Global Water Forum

Transboundary water governance: MEWF’s polling shows there is a strong preference towards country-to-country arrangements over international conventions. That’s something the international community would be wise to note. https://lnkd.in/g-Br3Fi #transboundarywater #watermanagement

Water as a victim and driver of the climate crisis: A call for collective action at scale. Maitreyee Mukherjee (National University of Singapore, Singapore) & Cecilia Tortajada (University of Glasgow, United Kingdom) Humanity faces a looming water crisis, that is exacerbated by climate change. Here, Maitreyee Mukherjee and Cecilia Tortajada make a plea for urgency on how water is valued and governed across countries. Too often water is only considered as a local problem whereas they make the case that water needs to be framed as a global common good, and its governance must cut across multiple dimensions. https://lnkd.in/g_c5d47R

Chiefs and floods: Hybrid governance and flood risk adaptation in Tamale, Ghana Samuel Agyei-Mensah (University of Ghana, Ghana), George Owusu (University of Ghana, Ghana) & Frans Berkhout (King’s College London, United Kingdom)   The conventional approach to managing changing flood risks in cities emphasises the strengthening of state institutional capacities to deliver technocratic solutions. Samuel Agyei-Mensah and colleagues argue that in many African cities this simply isn’t enough and has been ineffective in the past. They make the case for a greater involvement of traditional authorities in managing flood risks because of their ability to draw on local power networks, knowledge and resources. Here they discuss their research on the role traditional authorities can play in building resilience to climate-driven flood risks in the northern Ghanaian city of Tamale. https://lnkd.in/gMKPp3-x

The Delta #77 (27 November 2024) The Global Water Forum looks at the wash up Info, news and views from the wide world of water “While the implementation of CEB can reduce flood risks in downstream areas, it also presents challenges, since upstream regions may experience temporary land inundation, which results in economic losses. This uneven distribution of benefits and costs requires fair compensation mechanisms to motivate upstream communities to engage in the process.” Nguyen H.D. My & Tobias Börger [see item 1] In the wash up of this issue of The Delta 1.* Mitigating flood risks in downstream urban areas with controlled upstream embankment breaches – how do you determine what is fair? 2. Water-controlled ecosystems as complex networks: Evaluation of network-based approaches to quantify patterns of connectivity 3.* Water quality offsetting in the catchments of the Great Barrier Reef – lessons from biodiversity and carbon offsetting 4. Could flooding undermine progress in building climate-resilient crops? 5. Endangered species habitat 'at risk' from Borumba Pumped Hydro proposal 6. Direct and lagged climate change effects intensified the 2022 European drought 7. NASA satellites reveal abrupt drop in global freshwater levels 8. Rapid Inundation Mapping Using the US National Water Model, Satellite Observations, and a Convolutional Neural Network 9. On Navajo Lands, Ancient Ways Are Restoring the Parched Earth https://lnkd.in/g_bwncrU

Mitigating flood risks in downstream urban areas with controlled upstream embankment breaches – how do you determine what is fair? Nguyen H.D. My (Hue University, Vietnam) & Tobias Börger (Berlin School of Economics and Law and Berlin Centre for Empirical Economics, Germany) Controlled embankment breaches are a method for reducing the impact of floods. They involve the deliberate release of water into upstream regions, such as across agricultural fields or into wetlands. If done appropriately, they can reduce the flooding impact in downstream urban centers. There are benefits for people in these downstream centers but added costs for people in upstream areas who have accepted the water onto their land. How do these costs and benefits get weighed up and shared? Here, Nguyen My and Tobias Börger explain the process by which appropriate compensation might be determined to motivate upstream communities to engage in the process using a case study that focuses on Can Tho city in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. https://lnkd.in/giaUwV2P

Water quality offsetting in the catchments of the Great Barrier Reef – lessons from biodiversity and carbon offsetting Joseph McMahon, University of Queensland, Australia Balancing economic development and environmental impact has been an ongoing challenge since the beginning of history. In recent years the idea of ‘offsetting’ has been widely adopted to meet this challenge. This involves allowing the impact of economic development to occur in one area only if that impact can be offset by creating an environmental improvement in another area so that the impact is cancelled by the improvement; that is there is no ‘net’ impact. The idea is widely applied to carbon emissions and biodiversity conservation, and is now being investigated for water quality. Here, Joseph McMahon discusses water quality offsetting and how it might be used to improve the net quality of water running off catchments adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef. https://lnkd.in/gnUS58SA

