Location of Niger. Source: Operation

World

Student Number: 12006891

INTEGRATED WATER MANAGEMENT PORTFOLIO

TASK 1: CLICO REPORT SUMMARY Using the CLCIO Niger Brief (2013) and CLICO Synthesis Report: Climate Change, Conflicts, and

Human Security (Kloos et al. 2013), write a 750 word summary on the key indentified problems

regarding hydro-conflict .

This critical summary of the CLICO Case study in Tahoua, West

Niger, will investigate key themes of hydro-security and divergent

adaptation, addressing them in the context of wider literature and

to the broader concepts of climate change and political ecology.

CLICO was a research project focused on Climate Change, Hydro-

conflicts and Human Security in the Middle East, Mediterranean and

Sahel (CLICO, 2014). Supranational organisations became interested

in this nexus, and funded CLICO in response to this strong political

interest. (Kloos et al. 2013)

Niger has a volatile history of social, political and environmental

issues. Two main challenges to human security in this region are; changing rainfall patterns, as well

as conflict between farming and pastoral communities, exemplified by the Tuareg people of North

Africa (Snorek, Renaud and Kloos, 2013). Alongside other Sahelian regions such as Darfur, Tahoua is

a popular case study of environmental based conflict (Benjaminson et al, 2013).

Since independence in 1958, environmental threats have become the more prevalent. Niger is

experiencing cyclical variations in rainfall, which not only disrupts stability in the country, but has

also has a detrimental effect on subsistence communities in rural areas (WATER: Sahel 2013; Snorek,

Renaud and Kloos, 2013; Hastenrath and Polzin, 2013).

As well as temporal disruptions, a spatial hydrological threshold exists in Tahoua, determined by

precipitation level. There are high levels of cultivation and farming in the south, where rainfall is

more frequent; whereas pastoral land is located in the arid north (Snorek, Renaud and Kloos, 2013).

Observed south-wards migration of this threshold is responsible for unstable rainfall levels and

patterns, which has been detrimental to rural agronomists, who depend on rain for survival (Snorek,

Renaud and Kloos, 2013).

Although the effect of long term climate change is still relatively unknown on this area (hence the

CLICO investigation); this rainfall migration as well as frequent droughts since the 1980s and

desertification all suggest that climate change could be affecting the environment in Niger (Snorek,

Renaud and Kloos, 2013). All of these factors are contributors to hydrological insecurity in this

region.

Having said this, conflicts do not occur over water resources independent of internal socio-political

factors (Benjaminson et al. 2013). There has been political turmoil in Niger since the 19th Century,

colonialism and Tuareg uprisings being responsible.

A lack of political stability, economic development and good governing institutions are determinants

of hydro-conflicts (Kloos et al. 2013). These apply in Niger, where conflicts between Farmers and

Herders have arisen due to poor institutions and divergent adaptation measures. Divergent

adaptations are adaptations where: “the success or adaptive capacity of one individual/community in

a shared ecosystem reduces the adaptive capacity of an alternative individual/community in the

same ecosystem” (Snorek, Renaud and Kloos, 2014: 2).

Adaptations to climate change are common sources for divergent adaptations (Adger et al, 2009).

Although the adaptive capacity of the global south is often underestimated (Kates 2000), in Niger,

rural communities are attempting to mitigate hydrological insecurities by adapting to suit physical

processes within the socio-political conditions of their country.

The main adaptation has been diversification of rural livelihoods into agro-pastoralism. Farmers have

started herds, and pastoral communities are settling into villages to cultivate crops, whilst still

maintaining large pastoral spaces (Snorek, Renaud and Kloos, 2013). Farmers moving toward agro-

pastoralist livelihoods have angered traditional Pastoralists, who point out that land is scarce. This is

therefore beneficial to farmers but means fewer resources overall for both groups. This is a classic

example of the ‘tragedy of the commons’ (Snorek, Renaud and Kloos, 2013; Hardin 1964).

This divergent adaptation is exacerbated by poor governance in Niger. Institutions have not

accounted for these adaptations, for example there has been a decrease in the protection of

pastoral space despite an increase in pastoral activity in the Tahoua region. This slow reactive

response from institutions is a major social cost of this adaptation, and a source of potential conflict

(Kates, 2000), especially when considering that those from farming communities are politically

favoured, and laws such as the ‘Rural Code’ which protect pastoral resources have not been upheld

(Snorek, Renaud and Kloos, 2013).

Communities have adapted to deal with environmental changes, over a backdrop of volatility, social

bias and extreme poverty. Adaptation has winners and losers, however the social costs of adaptation

are often higher than economic or physical losses (Snorek, Renaud and Kloos, 2013; Kates, 2000).

Climate change acts as an overall threat multiplier; however to result in a hydro-conflict requires

internal factors as well as a hydrological insecurity.

