MUSCAT: The Sultanate of Oman and fellow member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) must take decisive steps to secure their water requirements against the perils of climate change, a new report has warned.
Titled, ‘GCC’s Water Security in the Era of Climate Change: Adapting to Rising Temperatures and Scarce Resource’, the report cautions that global warming has the potential to take a significant environmental, political and socioeconomic toll on the region. The outlook for water security is even worse once climate impacts in the form of shrinking resources, increased salinity, variable rainfall and evaporation begin to exacerbate existing water-related challenges, it points out.
“The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, already battling water scarcity and desertification due to its hot and arid climate, faces heightened threats from climate change. Compounded by industrialization and urbanization, the situation has led to rising pollution levels. Extreme climatic events, like high temperatures, floods, and tropical storms, are increasingly visible. The future may pose further challenges, especially related to water resources,” the author, Wafa al Maamari, stated in her article published by Fanack Water, a Dutch-based think-tank.
The report goes on to cite the grim predictions spelt out in the recently published Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), forecasting significant climatic impacts in the GCC region. Those dire warnings include a forecasted temperature increase of 1-2°C by 2050 and up to 4-6°C by 2100, and a potential sea-level rise of up to 1 meter by 2100, resulting in flooding and coastal erosion.
Also envisioned are extreme weather events and severe heatwaves that could contribute to extensive damage and loss of life. Furthermore, increased water scarcity and drought conditions could also negatively impact agriculture and food security, the IPCC assessment warns.
The challenge for GCC governments, according to Fanack Water’s article, is to balance the potable water requirements of growing and rapidly urbanization populations with the need to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the region’s limited water resources.
Water demand in the GCC region is projected to grow exponentially on the back of population growth, urban expansion, and agricultural and industrial development, according to the report. It climbed from around 6 billion cubic meters per year in the 1980s to 36 billion m3 in 2018 – a 6-fold jump.
The solution, the report points out, lies in the need for GCC countries to adopt sustainable water management, invest in new water sources, and reduce water waste. For example, investments in infrastructure like dams and reservoirs can help boost storage capacity and mitigate supply shortfalls in times of water scarcity. Equally far-reaching are water conservation measures such as metering, pricing, and leak reduction. Likewise, the increasing use of renewable electricity in place of fossil fuel for water desalination, and the wide-scale promotion of water recycling and reuse are helpful steps as well, according to the report.
Fanack Water also recommends the use of innovative approaches in strengthening water security in the era of climate change. The roll-out, for example, of green desalination - centring on the use of energy-efficient, eco-friendly desalination technologies for water production – can contribute to the decarbonization of the sector.
Also promising is climate-smart agriculture, advocating crop diversification techniques, the use of drought-resistant crops, water-efficient irrigation systems, and soil conservation to increase productivity and decrease water use. Furthermore, the deployment of cloud-seeding to increase rainfall occurrences, among other geoengineering practices, should be explored as well, the report adds.
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