SESSION 1: IDENTIFYING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON WATER

RESOURCES IN THE SWIM COUNTRIES

Training workshop on the identification and development of climate change no-regret
actions in the water sector, 3-5 October 2012, Amman
Presented by: Prof. Jamal ALIBOU, Senior Water Specialist
Objectives of Session 1

• Goal: Providing an overview of the regional climate

change context and raising the awareness on the
potential impacts of climate change on water resources
and management

• Learning Objectives:
– Get an understanding of the actual and future climate
change trends and dynamics in the SWIM region
– Identify the nature and magnitude of impacts on water
resources
– Understand the main drivers of vulnerability in the
PCs
Climate Change is unequivocal

IPCC concluded that:

‘’Warming of the climate system is unequivocal,

as is now evident from observations of increases
in global average air and ocean temperatures,
widespread melting of snow and ice and rising
global average sea level.’’
“Globally, the negative impacts of future climate
change on freshwater systems are expected to
outweigh the benefits”
"Water and its availability and quality will be the
main pressures on, and issues for, societies and
the environment under climate change"
The climate of the region is already
changing

• Getting hotter, drier and more variable

• In recent decades in the Arab region (WB, 2011):

– Temperature increased by 0.2-0.3°C per decade
• More frequent and intense heat waves
– Less, but more intense rainfall, leading to increased
occurrence of drought and flood events
• Occurrence of drought events increased by 3 in
Morocco
– Reduction of winter precipitation and storage in snow
mass (e.g. Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon)
The Mediterranean region is a hotspot of
climate change (1)
Regional Climate Change Index, looking ahead to 2080–2099 (Giorgi, 2006)

RCCI is estimated from the mean trend in rainfall and temperature, inter-annual temperature
variability, and the relation between regional and global temperature trends, for the dry and
wet seasons. The Mediterranean region and north-eastern Europe are the areas of the globe
with the highest RCCI (greater than 16)
 The Mediterranean region is a hotspot of
climate change (2)

Projected changes in temperatures

• All projections indicate that temperatures
increase are likely to happen in proportion
greater than the global average (1,5 times
faster than the global average)
• Increase by 2°C as early as 2040 (IPCC
2007a: 874), and potentially by 5°C during
summer at the end of the century
• Increase in frequency, length and intensity
of heat waves

Æ Increase in evapotranspiration
Æ Reduction in soil moisture
Æ Reduction in snow pack Température 2070-2099 vs. 1961-1990
Using AORCM, scenario
(Somot et al., Plan Bleu, 2007)
The Mediterranean region is a hotspot of
climate change (3)
Projected changes in precipitation

Annual precipitations, 2021-2050 vs. 1961-1990, ENSEMBLE,

multi-models mean (RCM) (Goodess et al., 2009).

• Good agreement across most RCMs on a regional decrease in average rainfall by 10-
20% in 2050 and 20-30% in 2100 (in some areas > 20% and up to 40% resp. in 2050
and 2100)
• Greater seasonal and inter-annual variability (greater concentration during winter)
• Less frequent but more intense (greater precipitation extremes)
The Mediterranean region is a hotspot of
climate change (4)

Projected changes in Sea-

Level Rise
• SLR comprised between 20
and 60 cm by 2100
• Certain GHG scenarios
project a 1 m SLR, which
would affects 3% of the
population of the MENA
region; 3 times more than
global average

Æ Exacerbated effect on submersion and flooding from storm

surges in low-elevation coastal zones
Æ Salt water intrusion in estuaries and coastal aquifers
Æ Reduction in the availability of coastal fresh groundwater
resources
Climate change will profoundly affect the
hydrological cycle
Drivers of change
• P in annual average
precipitation
• N atmospheric vapor
• N frequency and intensity of
precipitation extremes
• P in snow cover
• N in melting of ice
• N Sea level rise
• N Evapotranspiration
• P Soil moisture

• It is projected that many of the currently observed changes

in the water cycle will become more pronounced with
continuing climate change.