TASK 2: VIRTUAL WATER Using an item of your choice (food, clothing, electronics etc.) discuss the concepts of ‘virtual water’

and ‘water footprints’.

Less than 1% of the Earth’s water is desalinated (Parada-Puig, 2012), and of this 90% of is used for

food production (Allan 1998; Roth and Warner, 2008). In the case of beef produce, 30% of the total

global agricultural water uses are required to meet global demand (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2012).

Global production of beef doubled between 1980 and 2004, and this is continuing (Mekonnen and

Hoekstra 2012), as meat is becoming a staple food in the global south (Keyzer et al. 2005)

Figure 1: Beef is one of the greatest users of water for production. Adjusted from Hoekstra, 2003

‘Virtual water’ is water embedded into a good or service, including water used in production

(Hoekstra, 2003; Parada-Puig, 2012; Fracasso, 2014). It highlights the real flow of water globally and

the real cost of production (Parada-Puig, 2012), as it includes the actual water resource use as well

as negative externalities (Zhang et al. 2014). Therefore it is of crucial importance to exporting

nations that virtual water is studied and accounted for within international trade, so that

environmental impacts on domestic water are accounted for (Roth and Warner, 2008).

Countries which have scarce water resources import water-intense goods and services, so as not to

deplete their own domestic water supply; shifting productive water use oversees (Parada-Puig,

2012). They turn instead to specialisation, as importing water intense products from countries where

water is abundant, and therefore less costly, is a more economically and environmentally viable

option (Parada-Puig, 2012).

Tony Allan, a key thinker within virtual water studies, suggests that virtual water can be a useful

concept for reducing hydro-conflicts. Taking into account the transfer of virtual water, global water

resources are being used more efficiently whilst allowing water-scarce regions to able to consume

water-intense products (Allan, 1992; 2003; Roth and Warner, 2008). However, increasing

consumption of meat products globally, especially within the global south, will place further risk on

the world’s fresh water resources, which an awareness of virtual water may not be able to placate

(Keyzer et al. 2005).

Food Commodity

Average Water Consumption for

Production (m3/tonne)

Wheat 1437

Rice 2552 Maize 1020

Soybean 7550

Beef 16723 Pork 5469

Poultry 3809 Cheese 5288

The concept of the ‘water footprint’ was introduced by Arjen Hoekstra in 2002. It is defined by the

total volume of fresh water required to provide the goods and services consumed by a particular

person, company or country over a certain time frame (Parada-Puig, 2012).

On an international level this is an important tool for calculating domestic water use (Roth, 2008)

and useful in approaching water conservation. Large national water footprints would be around

2000m3/year, per capita, small footprints would be around 500m3/year, per capita. On individual

scales water footprints cover cooking, cleaning, bathing, and virtual water (Parada-Puig, 2012).

One of the biggest components water footprints is diet composition (Renault, 2003). Me at produce

can be anywhere between 15-20 times greater than the water footprints of other foods such as crop

products (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2012). Encouraging a shift away from meat based diets will be

an essential component of environmental policy of governments (Keyzer et al. 2005; Mekonnen and

Hoekstra, 2012), although there are promising advances being made in the fields of feed

composition, feed water requirements and feed origin to reduce water use in this industry

(Mekonnen and Hoesktra, 2012).

Figure 2: The SUDS Triangle – three aims of SUDS. Source: SEPA, 2015a

TASK 4: UWE SUDS In no more than 500 words evaluate the context appropriateness of the UWE flood management

scheme. Think about it as a social-technical project, how it fits within IWM and its social and

environmental merits and/or problems.

UWE Frenchay campus uses a Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS), management practices

and control structures designed to drain surface water more sustainably than conventional

techniques (Digman et al. 2012), in order to manage flood water conditions.

Whilst providing sustainable solutions to

urban drainage, SUDs combine the social,

political and environmental aspects of

traditional systems, therefore are being

considered a positive solution in urban water

management (van de Meene, Brown and

Farrelly, 2011). SUDS been supported in

legislation such as ‘The Water Management Act’

and ‘Water Framework Directive’ (Goodson,

2011), in the face of long term changes to our

drainage needs with burgeoning urban populations and looming climate change (van de Meene,

Brown and Farrelly, 2011; Goodson, 2011).

SUDS use natural and semi-natural resources to transport and drain surface run-off, reducing the

need for features like combined sewer systems which can cause unacceptable pollution conditions

during storm water events (Butler and Davis, 2011). These include; ponds, infiltration

trenches/basins, permeable surfaces and wetlands (Butler and Davis, 2011; SEPA, 2015b). Many of

these features can be seen in the UWE Frenchay SUDS.

Figure 3: Map of the UWE SUDS based on Author Observations. Source: Author

The SUDS features are landscaped to include environmental features such as trees and grass land.

