IIMYC   23581
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES MARINAS Y COSTERAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Environmental isotope applications in Latin America and the Caribbean region
Autor/es:
LUCIA ORTEGA; VERIDIANA MARTINS; RICARDO SANCHEZ MURILLO; LUIS ARAGUAS; SOTO DAVID; ORLANDO MAURICIO QUIROZ LONDOÑO
Revista:
ISOTOPES IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH STUDIES
Editorial:
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Referencias:
Lugar: Londres; Año: 2020 vol. 56 p. 5 - 6
ISSN:
1025-6016
Resumen:
This Special Issue illustrates the use of environmental isotopes in studying and assessing hydrogeological and ecohydrological issues in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)region. The issue includes twenty selected papers, which have been peer-reviewed in Isotopesin Environmental and Health Studies. Although the LAC region concentrates a third of theworld?s freshwater resources, access to safe water supplies and sanitation remains unevenlydistributed, with water scarcity a ff ecting most arid and semiarid areas and serious waterquality issues across the region. About 82% of the LAC population lives in urban centres,including some megacities, creating major challenges to water authorities. Water securityis often compromised due to a fast-growing water demand near urban centres (i.e. domesticsupply, irrigation and industrial uses) along with the expected impacts of climate change onboth water availability and quality. In many parts of the LAC region, groundwaterresources have become the main or the only source of water to cover basic human needsand the maintenance of ecosystems. This rapid increase of water demand is generallytranslated into intensive and unsustainable exploitation of water resources, having a profoundimpact on local hydrological cycles. In order to assess the availability of local resources for thenear future and adopt sustainable management practices, sound and precise hydrologicalinformation is required.