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building resilience in managing fresh water Fred Boltz, Ph.D. COP18 Mountain Day climate adaptation is most urgently about fresh water security rapid climate change in the world’s water towers Nature 2008 degradation of freshwater ecosystems fragmentation 2/3 of large river systems moderately or highly fragmented by dams and reservoirs climate-infrastructure mismatches Dave Meko, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona. 1890–1922 most infrastructure and water resource management has been designed for a single climate climate-infrastructure mismatches infrastructure has a climate-relevant lifetime if designed for a narrow operational window, it is likely to lose efficiency adaptability, multiple climate futures must be considered basin-wide threats to food security threats to energy security threats to economies Sadoff & Muller 2009 Ethiopia: one drought lowered growth rates over a 12-year period by 10%; droughts normally happen every 3 to 5 years Changes in variability Represented in GCMs resilience under climate-driven environmental change ? A change in “mean” climate extreme event drought resilience flood Major changes from the paleo record A change in climate variability extreme event tipping point tipping point resilience State-level or stepwise climate change from LeQuesne, Matthews, et al., 2010, Flowing Forward. Washington, DC: World Bank. FlowingForward.org facilitating change conserving natural ecosystems is key to freshwater resilience Timing connectivity and environmental flows resilient biodiversity building resilience into infrastructure • designed and managed flexibly, for shifting ecological and economic conditions • ecologically viable over an operational lifetime (or longer) resilience in fresh water management • integrate ecosystems into adaptation • smart development: design new infrastructure to maintain environmental flows and ecosystem connectivity • approach vulnerability assessment and reduction as a continuous, adaptive process: -for ecosystems, infrastructure, and institutions enabling dynamic operational decisions, policies and investments • AGWA aims to integrate disciplines to facilitate the adoption of climateadaptive best practices • WCC mainstreams science and management guidance into global policies for effective freshwater adaptation The Alliance for Global Water Adaptation Development banks and capacity-building groups The World Bank (co-chair) The Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank, KfW, the Inter-American Development Bank, GiZ, the Cooperative Programme on Water and Climate Non-governmental Organizations Conservation International (co-chair), The Delta Alliance, International Water Association, the Swedish Environmental Institute (IVL), the Global Water Partnership, Deltares, Environmental Law Institute (ELI), Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI), Organization for European Cooperation and Development (OECD), Stockholm International Water Institute, Wetlands International, IUCN, The Nature Conservancy, ICIMOD, WWF, Water & Climate Coalition Government Agencies CONAGUA, Seattle Public Utilities, US State department, NOAA, US Army Corps of Engineers, UN Water, UN Habitat, UNECE, Water Utilities Climate Alliance, WMO Private Sector