water scarcity impact Articles
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Inputs by Wetlands International to the zero-draft of the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction
Calling for integrated water and wetland management to reduce disaster risk Wetlands International welcomes the co-chairs' zero draft, dated 20 October. As an organisation with experience in wetland conservation, restoration and sustainable use for the benefit of communities worldwide, we put forward a set of recommendations for inclusion in the post-2015 Framework, summarised in this briefing. ...
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The Natural Capital Opportunity
Trucost’s research for the TEEB for Business Coalition, Natural Capital at Risk, estimates the environmental externalities of business are costing the global economy around $7.3 trillion a year, equivalent to China's GDP in 2011. The report Natural Capital at Risk identified the risk of these costs being internalized on company balance sheets by natural events, regulation and customers. ...
By Trucost Plc
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What’s the difference between water use and water consumption?
In January, Brian Richter, director of freshwater strategies at The Nature Conservancy, spelled out four water resolutions through a thought-provoking series of blog posts. One of those resolutions was to better understand and communicate the differences between water use and water consumption. This is a particularly important issue, as there has been a lot of discussion lately about water ...
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Water Withdrawal, Water Use, and Water Consumption
Paying attention to the differences can help us as we work toward water sustainability As we look forward to a future with ever-scarcer fresh water, we’re paying more attention to our water footprints. Water sustainability requires keeping track of just how much water is being used, which can present some challenges, including with terminology. For example, water withdrawal, water use, ...
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Water From Air: How Genesis Systems Plans to Solve Global Water Scarcity
Global water scarcity threatens millions, but one startup hopes to change that by extracting high volumes of water directly from air. We’re joined by Shannon Stuckenberg, the CEO & Co-founder of Genesis Systems, and we’re discussing her organization’s crusade against global water scarcity and how a new mindset towards water is driving innovative new ...
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We are running out of water - now what?
Last weekend, Jessica Yu’s new water documentary “Last Call at the Oasis” took us on tour of the impacts water scarcity is creating around the globe, from the parched pastures of Australia’s farmlands to the sewage-polluted banks of the Jordan River. This film shines a much-needed light on the various water challenges we all now face at a critical time. The numbers alone ...
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Water Scarcity in Agriculture: A Middle East Perspective
Imagine this: You are a farmer in the Middle East, where the sun burns like a relentless forge. Every day you hope for rain, but all that comes is dust and more heat. Welcome to water scarcity and agriculture in the Middle East, an everyday reality faced by millions. This is not just about farmers sweating under a scorching sun or barren fields stretching as far as eyes can see. It is also about ...
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UK Water Shortages Off To An Early Start
The summer has really only just begun and much of the UK has experienced some seriously hot weather already, with temperatures for June climbing as high as 30 degrees C in some parts of the country amid a mini-heatwave that has seen water shortages already prove problematic for many… a sign of what is to come for July and August, no doubt. Last year, 11 out of 14 areas around England ...
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What Is Water Scarcity?
Whether it’s from drought or lack of access, more than a billion people around the world don’t have enough clean water Acute drought conditions and dwindling natural water resources are focusing more attention on what continues to be a worldwide problem: a lack of access to fresh, potable water. Water scarcity can be defined as a lack of sufficient water, or not having access to ...
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How the MENA region can secure a sustainable water supply
Recycling water is key to closing the water supply-demand gap in the Middle East and North Africa Water is part of every step in the food value chain, from food production to processing and consumption. A dependency that is hampering food security in a water scarce region such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The region is struggling to meet growing water demand, especially for ...
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Assessing the impacts of local and imported produce on the public and the environment
European environmental groups have been calling to switch from imported agricultural produce to locally grown produce, citing positive social and economic impacts as well as environmental ones; and especially the benefit of reducing the environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions caused by long-distance food transportation. In Israel, in contrast, there have been calls to increase ...
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Water reuse in the Arab world : from principle to practice - voices from the field
Arab nations have historically played a lead role in the development of innovative water solutions with noteworthy achievements including global leadership in desalination, dam infrastructure and drip irrigation. Nonetheless, the challenge of optimizing water management remains an important priority across the Arab world. Until recently, planned wastewater management in the Arab region focused on ...
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AquaFej: a simulation game for planning water management – an experiment in central Tunisia
Until the 2000s, water resources in Tunisia were managed solely by government bodies without any consultation with water users. At the local level, Commissariats Régionaux de Développement Agricole [Regional Agricultural Development Committees (CRDAs)], which represented the government bodies, managed water resources. The Tunisian Government then decided to involve farmers in the local ...
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Down-scaling pan-European water scenarios to local visions in the Mediterranean: the Candelaro Basin case study in Italy
In the Mediterranean, the increasing social impacts of water scarcity are growing, but effective measures to manage such scarcity are difficult to implement due to the variability of stakeholders and the weak means to handle new policies. To ameliorate the future of water management in the region, communication between stakeholders has to be improved. The Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000) ...
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Reducing Industrial Water Use
Water reuse is just one means of making industrial use of fresh water more sustainable Around the world, the agricultural and industrial sectors are the two largest water users, accounting for nearly 90% of direct water withdrawals. Agricultural water withdrawal accounts for nearly 72%, industrial (including energy production) accounts for about 16%, and municipal water withdrawals make up the ...
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Water Footprint and Life Cycle Assessment as approaches to assess potential impacts of products on water consumption. Key learning points from pilot studies on tea and margarine
Water accounting and environmental impact assessment across the product’s life cycle is gaining prominence. This paper presents two case studies of applying the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Water Footprint (WF) approaches to tea and margarine. The WF, excluding grey water, of a carton of 50 g tea is 294 L green water and 10 L blue water, and that of a 500 g tub of margarine is 553 L ...
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Beneficial effects on water management of simple hydraulic structures in wetland systems: the Vallevecchia case study, Italy
Conflicting water uses in coastal zones demand integrated approaches to achieve sustainable water resources management, protecting water quality while allowing those human activities which rely upon aquatic ecosystem services to thrive. This case study shows that the creation and simple management of hydraulic structures within constructed wetlands can markedly reduce the non-point pollution from ...
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Water resources: quantity and flows — SOER 2010 thematic assessment
Europe's freshwaters are affected by water scarcity, droughts and floods; by major modifications by dams, weirs and sluices, which reduce connectivity; by straightening and canalisation; and disconnection of floodplains. Different uses of water related to sectoral policies, including irrigation, bioenergy and hydropower, and inland water navigation, are affecting the quantitative status of water ...
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Watching water: a guide to evaluating corporate risks in a thirsty world
A scarcity of clean, fresh water presents increasing risks to companies in many countries and many economic sectors. These risks are difficult for investors to assess, due both to poor information about the underlying supply conditions and to fragmentary or inadequate reporting by individual companies. As a result, market prices of securities are unlikely to accurately reflect the potential costs ...
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Wastewater Use in Crop Irrigation Higher Than Thought
While many farmers around the world rely on wastewater for their crops, the practice can be dangerous without proper treatment and management A recent study reveals that the amount of water originating from urban wastewater used for crop irrigation around the world is much higher than thought. For the first time, researchers decided to assess not only the direct use of wastewater for crop ...
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