Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources Management

The high effect of climate change on extreme events has been evident in recent years due to increasing frequency and intensity of droughts and floods all over the world. The paper includes a broad definition of facts and projection of climate change and its impact on different components of a water cycle. For decision makers the key concern is the water availability and how the climate change will impact the spatial and temporal distribution of available water resources. The climate change impacts on water resources are discussed in three categories of direct, indirect and compound effects. Different approaches could be considered in dealing with these impacts and adapting to them, which are widely discussed in this paper. A broad overview of the simulation and assessment tools including GCM, SDSM and LARS will be presented. These tools are used to measure or project the impact on evaporation, runoff, flood, drought, crop water demand and water consumption.

Keywords:

Climate Change , Water Resources Management , Vulnerability Analysis , Downscaling