GLOWA - Global Change and the Hydrological Cycle

GLOWA Jordan River is an interdisciplinary project addressing the vulnerability of water resources in the Jordan River Basin under global change. An integrated approach provides scientific support for sustainable and cooperative management practices. The project addresses conventional as well as non-conventional methods of water management and their ecological and socio-economic implications. Results from GLOWA JR should be transferable to other arid and Mediterranean regions with transboundary water resources.

The multitude of stakeholders calls for a multilateral research consortium. Research institutions from Israel, the Palestinian Autonomy, Jordan, and Germany contribute scientific knowledge from a range of sources, such as insitu and remote sensing measurements, monitoring and manipulative experiments, socio-economic data, and modelling. A modelling framework is developed to integrate data and methods from various disciplines. A continuous and iterative dialogue with regional stakeholders is held for producing information which is relevant for water management.

GLOWA JR is structured into different subprojects dealing with global change processes, water resources, ecosystems, agriculture, and integration and stakeholder participation.

The first phase of GLOWA JR was from 2001-2005. Since September 2005 GLOWA JR is in its second phase.

Background

The GLOWA Jordan River project focuses on one of the most critical regions of water scarcity. The region has one of the lowest per capita water availabilities worldwide, ranging well below the typical absolute scarcity threshold of 500 m³ to 1000 m³ per capita and year. These amounts do not allow self sufficiency.

Water demand is increasing rapidly due to high population growth rates and economic development. Furthermore, climate projections for the eastern Mediterranean indicate future aridification. Temperature increases and prolonged drought periods over the past decades which have reduced surface and groundwater resources to record lows may be first indications of this trend.

Figure from EXACT 1998: http://exact-me.org/overview/p03.htm

Four biogeographical regions meet in the Jordan River basin making it a major biodiversity hotspot of global conservation concern. Ecosystems in the region are extremely diverse, ranging from sub-humid Mediterranean environments to arid climates across very small distances. This makes these ecosystems highly vulnerable to changes in climate and land use.

Irrigation consumes about two thirds of the region’s surface and ground water ("blue water") resources. Most of the surface water is located in the upper basin of the Jordan River, from where large amounts of water are exported to the south and beyond the basin.

While blue water resources are fully exploited or even over-exploited, there is potential to increase water productivity of the region’s "green water" (i.e. soil water from precipitation), for the benefits of humans and ecosystems.

The region's available surface and groundwater resources are largely transboundary, and their distribution adds conflict potential. Strategies for sustainable water management must be based on collaboration between the various regional stakeholders and on sound scientific knowledge.

Goal

The GLOWA Jordan River project provides scientific support for improved water management in a highly water-stressed region. Its mandate is based on the general goals of the GLOWA programme of the BMBF which are the provision of ”simulation tools and instruments to develop and realize strategies for sustainable water management”.

GLOWA JR can build upon the rich experience on adaptation to water scarcity and climate variability in the Jordan River region. However, previous activities either lack scientific support, they do not address global change impacts, or they are purely scientific.

The specific niche and strength of GLOWA JR is

its focus on interacting global change processes, such as climate and land use change,
the integrative and interdisciplinary approach, and
the continuous dialogue between scientists and stakeholders

The central goal is to increase the benefits from the region’s water be for humans and ecosystems, under global change.

To that end, GLOWA JR provides an innovative framework for assessing blue, green and non-conventional water management, overcoming the traditionally fragmented approach to sustainable resource management.