Practical approaches to water management under climate change uncertainty

摘要

Water resources management is in a difficult transition phase, trying to accommodate the large uncertainties associated with climate change, while struggling with implementing a difficult set of principles and institutional changes associated with integrated water resources management (IWRM) and adaptive management (AM). Water management is the principal medium through which many of the projected impacts of global warming will be felt and ameliorated. Many standard hydrological practices, based on assumptions of a stationary climate and variability, can be extended to accommodate numerous aspects of climate uncertainty. Adaptations of various strategies developed by the water management profession to cope with contemporary uncertainties and climate variability can also be effectively employed during this transition period, as a new family of hydrological tools and better climate change models are developed. "Robust decision-making" is among the new approaches being advocated for planning and designing water resources infrastructure under climate uncertainty.