The Delta #76 (14 November 2024) The Global Water Forum looks at the wash up Info, news and views from the wide world of water “In less than seven years, FrogID has amassed over 1.1 million records, significantly enhancing our understanding of Australia’s frogs and their distribution. This extensive dataset has led to the creation and annual release of the Australian Frog Atlas, which provides the most detailed distribution maps for all 254 known frog species in Australia, revealing important range extensions and contractions. This information is vital for freshwater conservation, as frogs are key bioindicators of waterway health and the overall condition of freshwater ecosystems.” Nadiah Roslan In the wash up of this issue of The Delta 1.* Enhancing conservation through citizen science: the Impact of Australia’s FrogID project 2. Tackling handpump corrosion: A vital step toward sustainable water access 3.* Examining the historic flooding in Western North Carolina 4. Cryosphere Crisis: Scientists Warn of Devastating Global Impacts Without Urgent Climate Action 5. Planetary Boundaries guide humanity’s future on Earth 6. ‘Catastrophic declines’: massive data haul reveals why so many plants and animals suffer after fire 7. Adaptive (re)operations facilitate environmental flow maintenance downstream of multi-purpose reservoirs 8. Dams have taken half the water from Australia’s second biggest river – and climate change will make it even worse 9. As Use of AI Soars, So Does the Energy and Water It Requires https://lnkd.in/geh_axx8

Enhancing conservation through citizen science: the Impact of Australia’s FrogID project Nadiah Roslan, Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia Everyone likes frogs and they are an important component of many ecosystems. As such, frogs are key bioindicators of waterway health and the overall condition of freshwater ecosystems. Their presence and abundance provide valuable insights into the quality of aquatic habitats but actually spotting a frog can be tricky as they are often small and shy, and tend to stay hidden. Fortunately, when male frogs seek the attention of female frogs they call, and each species has its own distinctive song. Which means that while you might not see a frog, if they’re nearby and its mating season, you’ll likely hear them and their call is enough to identify which species is present – if you know what to listen for. In Australia, you don’t have to be an expert to contibute to frog conservation thanks to a wonderful free phone app called FrogID. The app enables you to record frog calls and submit it to a team of experts at the Australian Museum, who help identify which species is present. The app was developed by the Australian Museum, and has made a significant advancements to the understanding and conservation of Australia’s frogs. Here, Nadiah Roslan explains how FrogID operates and what it’s achieved over the seven years it’s been in operation. https://lnkd.in/gtKYs3Gk

Examining the historic flooding in Western North Carolina Ellie Gabel, Revolutionized, USA   In late September, a devastating tropical storm named Helene swept through the south-eastern region of the United States leaving a trail of death and disaster in its wake. North Carolina was particularly hard hit with rain and floodwaters overwhelming the state’s flood defenses. Regular GWF contributor Ellie Gabel is a resident of North Carolina and grew up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Here she writes how this flooding occurred and explores some of the ways in which events like this could be prevented in the future. She discusses how preparations for extreme flooding need to go beyond just strengthening physical infrastructure and include the better use of the surrounding landscape and ecosystems while also experimenting with “floodprints” to deal with flooding disaster as they occur. “My heart goes out to those who were affected by this disaster,” says Ellie. https://lnkd.in/gthe2Sdq

The Delta #75 (30 October 2024) The Global Water Forum looks at the wash up Info, news and views from the wide world of water “While Floating Photovoltaics offers numerous benefits, their potential negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems are still under investigation. A growing body of research demonstrates that the reduction of sunlight penetration caused by solar panels can reduce water temperature and dissolved oxygen levels, but how does aquatic life respond to such changes in the environment?” Paula Mazza et al, [see item 1] In the wash up of this issue of The Delta 1.* Floating solar: does this new energy technology affect aquatic life? 2. One-quarter of World’s Crops Threatened by Water Risks 3.* Environmental rule of law and the Beetaloo Basin: Are the risks to water resources from shale gas adequately understood? 4. Why building more big dams is a costly gamble for our future water security and the environment 5. The challenge of closing the climate adaptation gap for water supply utilities 6. Drought areas have trebled in size since 1980s 7. Earth’s water cycle off balance for ‘First Time in Human History’ 8. Colorado Designates 15 Rivers as Outstanding Waters—the Nation’s Strongest Water Quality Protections 9. Global water crisis leaves half of world food production at risk in next 25 years https://lnkd.in/gitgv-SW