Water cycle management strategies

afforestry strategy

• UNREDD → funds more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia-pacific, and south America

• ARPA → now covers 10% of the Amazon’s basin

Advantages and disadvantages of afforestry

Advantages → because it stabilises the regional water cycle and offsets 430million tonnes C02

Disadvantages → funding drops with economy, 0.7% to 0.5% in 2022, needs sustained political will, doesn’t deal with C02 that’s already in the atmosphere

Water allocations

• governments carefully choose to allocate water resources

• agriculture accounts for 70% of water consumption → drop irrigation regulates water use, water recycling (e.g. 86% of Israel’s water is reused)

• water agreements divide resources → Punjab and Sindh in Pakistan receive 92% of India’s flow

• However, expensive, Israel can afford this since they have a GDP of £52,000 per capita

Drainage basin planning

• needed when drainage basin is transboundary, e.g. Nile flows through 13 countries → 1999 Nile Basin Initiative formed - good global governance of water

• however, Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia blocks the Blue Nile → 80% of the Nile comes from the Blue Nile, flooded an area of 1,670km²

• EU water framework directive - most ambitious EU environmental law → but 15 years later, its not been achieved = basins changed too badly