Water stress in global transboundary river basins: significance of upstream water use on downstream stress
Growing population and water demand have increased pressure on water resources in various parts of the globe, including many transboundary river basins. While the impacts of upstream water use on downstream water availability have been analysed in many of these international river basins, this has n...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2016-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/1/014002 |
| _version_ | 1797748606638227456 |
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| author | H Munia J H A Guillaume N Mirumachi M Porkka Y Wada M Kummu |
| author_facet | H Munia J H A Guillaume N Mirumachi M Porkka Y Wada M Kummu |
| author_sort | H Munia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Growing population and water demand have increased pressure on water resources in various parts of the globe, including many transboundary river basins. While the impacts of upstream water use on downstream water availability have been analysed in many of these international river basins, this has not been systematically done at the global scale using coherent and comparable datasets. In this study, we aim to assess the change in downstream water stress due to upstream water use in the world’s transboundary river basins. Water stress was first calculated considering only local water use of each sub-basin based on country-basin mesh, then compared with the situation when upstream water use was subtracted from downstream water availability. We found that water stress was generally already high when considering only local water use, affecting 0.95–1.44 billion people or 33%–51% of the population in transboundary river basins. After accounting for upstream water use, stress level increased by at least 1 percentage-point for 30–65 sub-basins, affecting 0.29–1.13 billion people. Altogether 288 out of 298 middle-stream and downstream sub-basin areas experienced some change in stress level. Further, we assessed whether there is a link between increased water stress due to upstream water use and the number of conflictive and cooperative events in the transboundary river basins, as captured by two prominent databases. No direct relationship was found. This supports the argument that conflicts and cooperation events originate from a combination of different drivers, among which upstream-induced water stress may play a role. Our findings contribute to better understanding of upstream–downstream dynamics in water stress to help address water allocation problems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:07:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-184461b721a846699b4b356879feeb9a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:07:13Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-184461b721a846699b4b356879feeb9a2023-08-09T14:16:19ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262016-01-0111101400210.1088/1748-9326/11/1/014002Water stress in global transboundary river basins: significance of upstream water use on downstream stressH Munia0J H A Guillaume1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6854-8708N Mirumachi2M Porkka3Y Wada4M Kummu5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5096-0163Water and Development Research Group, Aalto University , Tietotie 1E, Espoo FI-02150, FinlandWater and Development Research Group, Aalto University , Tietotie 1E, Espoo FI-02150, FinlandDepartment of Geography, King’s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UKWater and Development Research Group, Aalto University , Tietotie 1E, Espoo FI-02150, FinlandNASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, NY 10025, USA; Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University , 2880 Broadway, New York, NY 10025, USA; Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University , Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The NetherlandsWater and Development Research Group, Aalto University , Tietotie 1E, Espoo FI-02150, FinlandGrowing population and water demand have increased pressure on water resources in various parts of the globe, including many transboundary river basins. While the impacts of upstream water use on downstream water availability have been analysed in many of these international river basins, this has not been systematically done at the global scale using coherent and comparable datasets. In this study, we aim to assess the change in downstream water stress due to upstream water use in the world’s transboundary river basins. Water stress was first calculated considering only local water use of each sub-basin based on country-basin mesh, then compared with the situation when upstream water use was subtracted from downstream water availability. We found that water stress was generally already high when considering only local water use, affecting 0.95–1.44 billion people or 33%–51% of the population in transboundary river basins. After accounting for upstream water use, stress level increased by at least 1 percentage-point for 30–65 sub-basins, affecting 0.29–1.13 billion people. Altogether 288 out of 298 middle-stream and downstream sub-basin areas experienced some change in stress level. Further, we assessed whether there is a link between increased water stress due to upstream water use and the number of conflictive and cooperative events in the transboundary river basins, as captured by two prominent databases. No direct relationship was found. This supports the argument that conflicts and cooperation events originate from a combination of different drivers, among which upstream-induced water stress may play a role. Our findings contribute to better understanding of upstream–downstream dynamics in water stress to help address water allocation problems.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/1/014002transboundary river basinsupstream water usewater stressupstream–downstream relationssub-basinconflict |
| spellingShingle | H Munia J H A Guillaume N Mirumachi M Porkka Y Wada M Kummu Water stress in global transboundary river basins: significance of upstream water use on downstream stress Environmental Research Letters transboundary river basins upstream water use water stress upstream–downstream relations sub-basin conflict |
| title | Water stress in global transboundary river basins: significance of upstream water use on downstream stress |
| title_full | Water stress in global transboundary river basins: significance of upstream water use on downstream stress |
| title_fullStr | Water stress in global transboundary river basins: significance of upstream water use on downstream stress |
| title_full_unstemmed | Water stress in global transboundary river basins: significance of upstream water use on downstream stress |
| title_short | Water stress in global transboundary river basins: significance of upstream water use on downstream stress |
| title_sort | water stress in global transboundary river basins significance of upstream water use on downstream stress |
| topic | transboundary river basins upstream water use water stress upstream–downstream relations sub-basin conflict |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/1/014002 |
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