The Management of Climate Change Impacts on Groundwater and dependent Ecosystems: A Regional Assessment Approach

Abstract

Climate change impact on the global hydrological cycle is increasingly becoming profound in human societies. In particular, changes in regional groundwater quantity and quality are now a major concern to human societies and livelihoods in the coastal regions where about 70% of the world population resides, and in the arid and semi-arid regions where freshwater is already a crucial resource for survival (BGR, 2008; Voudouris et al., 2010 and Abd-Elhamid, 2010). Moreover, recent empirical and assessment evidence revealed that changes in groundwater conditions due to climate changes and human activities (e.g., unsustainable extraction of groundwater, irrigation, waste and pollutants disposal, urbanization and land use changes) would undermine the usefulness of groundwater for domestic, industry, and agricultural purposes. Hence, this paper attempts to improve the understanding of groundwater systems and likely changes due to natural and anthropogenic pressures, as well as provide a systemic approach to sustainable and proactive management of regional groundwater resources. This paper proposes a spatially resolved Relative Risk Assessment (RRA) approach to enhancing the understanding of groundwater resources and their dynamics due to regional climate changes. The paper describes RRA functionalities and procedures for systemic analysis of climate change impacts- vulnerability and risks on groundwater and dependent ecosystems according to an ecosystem perspective. This allows to consider relevant socio-economic and hydrogeological vulnerability, impacts and risks indicators with the aim to estimate effectively impacts on groundwater systems. Thus, provides valid support for national and regional water authorities in examining the possible consequences of changes in key environmental parameters, as well as aids relevant management practices, such as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) etc.

Keywords: Groundwater Systems, Relative Risk Assessment, Climate Change.