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Global insights into water resources, climate change and governance

Nature Climate Change volume 3, pages 315–321 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The threats of climate change and the trade-offs between extractions and flows are examined for the Colorado, the Murray, the Orange and the Yellow Rivers. In all four basins, and over a long period of time, outflows have greatly reduced as a direct result of increased water extractions. Although climate change will aggravate hydrological impacts on river systems, currently high levels of water extractions remain the principal contributor to reduced system flows. Changes in governance, including sharing the variability between the environment and consumers, are urgently required if the health of these rivers is to be maintained.

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Figure 1: Location of the four river basins.
Figure 2: Colorado River.
Figure 3: Yellow River.
Figure 4: River Murray.
Figure 5: Orange–Senqu River.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is dedicated to our good friend and colleague, the late Richard Norris. We thank C. White for compiling some of the data and C. Hilliker for preparing the figures and maps.

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Author notes

  1. Richard Norris: Deceased

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Crawford School (Building 132), Lennox Crossing, The Australian National University, 0200, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    R. Quentin Grafton, Jamie Pittock, John Williams, Daniel Connell, Qiang Jiang & Tom Kompas

  2. 35 Melbourne Avenue, Canberra, 2603, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Richard Davis

  3. CSIRO Land and Water, Underwood Avenue, Floreat Park, 6014, Western Australia, Australia

    Guobin Fu

  4. University of Kwa Zulu Natal, King George V Avenue, Berea, 4041, South Africa

    Michele Warburton

  5. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado, 325 Broadway R/PSD, Boulder, 80305, Colorado, USA

    Bradley Udall

  6. WRP Pty. Ltd, 5 Green Park Estate, 27 George Storrar Drive, Groenkloof, Pretoria, 0181, South Africa

    Ronnie McKenzie

  7. Chinese Academy of Sciences, 52 Sanlihe Rd, Beijing, 100864, China

    Xiubo Yu

  8. Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics, 51 Allara Street, Canberra, 2601, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Nhu Che

  9. Environmental Change Initiative, 167 Thayer Street, 214 Macmillan Hall

    Amanda Lynch

  10. Brown University, Providence, 02912, Rhode Island, USA

    Amanda Lynch

  11. University of Canberra, University Drive, Bruce, 2601, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Richard Norris

  12. The University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072, Queensland, Australia

    Hugh Possingham & John Quiggin

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  1. R. Quentin Grafton
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Contributions

R.Q.G. conceived and led this research. J.P. coordinated its preparation and contributed environmental flow elements. R.D. and J.W. made important conceptual contributions, assessed the Murray–Darling and aided with editing. G.F., M.W., B.U., R.M. and X.Y. provided analysis of the Colorado, Orange or Yellow Rivers. N.C., D.C., Q.J., T.K., A.L., R.N., H.P. and J.Q. each contributed to the original conception of the research and analysis of the Murray–Darling.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Quentin Grafton.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Grafton, R., Pittock, J., Davis, R. et al. Global insights into water resources, climate change and governance. Nature Clim Change 3, 315–321 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1746

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