Hydrophytes are located in the pond, and all along the water channel. In this way, the UWE SUDS is a

successful socio-technical project.

Socio-environmental aspects are fundamental to SUDS (Butler and Davis, 2011). The UWE SUDS

incorporates social facilities: benches, Frisbee golf and BBQ points are located in the main infiltration

basin. However, this plethora of socio-environmental features is underutilised, with only occasional

use during the summertime. Weather conditions are adverse when most of the population of

Frenchay Campus are present.

There is minimal education about or acknowledgment of the SUDS within UWE, even though Butler

and Davis (2011) state that SUD efficiency can increase with awareness of the SUD function.

Improvement could include the provision educational materials and notice boards. There is evidence

that the Halley Nursery use the water channel for education, as a sand/gravel composite has been

laid at the waters edge.

Effective SUDS require knowledge of management and maintenance practice (van de Meene, Brown

and Farrelly, 2011; Butler and Davis, 2011). There is a lack of this for the UWE SUDS. The author has

tried to arrange social events to take place in the infiltration basins, but applications were denied

partly due to heath and safety, which Butler and Davis (2011) points out as a common barrier to the

Left: Piped input into the SUDS main infiltration basin. Source: Author.

Right: Main pond of the SUDS – hydrophytes can be seen. Source: Author.

Sand/gravel composition at the Halley Nursery – maintained as an education area for

children. Source: Author.

use of SUDS as social spaces, but mainly because UWE did not equate the SUDS with social uses.

They see it purely as an “aesthetic and functional space.” This shows that the full extent of their

purpose or potential is not known.

The social-environmental and socio-technical services the SUD supplies UWE are context appropriate

for a university, although improvement of the SUD as an educational resource would increase this,

and ensure UWE were made more aware of this it’s management practices.

TASK 5: ASIAN CITY WATER MANAGEMENT Write a short brief (up to 500 words) on some aspect of the water cycle in an Asian city of your

choice.

Beijing, located in the north east of China, is an area of extreme water shortage, receiving only 550-

600mm of rain/year during the wet season (Zanga et al. 2009), and frequent droughts, the most

recent occurring 1999 - 2006 (Zhou, 2012). Unprecedented levels of population and economic

growth and subsequent urbanisation have occurred over the past three decades (Zanga et al. 2009;

Zhou et al. 2012; Sun, Yang and Huang, 2014).

This combination of burgeoning socio-economic factors and adverse climatic conditions around

Beijing has resulted in water scarcity and high water insecurity (Zhou et al. 2012; Sun, Yang and

Huang, 2014). Per capita water resources for Beijing is 173m3 - 225 m3/year (Yang and Zehnder,

2001; Tachibana et al. 2010; Zhou et al. 2012; Wang and He, 2014), amidst high water demand.

Satisfying this demand - keeping economic growth consistent – has resulted in surface water system

(rivers and reservoir) depletion. Currently groundwater systems are being used in a similarly

unsustainable way (Zhou, 2012). Groundwater resources are the major source of water for Beijing;

they supply two-thirds of the population, as well as the surrounding areas (Wang and He, 2014). Up

to six billion m3 has been over-exploited since the 1960s (Zanga et al. 2009).

This causes environmental issues: land subsidence, drying streams and pollution of groundwater

resources (Zhou, 2012; Wang, He and Chann, 2012; Wang and He, 2014). Consequently, the Wenyu

is the only river still flowing through Beijing and reservoirs and lakes are drying out (Qing, 2008;

Figure 4: Map of water availability in China. Source: Probe International.

Zanga, 2009). Current trends indicate that ground water needs to be used in a more sustainable

manner.

Groundwater sustainably is “development and use of groundwater in a manner that can be

maintained for an infinite time without causing unacceptable environmental economic or social

consequences (Alley, Reilly and Franke, 1999: 2). Zhou (2012) suggests that steps towards

sustainable groundwater use in Beijing include: reduced groundwater use; policies of aquifer

recharging and utilising a balance of ground and surface water resources moving forward.

Steps are being made in the right direction in this area. Beijing municipal government has recognised

that the only way to alleviate water demand problems is to have sustainable water resource

utilisation (Zanga, 2009). This has manifested itself as water conservation steps and water supply

efficiency measures for example by adopting water-saving equipment (Tachibana et al. 2011).

There have also been developments in technical elements within the city. SUDS are being developed

which will recharge groundwater resources (Mansell and Wang, 2010), which will help combat the

loss of groundwater recharge through urbanisation (Qing, 2008) and by increasing the use of

domestic reclaimed water (Mels et al. 2006; Tachibana et al. 2011).

Sustainable practice appears to be occurring through political and technical solutions. Future

research could follow Zhou (2012) by carrying out detailed water footprint analysis to understand

the dependency on groundwater and continue to provide sustainable solutions.

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