Climate Changes the Water Rules: How Water Managers Can Cope with Today's Climate Variability and Tomorrow's Climate Change

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WaterandClimate, 2003 - 106 pages
One of the most important impacts of global warming is what climate scientists refer to as "an intensification of the hydrological cycle". Loosely translated, this means shorter periods of more intense rainfall, and longer warmer dry periods. This report provides a wealth of information about climate change and variability. It also offers a first ever compendium of specific adaptation strategies for water managers and decision-makers to draw upon and a first overview of international support initiatives on water and climate

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Page 4 - Convention, stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.
Page 47 - Sustainability First A new environment and development paradigm emerges in response to the challenge of sustainability, supported by new, more equitable values and institutions. A more visionary state of affairs prevails, where radical shifts in the way people interact with one another and with the world around them stimulate and support sustainable policy measures and accountable corporate behaviour. There is much fuller collaboration between governments, citizens and other stakeholder groups in...
Page 3 - the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate' [5], and was sufficiently confident by the time of the Third Assessment Report to conclude that 'there is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities
Page 19 - Bl storyline and scenario family describes a convergent world with the same global population that peaks in mid-century and declines thereafter, as in the Al storyline, but with rapid changes in economic structures toward a service and information economy, with reductions in material intensity, and the introduction of clean and resource-efficient technologies.
Page 19 - ... in material intensity and the introduction of clean and resource-efficient technologies. The emphasis is on global solutions to economic, social and environmental sustainability, including improved equity, but without additional climate initiatives.
Page 21 - Climate change will lead to an intensification of the global hydrological cycle and can have major impacts on regional water resources.
Page 90 - Programme to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts, and options for adaptation and mitigation.
Page 19 - A2, intermediate levels of economic development, and less rapid and more diverse technological change than in the Bl and Al storylines. While the scenario is also oriented towards environmental protection and social equity, it focuses on local and regional levels.
Page 21 - Changes in the total amount of precipitation and in its frequency and intensity directly affect the magnitude and timing of runoff and the intensity of floods and droughts; however, at present, specific regional effects are uncertain.
Page 44 - Adaptive capacity is the ability of a system to adjust to climate change, including climate variability and extremes, to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences.

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