Global insights into water resources, climate change and governance

Several Wentworth Group Members have been involved in the publication of Grafton et al., 2012. Global insights into water resources, climate change and governance in Nature Climate Change.

Abstract

The threats of climate change and the trade-offs between extractions and flows are examined for the Colorado, the Murray, the Orange and the Yellow Rivers. In all four basins, and over a long period of time, outflows have greatly reduced as a direct result of increased water extractions. Although climate change will aggravate hydrological impacts on river systems, currently high levels of water extractions remain the principal contributor to reduced system flows. Changes in governance, including sharing the variability between the environment and consumers, are urgently required if the health of these rivers is to be maintained.

Authors

R. Quentin Grafton, Jamie Pittock, Richard Davis, John Williams, Guobin Fu, Michele Warburton, Bradley Udall, Ronnie McKenzie, Xiubo Yu, Nhu Che, Daniel Connell, Qiang Jiang, Tom Kompas, Amanda Lynch, Richard Norris, Hugh Possingham, John Quiggin

Citation

Grafton R. Q., Pittock J., Davis R., Williams J., Fu G., Warburton M., Udall B., McKenzie R., Yu X., Che N., Connell D., Jiang Q., Kompas T., Lynch A., Norris R., Possingham H. & Quiggin J. (2013) Global insights into water resources, climate change and governance. Nature Climate Change 3, 315-21.