• Future changes in climate are expected to lead to a further

acceleration and intensification of the hydrologic cycle
Shifts in hydrological conditions and growing
variability will lead to significant changes in resources

• Increased temperature and potential evaporation combined with decreasing and

more erratic precipitation will have both direct and indirect effects on water
supply and demand
• Supply side
– water quantity
• Changes in volume of run-off
• Changes in steam and river flows (both annual and summer flows)
• Changes in groundwater level and recharge rates
– water timing
• Change in seasonnal and inter-annual distribution of precipitation and run-offs
• Change in period of return of extreme events (drought and floods)
– water quality
• Salinization of coastal groundwater due to sea level rise
• Changes in bio-physico-chemical characteristics of water bodies
– supporting ecosystems and functions:
• impacts on ecosystems integrity
• Impacts on ecosystem services
• Demand side
– Change in water needs and uses of most sectors, particularly agriculture
Impact on water quantity (1)

• Severe decrease in average runoff (>20-40% by 2100)

A1b emissions scenario, multi-model ensemble mean, change by 2090-2099 relative

to 1980-1999. White areas denote regions with little agreement (IPCC, 2007)

Results from local hydrological modelling show that decreasing run-off

will translate in significant reduction of flows of river upon which a
number of SWIM countries depend for their development (e.g. -23% in
Upper Jourdan)
Impact on water quantity (2)

• Decrease in groundwater recharge

Average groundwater recharge simulated for the year 2050 by Watergap

(Döll, 2009)
Impact on water quantity (3)

• In North Africa even modest temperature increases could

dramatically change water availability. For example, a 1° Celsius
increase could reduce water runoff in Morocco’s Ouergha watershed
by 10 percent by 2020. If the same results hold for other
watersheds, the result would be equivalent to losing the water
contained by one large dam each year.
Impact on water quantity (4)

• In Lebanon, a 1.2° Celsius increase in temperature

is projected to decrease water availability by 15
percent because of changed runoff patterns and
evapotranspiration.

• In Syria, renewable water availability could decline

by 50 percent by 2025 as compared to 1997 levels.

• Regionally, reduced river flow and groundwater

recharge might lead to a reduction in water supply of
10% or greater by 2050.
Impacts on water timing - extremes events

• Changes in precipitation variability and intensity is

projected to increase the risks of droughts and flooding
across the region

2020

Increase in return period

of the current 100-year
drought

2070

(IPCC, 2008)
Increased flood hazards

Potential trend towards

increase in frequency
of high-probability-high
impact flood hazards

Future return period of current 20-year precipitation event

(A1, B1, A2) (IPCC, 2012)
Higher water temperatures and changes in extremes are
projected to affect water quality and exacerbate many
forms of water pollution

More specifically, the following potential effects are

projected (IPCC, 2008):
More intense rainfall:
• Increase in suspended solids/turbidity
• Pollutants (fertilizers, pesticides, municipal
wastewater)
• Increase in waterborne diseases

Reduced/increased water flow in rivers:

• Less/more dilution of pollution
• Fluctuations in salinity estuaries

Lowering water levels in lakes:

• Re-suspension of bottom sediments
− increased turbidity
− liberating compounds with negative impacts

Higher surface water temperatures:

• Algal blooms and increase in bacteria, fungi > toxins
• Less oxygen
Impact on ecosystems

• Climate change will influence integrity and

functions of aquatic ecosystems.

• Decreasing precipitation and runoff will

alter environmental flows and lead to
drying of streams, lakes, wetlands for
extended periods

• This could dramatically reduce productivity

and irreversibly affect key water supporting
functions provided by ecosystems as
natural infrastructures (regulation, storage,
purification, natural buffers, etc.)

• Ecosystems respond to changes in

hydrology in complex and often non-linear
ways.

• Tipping points and feedback loops leading

to abrupt hydro-ecological shifts likely to
occur
Impacts on water demand

• Demand for agricultural and domestic water

(including tourism) in particular increases significantly
at hotter and drier times of the year.

