Innovative Research Approaches to Cope with Water Security in Africa.

To achieve a water-secure world, water management should be approached from a multidimensional and integrative perspective, addressing the water-related issues of health, household supply, economics, the environment, and resilience to water-related and climate change hazards. Although water security has significantly improved since 2000 in Africa, there are still vast inequalities in access to water suitable in terms of quantity and quality, especially in rural areas. To achieve water-related sustainable development of African economies, a broad scope of innovative technological and management solutions is required, involving governments, research institutions, private sector parties, and civil society.

Down scaling of climate change scenarii to river basin level: A transdisciplinary methodology applied to Evrotas river basin, Greece.

The Mediterranean region is anticipated to be (or, already is) one of the hot spots for climate change, where freshwater ecosystems are under threat from the effects of multiple stressors. Climate change is impacting natural resources and on the functioning of Ecosystem Services. The challenges about modelling climate change impact on water cycle in general and specifically on socio-economic dynamics of the society leads to an exponential amount of results that restrain interpretation and added value of forecasting at local level.

Spatial variability of climate change impacts on yield of rice and wheat in the Indian Ganga Basin.

Indian Ganga Basin (IGB), one of the most densely populated areas in the world, is facing a significant threat to food grain production, besides increased yield gap between actual and potential production, due to climate change. We have analyzed the spatial variability of climate change impacts on rice and wheat yields at three different locations representing the upper, middle and lower IGB. The DSSAT model is used to simulate the effects of climate variability and climate change on rice and wheat yields by analyzing: (i) spatial crop yield response to current climate, and (ii) impact of a changing climate as projected by two regional climate models, REMO and HadRM3, based on SRES A1B emission scenarios for the period 2011-2040.

Water quantity and quality dynamics of the THC--Tuyamuyun Hydroengineering Complex--and implications for reservoir operation.

Background: In the Aral Sea basin, safe water resources are scarce and steadily becoming scarcer. Particularly high quality water is going to become a rare good. The object of the study was the Tuyamuyun Hydroengineering Complex (THC), a complex of artificial water reservoirs located in the lower Amu Darya River, which provides water for irrigation, industry, and drinking for the lower Amu Darya region.