Land use and Water

I have discussed climate change as a form of environmental change throughout my blog. Now, I want take a closer look at land use change and its connection to water in Africa.. 

First, it is important to note that different forms of environmental change are often connected and affect each other. For example, there are a number of methods by which climate and land use change interact to cause changes in biodiversity (Oliver and Morecroft, 2014). This can be seen in West Africa where increased droughts and the expansion of farmland has impacted the habitat and biodiversity in the W-Arly-Pendjari area (ZSL, n/a). In addition, increased droughts may require irrigation for agriculture may alter water availability for other organisms (Oliver and Morecroft, 2014). Land cover change can impact the hydrological cycle and water resources in a number of ways as it changes the way the rain is separated through the vegetation and soil, this can effect surface run off, groundwater recharge and evaporation (Warburton et al, 2012). 

Land use can be linked to land degradation and even desertification due to the impact it has on the hydrological cycle for instance on water flow as well as other anthropogenic factors associated with land use change such as overgrazing (Kosmas et al, 2003). Maitima et al, (2009) found links between land degradation and land use change which is happening very rapidly in East Africa, this in turn has an effect on biodiversity. The long term replacement of natural vegetation with agriculture and human settlements can have numerous negative effects, such as decreased soil fertility, less water availability, increased toxicity and increased salinity (Maitima et al, 2009). In addition, land cleared for agriculture and human settlements are often based nearby water resources and from the study in Amboseli, Maitima et al, (2009) found that this leads to a decline in water quality and availability for natural vegetation and wildlife. 

In order to manage water resources it is important to understand the hydrological response to land use change (Warburton et al, 2012).  Oliver and Morecroft, (2014) give the example of water supply in wetlands and explain how a planned approach to restoring wetlands by incorporating floodplains will help to maintain the water supply and reduce flood risk. It is therefore key to take the multiple drivers of change into consideration when managing resources (Oliver and Morecroft, 2014). 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Variability in Africa

Image
As mentioned in my introductory post, there are differing human and environmental conditions across the continent of Africa. The variability of these conditions often influence or are influenced by water presence. I thought it would be interesting to get a better picture of the variability within Africa so I created a visual mind map:  Variability in Africa, a Mind Map  (Click on the map to see it in more detail) Citations:  A leman et al, 2016 ;  Almazroui et al, 2020 ;   Cartwright, 2015 ;    MacDonald et al, 2012 ;   Masih et al, 2014 ;   United Nations, 2015;  United Nations Environment Programme, 2010 For me, this mind map is a great way to picture how varied the continent is and also reminds me of how much needs to be considered when discussing environmental change and water in Africa. I also noticed how interconnected each branch is, for instance  the presence of a particular biome is influenced by precipitation and wate...
Read more

Solving the Water Crisis

Image
I recently watched a documentary which I heard about through a colleagues blog , called 'Brave Blue World: Racing to Solve Our Water Crisis', which sparked my interest so I thought I would share it.  The film focuses on innovation towards sustainable water and uses examples from all over the world, making it clear that difficulties regarding water resources are not just found in developing regions. Often the water crisis is discussed in a negative light and rightly so, however this documentary gives people hope that we are moving in the right direction, that there is potential to deal with the issues. The correct management is crucial and it starts at a local scale. They split the water crisis down into three key areas - water scarcity, the need for resilient infrastructure with regards to climate change and making it affordable. I thought this was a good way to take all factors into consideration, from the physical aspects of water availability and the interdisciplinary impact...
Read more

An Introduction

Image
Hello and Welcome! In this blog I will be exploring the relationship between water and environmental change with a focus on the African continent. I believe that we humans are intrinsically linked to the physical environment and that our development as a species is reliant on this connection.  Water, especially freshwater, is now being shaped by humans more than ever before and the time we live in now is more increasingly being recognised as  'the age of humans'- the  Anthropocene .  A concept that puts the relationship between humans and the environment into perspective is The Doughnut of Social and Planetary Boundaries, developed by   Kate Raworth(2017) . This framework combines both the Earth's planetary boundaries  ( Rockstrom et al., 2009 )  and the  UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs ) .  The SDGs are the global standard that is to be achieved when looking at development, they outline the targets that need to b...
Read more