which are directly dependent on global warming. Discussed elsewhere in this volume, global warming is a phenomenon that results from radiative forcing as a result of various gaseous and particulate substances in Earth's atmosphere. The increase in Earth's mean surface temperature is caused by warming of land, ocean, and/or atmosphere as a result of the amount of the sun's radiant energy that is not reradiated into space but absorbed by the Earth and it components (Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, 2004, 12).

Sources of this global warming are natural or anthropogenic. Absent human influence, naturally occurring GHGs (including carbon dioxide) and water vapour (in the form of clouds) provide a relatively stable radiative forcing that maintains the global mean surface temperature at a level conducive to human and other biological life. Abrupt warming may result from variations in solar radiation patterns. Abrupt cooling may result from the reflection back into space of greater amounts of solar radiation by dust resulting from volcanic activity (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001, 55).

Although isolated weather incidents cannot be directly linked to a changing climate because of the fundamentally chaotic nature of our climate, there is compelling evidence—much of it provided by National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist James Hansen—that we are beginning to see the effects of global warming in global climate change. Among the numerous global reports documenting climate change effects are the following:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that 11 of the warmest years in the instrumental global surface temperature record occurred during 1995-2006.

A 2005 Harvard Medical School report concludes that “Climate change and infectious diseases threaten wildlife, livestock, agriculture, forests and marine life, which provide us with essential resources and constitute our life-support systems (Hauschild, 2000, ...