Suchergebnisse

Iran is currently experiencing serious water problems. Frequent droughts coupled with over-abstraction of surface and groundwater through a large network of hydraulic infrastructure and deep wells have escalated the nation's water situation to a critical level. This is evidenced by drying lakes, rivers and wetlands, declining groundwater levels, land subsidence, water quality degradation, soil erosion, desertification and more frequent dust storms. This paper overviews the major drivers of Iran's water problems. It is argued that while climatic changes and economic sanctions are commonly blamed as the main drivers of water problems, Iran is mainly suffering from a socio-economic drought—i.e. "water bankruptcy," where water demand exceeds the natural water supply. In theory, this problem can be resolved by re-establishing the balance between water supply and demand through developing additional sources of water supply and implementing aggressive water demand reduction plans. Nevertheless, the current structure of the water governance system in Iran and the absence of a comprehensive understanding of the root causes of the problem leave minimal hope of developing sustainable solutions to Iran's unprecedented water problems.

The 2021 water year ends on Sept. 30, and it was another hot, dry year in the western U.S., with almost the entire region in drought. Reservoirs vital for farms, communities and hydropower have fallen to dangerous lows. The biggest blow came in August, when the U.S. government issued its first ever water shortage declaration for the Colorado River, triggering water use restrictions. In response, farmers and cities across the Southwest are now finding new, often unsustainable ways to meet their future water needs. Las Vegas opened a lower-elevation tunnel to Lake Mead, a Colorado River reservoir where water levels reached unprecedented lows at 35% of capacity. Farmers are ratcheting up groundwater pumping. Officials in Arizona, which will lose nearly one-fifth of its river water allotment under the new restrictions, even floated the idea of piping water hundreds of miles from the Mississippi River.

The Rio Grande/Bravo is an arid river basin shared by the United States and Mexico, the fifth-longest river in North America, and home to more than 10.4 million people. By crossing landscapes and political boundaries, the Rio Grande/Bravo brings together cultures, societies, ecosystems, and economies, thereby forming a complex social-ecological system. The Rio Grande/Bravo supplies water for the human activities that take place within its territory. While there have been efforts to implement environmental flows (flows necessary to sustain riparian and aquatic ecosystems and human activities), a systematic and whole-basin analysis of these efforts that conceptualizes the Rio Grande/Bravo as a single, complex social-ecological system is missing. Our objective is to address this research and policy gap and shed light on challenges, opportunities, and success stories for implementing environmental flows in the Rio Grande/Bravo. We introduce the physical characteristics of the basin and summarize the environmental flows studies already done. We also describe its water governance framework and argue it is a distributed and nested governance system across multiple political jurisdictions and spatial scales. We describe the environmental flows legal framework and argue that the authority over different aspects of environmental flows is divided across different agencies and institutions. We discuss the prioritization of agricultural use within the governance structure without significant provisions for environmental flows. We introduce success stories for implementing environmental flows that include leasing of water rights or voluntary releases for environmental flow purposes, municipal ordinances to secure water for environmental flows, nongovernmental organizations representing the environment in decision-making processes, and acquiring water rights for environmental flows, among others initiatives. We conclude that environmental flows are possible and have been implemented but their implementation has not been systematic and permanent. There is an emerging whole-basin thinking among scientists, managers, and citizens that is helping find common-ground solutions to implementing environmental flows in the Rio Grande/Bravo basin.

The Rio Grande/Bravo is an arid river basin shared by the United States and Mexico, the fifth-longest river in North America, and home to more than 10.4 million people. By crossing landscapes and political boundaries, the Rio Grande/Bravo brings together cultures, societies, ecosystems, and economies, thereby forming a complex social-ecological system. The Rio Grande/Bravo supplies water for the human activities that take place within its territory. While there have been efforts to implement environmental flows (flows necessary to sustain riparian and aquatic ecosystems and human activities), a systematic and whole-basin analysis of these efforts that conceptualizes the Rio Grande/Bravo as a single, complex social-ecological system is missing. Our objective is to address this research and policy gap and shed light on challenges, opportunities, and success stories for implementing environmental flows in the Rio Grande/Bravo. We introduce the physical characteristics of the basin and summarize the environmental flows studies already done. We also describe its water governance framework and argue it is a distributed and nested governance system across multiple political jurisdictions and spatial scales. We describe the environmental flows legal framework and argue that the authority over different aspects of environmental flows is divided across different agencies and institutions. We discuss the prioritization of agricultural use within the governance structure without significant provisions for environmental flows. We introduce success stories for implementing environmental flows that include leasing of water rights or voluntary releases for environmental flow purposes, municipal ordinances to secure water for environmental flows, nongovernmental organizations representing the environment in decision-making processes, and acquiring water rights for environmental flows, among others initiatives. We conclude that environmental flows are possible and have been implemented but their implementation has not been systematic and permanent. There is an emerging whole-basin thinking among scientists, managers, and citizens that is helping find common-ground solutions to implementing environmental flows in the Rio Grande/Bravo basin.

