Climate Change and Its Implications for Irrigation, Drainage and Flood Management

Abstract

Climate change is transforming the hydrological regime globally, and one of the largest components is variations in the availability and distribution of water. Consequently, the impacts of climate change on water resources and agriculture, and subsequently food and water security, are increasingly dominating the sustainability debate. Essentially, these effects are a result of an imbalance between the availability of the resources versus the demands on them and our failure to put in alternative policies and measures for the restoration of such a sustainable balance. Hence, the climate change problem calls for climate-friendly solutions in the form of risk mitigation, coping mechanisms and other adaptive strategies to ensure the sustainability of our agricultural systems. Keeping this in mind, this chapter discusses climate change and its repercussions on agricultural water management, correlation with flood management, the role that data plays in determining these impacts and accordingly how creative adaptation strategies may be adopted to cushion the impacts of climate change on agriculture and water. Additionally, this chapter also discusses the role of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage plays in contributing to the fight against climate change and global warming.