Sea-Level Rise: Implications for Water Resources Management |
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Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">John?E?HayEmail author Nobuo?Mimura |
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Institution: | (1) International Global Change Institute, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand;(2) Center for Water Environment Studies, Ibaraki University, Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan |
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Abstract: | Globally, sea level has been rising for more than the last one hundred years, and is expected to do so into the foreseeable
future, and at an accelerating rate. The direct influences of sea-level rise on water resources come principally from the
following: new or accelerated coastal erosion; more extensive coastal inundation and higher levels of sea flooding; increases
in the landward reach of sea waves and storm surges; seawater intrusion into surface waters and coastal aquifers; and further
encroachment of tidal waters into estuaries and coastal river systems. The impacts of sea-level rise are likely to be felt
disproportionately in certain areas, reflecting both natural and socio-economic factors that enhance the levels of risks.
The opportunity to learn about the likely nature of, and most appropriate adaptation to, the anticipated impacts of sea-level
rise on water resources is arguably best developed in rapidly subsiding coastal areas, and especially in low-lying deltas
where subsidence rates are typically much larger than the historic rise in global mean sea level. Significantly, such areas
are often major centres of population and of economic activity, thereby highlighting the human dimensions of sea-level rise.
Sound management of the risks to water resources associated with sea-level rise requires enhancing adaptive capacity, mainstreaming
adaptation, harmonizing responses to extreme events, variability and long-term change and strengthening regional and international
cooperation and coordination. In this regard, the policies and initiatives of international organisations are not always entirely
consistent with the needs of developing countries. |
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Keywords: | sea-level rise impacts water resources management adaptation adaptive capacity |
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