The overwhelming focus in addressing climate change and the build-up of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere has been on the energy implications. How our energy consumption and sources have driven the problem, what alternatives will best alleviate it, and how do we transition toward these alternatives in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. This is an essential and enormous part of the challenge – without an aggressive strategy to reduce GHG and transition toward a carbon-less economy, there is no seriousness to the effort and the task at hand.
But if transforming the dynamics of our energy supplies and consumption is the primary challenge of mitigating climate change, effectively managing our freshwater resources in a manner that balances both ecological and human needs is a principal challenge in efforts to adapt to climate change’s impacts. Water is the medium through which many of the consequences of climate change will be most acutely felt. Increasing variation in flood and drought cycles, changing precipitation patterns, more extreme weather events, vulnerability to sea level rise and saltwater intrusion, and of course vanquished glaciers, are the realities of a changing global climate (see IPCC Fourth Technical Assessment and the Technical Paper on Water and Climate Change here).
These changes will have dramatic impacts on livelihoods. The consequences will be greatest in the areas that are most vulnerable, many of which currently lack the resources to take steps toward climate resilience on their own. There is the prospect of mass migrations of people from regions where water resources are increasingly compromised to others where there is less stress. Asia is a case in point. The Himalayas provide freshwater resources for roughly a billion people – if these sources were to significantly retreat across the span of several decades, there could be dire repercussions. All these scenarios have very real costs and consequences – economic, environmental, and human.
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