Responding to climate change, sustaining freshwater services, meeting energy needs: some reflections from the south.

WEHBE, MÓNICA; TELLO, DIEGO

Londres

Conferencia; Planet Under Pressure 2012; 2012

IGBP, DIVERSITAS, IHDP, ESSP y WCRP.

Whether from the mitigation or the adaptation spheres, responding to climate change while sustaining freshwater services and meeting energy needs has strengthened concerns on the water-energy nexus due to their relationship with feeding an increasing population [1] and development in general [2-3 ]. On the mitigation side, strategies relate to those aiming at lowering GHGs levels in the atmosphere, while from the adaptation side there is the need for actions oriented to reducing vulnerability to climate change impacts and other stressors [4]. Strategies and actions from both spheres outcomes generate synergies and conflicts.From a case study we will illustrate on how some adaptation strategies together with actions towards climate change mitigation are affecting the socioecological system s resilience in a manner that negatively impacts on both, adaptation and mitigation goals [5-6]. Moreover, loosing resilience or the possibility for a regime shift will diminish food production capacity of this predominately rainfed agriculture based system [7]. Responses from the SES to múltiple stressors and drivers of change (i.e. from the socio-economic, institutional or environmental contexts) [8] are jeopardizing its resilience therefore deserving an integrated management of its critical variables to avoid falling into an undesirable state.Reflections derived from the Carcaraña river basin (Argentina [9]) análisis also reproduce concerns from many parts of the developing world: 1) there is a compelling need to get adaptation along with mitigation; and in doing this 2) it will be necessary to actually conceal both Vulnerability and Resilience approaches [10-11] as well as 3) to call for a real integration among disciplines and for multiagent institutionalized participation [11]. Being applied from multiple scales (local, regional, global) they will allow for the identification of synergies and conflicts as well as of tradeoffs [12] between actions and strategies within the interrelationship climate change, water and energy.