Abstract
The WANA region is characterized by water scarcity with 14 countries ranked in the top 20 water scarce countries, with less than 500 m3 of renewable water/year/capita. Despite this current situation, water availability per capita will be severely reduced due to climate change and the increase in water demand. On the other hand, woodlands cover only 13.1 % of the region in average, moreover, most countries (14) have very low cover rate (less than 4 %). In this context of water scarcity, the blue and green water approach has raised much interest over the last years, especially in dry areas, for analyzing water balance. The green water (evaporation and transpiration) is needed to sustain ecosystem processes and the goods and services they provide, while the blue water (surface runoff and groundwater recharge) plays a paramount role on water supply to urban populations, industry and irrigated agriculture. In such circumstances of conflicts and trade-offs, integrating hydrological, ecological and socio-economic management is a key approach towards sustainability. Mainly, the effects of the land use change on water resources and their distribution among stakeholders should be analyzed and economic instruments should be introduced when establishing a watershed management plan in a water-constrained environment.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Less than 500 m3 year−1 capita−1
References
Achouri M (2002) Forests and water: towards effective watershed management. In: International expert meeting on forests and water, Shiga, 20–22 Nov 2002
Benett EM, Petrson GD, Gordon LJ (2009) Understanding relationships among multiple ecosystem services. Ecol Lett 12:1394–1404
Birot Y, Gracia C (2011) The hydrological cycle at a glance: blue and green water. In: Birot Y, Gracia C, Palahi M (eds) Water for forests and people in the Mediterranean: a challenging balance, vol 1, What science can tell us. EFI, Joensuu
Birot Y, Gracia C, Palahi M (eds) (2011) Water for forests and people in the Mediterranean: a challenging balance, vol 1, What science can tell us. EFI, Joensuu
Cossalter C, Pye-Smith C (2005) Fast-wood forestry: myths and realities. CIFOR, Bogor
Croitoru L, Daly-Hassen H (2010) Using payments for environmental services to improve conservation in a Tunisian watershed. Mt Forum Bull 10:89–91
Croitoru L, Sarraf M (eds) (2010) The cost of environmental degradation: case studies from Middle East and North Africa. The World Bank, Washington, DC
Croitoru L, Young M (2011) The economics of water and forests: issues and policy recommendations. In: Birot Y, Gracia C, Palahi M (eds) Water for forests and people in the Mediterranean: a challenging balance, vol 1, What science can tell us. EFI, Joensuu
Daly-Hassen H, Pettenella D, Jemal Ahmed T (2010) Economic instruments for the sustainable management of Mediterranean watersheds. For Syst 19:141–155
EFIMED (2009) A Mediterranean forest research agenda (MFRA) 2010–2020. EFIMED, Barcelona
Falkenmark M, Rockström J (2006) The new blue and green water paradigm: breaking new ground for water resources planning and management. J Water Res Pl-ASCE 132:129–132
FAO (2010) Global forest resources assessment 2010. Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome
Gracia C, Vanclay J, Daly H, Sabaté S, Gyenge J (2011) Securing water for trees and people: possible avenues. In: Birot Y, Gracia C, Palahi M (eds) Water for forests and people in the Mediterranean: a challenging balance, vol 1, What science can tell us. EFI, Joensuu
Hamdane MA (2002) Rapport Tunisie. Forum de Fiuggi “Avancées de la gestion de la demande en eau en Méditerranée”. Plan Bleu. Octobre 2002
IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. In:Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Averyt KB, Tignor M, Miller HL (eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK/New York
Mavsar R (2011) Balancing water for ecosystems, goods and services, and people. In: Birot Y, Gracia C, Palahi M (eds) Water for forests and people in the Mediterranean: a challenging balance, vol 1, What science can tell us. EFI, Joensuu
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) (2005) Ecosystems and human well-being: wetlands and water. Island Press, Washington, DC
Muys B, Ceci P, Hofer T, Veith C (2011) Towards integrated ecological, socio-economic and hydrological management. In: Birot Y, Gracia C, Palahi M (eds) Water for forests and people in the Mediterranean: a challenging balance, vol 1, What science can tell us. EFI, Joensuu
Perrot-Maitre D, Davis P (2001) Case studies: developing markets for water services from forests. Forest Trends, Washington, DC. http://www.forest-trends.org
Rockström J, Gordon L, Folke C, Falkenmark M, Engwall M (1999) Linkages among water vapor flows, food production and terrestrial ecosystem services. Conservat Ecol 3(2):5
Rogers P, de Silva R, Bhatia R (2002) Water is an economic good: how to use prices to promote equity, efficiency and sustainability. Water Policy 4:1–17
Thivet G (2011) Coping with increased population and land use changes. In: Birot Y, Gracia C, Palahi M (eds) Water for forests and people in the Mediterranean: a challenging balance, vol 1, What science can tell us. EFI, Joensuu
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Daly-Hassen, H., Birot, Y., Gracia, C., Palahi, M. (2013). Conserving Green and Blue Water in the WANA Region. In: Sivakumar, M., Lal, R., Selvaraju, R., Hamdan, I. (eds) Climate Change and Food Security in West Asia and North Africa. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6751-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6751-5_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6750-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6751-5
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)