Promoting Sustainability Through Water Management and Climate Change Adaptation

This book explores the concept and issues of sustainability and its symbiotic relationship with existing water resources, the surrounding climate and geospatial development. It covers many dimensions of sustainable water resources, climatic variability, change. It also includes case studies on the basis of specific problems and issues, providing sustainable solutions for the future of the earth. Over the past several decades, climate change has significantly impacted a number of components of the hydrological cycle and hydrological systems, including changes in precipitation patterns and intensity; widespread melting of snow and ice; increased atmospheric water vapour; increased evaporation; and changes in soil moisture and runoff. Excess runoff eventually reaches larger bodies of water such as lakes, estuaries and the ocean, contaminating the water supply and limiting human and environmental access to water. An improved understanding of how changing anthropogenic activities could affect water resources, and climate in various parts of the world is a necessary step towards sustainability. This awareness requires analyses of challenging interactive areas within the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and sociosphere, as resultant long-term sustainable strategies and measures are greatly needed.