• Agriculture has always been the largest user of water

in the SWIM region (80% of the total demand)

• This will intensify with increasing needs for irrigation

brought on by higher temperatures,
evapotranspiration and reduced precipitation and soil
moisture,
– Maghreb, Egypt : +2-4% for maize, 6-10% for potatoes

• Impacts on agricultural water demand will vary greatly

in space
Climate change impacts are superimposed on
current water sector vulnerabilities

• Climate change impacts on water cannot be viewed in

isolation from other drivers of changes
• Water management in the region is already facing a multitude
of non-climatic constraints & challenges that increase its
vulnerability to and excerbate the potential impacts of climate
change

• Vulnerability factors are:

– Environmental
– Economic
– Social
– Political
– Institutionnal
– Etc…
 Dominant water stress and growing water
scarcity

• Natural aridity
– SWIM countries are the most water
scarced region in the world
– account for 10% of the global surface
but only for 0,1% of global
precipiation
– PCs receive only 10% of the total
precipitation for the Med. basin

• Escalating water demand and high

withdrawal due to rapid population
growth, urbanization and accelerated
socio-economic development
(agriculture = 82% of total demand)

• Overexploitation of major river

basins and depletion of strategic
ground water reserves

• Escalating water scarcity

– People living in water poverty (<500
m3/pers./y): 60 million in 2005 p
258 million in 2050 (without CC)
Unefficiency of water uses

Amount of water lost or unused (Source: Plan Bleu)

• Irrigation : 20% lost during transfer, 60 % efficiency

• Drinking water : 30% lost during transfer, 20% leakages
• Today, 110 km3/an lost or unused
(≈ 40% of total water demand)
Rapid degradation of water quality and
ecosystems
Chronic polution of the Litani river (Lebanon)
• Water quality is deteriorating rapidily
rendering imporant resources of water
unusable

• Drivers of deterioration include growing

urbanization, industrialization, tourism,
salinization ,etc.
– In SMCs, 80% of wastewater are
untreated

• Ecological flows poorly applied

Destruction of the Moulouya wetlands (Morocco)
• Wetlands and estuaries are being
disrupted and even destroyed as a
result of water diversion and pollution
from domestic, industrial and
agricultural sectors.

• Degradation of forested watersheds

leading to loss of key supporting
services, as well as increased erosion
and silting processes in reservoirs
 High dependency on shared water
resources
International river basins

• Around 60 % of the annual

renewable resources of the
region is transboundary and
come from countries situated
outside the region that are also
likely to be impacted by CC in
huge proportions
Transboundary aquifers

• Lack of formalized
transboundary agreement and
adequate arrangements and
capacities for the joint and
management of international
waters in the face of increasing
water scarcity and variability
Increasing loss of life and damages from
extreme drought and flooding events

Drought Flood

• Populations and assets are increasignly exposed to hydro-

meteorological hazards
• Population growth and accelerating urbanization are key drivers of
exposure
– Arab countries have higher level of urbanization than the world average
(60% vs 50%)
– Significant development and urban settlements along the coastline in low
elevation areas
• Rural out migration to cities and development of tourism are also
increasing exposure
Other non-climatic vulnerability factors

• Heavy reliance on water-sensitive economic sectors such as

tourism, agriculture, livestock, etc.;
• Water governance gaps
– Insufficient implementation of IWRM strategies and plans
– Institutional fragmentation, lack of inter-sectoral and multi-level
coordination,
– Limited technical, financial & human capacities
– Inadequate mechanisms for collection, sharing and analysis of
climate and hydrological data and information to inform policy
making and operational management
– Insufficient empowerment and participation of water stakeholders
– Barriers to sustainable water sector financing & cost-recovery
• Political instability & conflicts undermining good water
management and climate change adaptation;
Key messages

• Mediterranean & Middle East region is one of the most vulnerable region in the
world to climate change
• Combined effect of climate change and development will:
− worsen the regional gap between water supply and demand, thereby intensifying water
scarcity (16-37% of the projected gap in 2050 could be attributed to CC)
− exacerbate frequency and intensity of extreme water events and related disasters
(droughts, floods) Decrease in River flows
available Groundwater
resources recharge
Quality
Ecosystem
Change in services
climatic Demography
variability Water crisis Urbanization
Demand for water
Equity in access
Increase in Increase in
water vulnerabilities
hazards

CC will require in PCs more stringent adjustment of

water resources management than in any other region
 ‫شكرا النتباھكم‬
Thank you for your
attention
Q&A, Discussion

• Needs for clarification ?

• How does climate change look like in your
country?
• What are the observed changes in hydrology?
• How are they affecting water management?