International audience ; The Rio Grande/Bravo is an arid river basin shared by the United States and Mexico, the fifth-longest river in NorthAmerica, and home to more than 10.4 million people. By crossing landscapes and political boundaries, the Rio Grande/Bravo bringstogether cultures, societies, ecosystems, and economies, thereby forming a complex social-ecological system. The Rio Grande/Bravosupplies water for the human activities that take place within its territory. While there have been efforts to implement environmentalflows (flows necessary to sustain riparian and aquatic ecosystems and human activities), a systematic and whole-basin analysis of theseefforts that conceptualizes the Rio Grande/Bravo as a single, complex social-ecological system is missing. Our objective is to addressthis research and policy gap and shed light on challenges, opportunities, and success stories for implementing environmental flows inthe Rio Grande/Bravo. We introduce the physical characteristics of the basin and summarize the environmental flows studies alreadydone. We also describe its water governance framework and argue it is a distributed and nested governance system across multiplepolitical jurisdictions and spatial scales. We describe the environmental flows legal framework and argue that the authority over differentaspects of environmental flows is divided across different agencies and institutions. We discuss the prioritization of agricultural usewithin the governance structure without significant provisions for environmental flows. We introduce success stories for implementingenvironmental flows that include leasing of water rights or voluntary releases for environmental flow purposes, municipal ordinancesto secure water for environmental flows, nongovernmental organizations representing the environment in decision-making processes,and acquiring water rights for environmental flows, among others initiatives. We conclude that environmental flows are possible andhave been implemented but their implementation has not ...

International audience ; The Rio Grande/Bravo is an arid river basin shared by the United States and Mexico, the fifth-longest river in NorthAmerica, and home to more than 10.4 million people. By crossing landscapes and political boundaries, the Rio Grande/Bravo bringstogether cultures, societies, ecosystems, and economies, thereby forming a complex social-ecological system. The Rio Grande/Bravosupplies water for the human activities that take place within its territory. While there have been efforts to implement environmentalflows (flows necessary to sustain riparian and aquatic ecosystems and human activities), a systematic and whole-basin analysis of theseefforts that conceptualizes the Rio Grande/Bravo as a single, complex social-ecological system is missing. Our objective is to addressthis research and policy gap and shed light on challenges, opportunities, and success stories for implementing environmental flows inthe Rio Grande/Bravo. We introduce the physical characteristics of the basin and summarize the environmental flows studies alreadydone. We also describe its water governance framework and argue it is a distributed and nested governance system across multiplepolitical jurisdictions and spatial scales. We describe the environmental flows legal framework and argue that the authority over differentaspects of environmental flows is divided across different agencies and institutions. We discuss the prioritization of agricultural usewithin the governance structure without significant provisions for environmental flows. We introduce success stories for implementingenvironmental flows that include leasing of water rights or voluntary releases for environmental flow purposes, municipal ordinancesto secure water for environmental flows, nongovernmental organizations representing the environment in decision-making processes,and acquiring water rights for environmental flows, among others initiatives. We conclude that environmental flows are possible andhave been implemented but their implementation has not ...

Environmental flows (e-flows) are powerful tools for sustaining freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem services, but their widespread implementation faces numerous social, political, and economic barriers. These barriers are amplified in water-limited systems where strong trade-offs exist between human water needs and freshwater ecosystem protection. We synthesize the complex, multidisciplinary challenges that exist in these systems to help identify targeted solutions to accelerate the adoption and implementation of environmental flows initiatives. We present case studies from three water-limited systems in North America and synthesize the major barriers to implementing environmental flows. We identify four common barriers: (a) lack of authority to implement e-flows in water governance structures, (b) fragmented water governance in transboundary water systems, (c) declining water availability and increasing variability under climate change, and (d) lack of consideration of non-biophysical factors. We then formulate actionable recommendations for decision makers facing these barriers when working towards implementing environmental flows: (a) modify or establish a water governance framework to recognize or allow e-flows, (b) strive for collaboration across political jurisdictions and social, economic, and environmental sectors, and (c) manage adaptively for climate change in e-flows planning and recommendations.

Environmental flows (e-flows) are powerful tools for sustaining freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem services, but their widespread implementation faces numerous social, political, and economic barriers. These barriers are amplified in water-limited systems where strong trade-offs exist between human water needs and freshwater ecosystem protection. We synthesize the complex, multidisciplinary challenges that exist in these systems to help identify targeted solutions to accelerate the adoption and implementation of environmental flows initiatives. We present case studies from three water-limited systems in North America and synthesize the major barriers to implementing environmental flows. We identify four common barriers: (a) lack of authority to implement e-flows in water governance structures, (b) fragmented water governance in transboundary water systems, (c) declining water availability and increasing variability under climate change, and (d) lack of consideration of non-biophysical factors. We then formulate actionable recommendations for decision makers facing these barriers when working towards implementing environmental flows: (a) modify or establish a water governance framework to recognize or allow e-flows, (b) strive for collaboration across political jurisdictions and social, economic, and environmental sectors, and (c) manage adaptively for climate change in e-flows planning and recommendations.

Being the second-largest country in the Middle East, Iran has a long history of civilisation during which several dynasties have been overthrown and established and health-related structures have been reorganised. Iran has had the replacement of traditional practices with modern medical treatments, emergence of multiple pioneer scientists and physicians with great contributions to the advancement of science, environmental and ecological changes in addition to large-scale natural disasters, epidemics of multiple communicable diseases, and the shift towards non-communicable diseases in recent decades. Given the lessons learnt from political instabilities in the past centuries and the approaches undertaken to overcome health challenges at the time, Iran has emerged as it is today. Iran is now a country with a population exceeding 80 million, mainly inhabiting urban regions, and has an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, malignancies, mental disorders, substance abuse, and road injuries. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd