Global Change and Regional Impacts : Water Availability and Vulnerability of Ecosystems and Society in the Semiarid Northeast of Brazil

Global climatic change will most likely affect natural resources and human living conditions in semiarid regions. This volume presents disciplinary as well as integrative methods to assess these impacts considering the interactions between climate variability and change, water availability, land-use systems, and quality of life. Taking the semiarid northeastern area of Brazil as an example, a wide range of expertise and knowledge (from integrated water analyses to transregional migration) is necessary to understand the complex relationship between natural and socio-economic systems. Tools to integrate this knowledge and make it available for the strategic planning of sustainable development are described. This book is a summary of the main research results and the presentations given at the final conference of the WAVES Program on June 25-26 2001 in Fortaleza (Brazil). From the reviews: "This book focuses on results from a joint German-Brazilian program (Water Availability and Vulnerability of Ecosystems and Society, or WAVES) to assess the socioeconomic impacts that global change will have on northeast Brazil. This book, divided into eight parts, describes the many factors that should be included in developing scenarios for future planning purposes. The book provides useful information concerning the complex multidisciplinary task of developing scenarios that can aid decision makers in formulating plans for sustainable development in an area that is highly vulnerable to climate variability and change. For someone who is unfamiliar with the semiarid northeast Brazil region, the book provides considerable useful background information." (Vernon E. Kousky, BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN METEORLOGICAL SOCIETY, December 2004) Front Matter....Pages I-XIV Front Matter....Pages XV-XV General View of the WAVES Program....Pages 1-16 Front Matter....Pages 17-17 Integrated Scenarios of Regional Development in Ceará and Piauí....Pages 19-41 Integrated Modeling of Climate Change Impacts in Northeastern Brazil....Pages 43-56 The GIS-Based Model for Sustainable Development of Land Use (MOSDEL)....Pages 57-78 Front Matter....Pages 79-79 The Climate of Piauí and Ceará....Pages 81-85 Water Resources of Ceará and Piauí....Pages 87-94 Physical and Environmental Context in the State of Ceará....Pages 95-104 Survey of the Vegetation in the State of Ceará....Pages 105-116 Survey of the Vegetation in the State of Piaui....Pages 117-123 Degradation Factors in a Risk-Prone Area: the Semiarid Northeast of Brazil....Pages 125-133 Front Matter....Pages 135-135 Climate Analysis and Scenarios for Northeast Brazil....Pages 137-151 Dynamic Regional Climate Modeling and Sensitivity Experiments for the Northeast of Brazil....Pages 153-170 Front Matter....Pages 171-171 Investigations on Water Management and Water Quality in Picos/PI and Tauá/CE....Pages 173-184 Water Quality in the Guaribas River Basin for Irrigation Use....Pages 185-191 Groundwater as Indicator for Paleoclimatic Change in the Northeast of Brazil....Pages 193-203 Sedimentation of Reservoirs in Semiarid Brazil....Pages 205-216 Large-Scale Hydrological Modeling of a Semiarid Environment: Model Development, Validation and Application....Pages 217-228 Reservoir Yield Vulnerability Under Global Change....Pages 229-238 Modeling of Present and Future Water Use in Piauí and Ceará as a Basis for Water Resources Planning....Pages 239-251 Assessment of Water Costs in Semiarid Brazil....Pages 253-264 Front Matter....Pages 265-265 An Information System for Land Resources in Piauí and Ceará....Pages 267-278 Effectiveness of Fertilization and Other Agricultural Management Options in Picos and Tauá, NE Brazil....Pages 279-289 Seepage and Groundwater Recharge in Sandy/Loamy Chapada Soils of the Picos Region, Piauí....Pages 291-301 Front Matter....Pages 303-303 Sustainable Use of Natural Resources in the Municipality of Taua-Ceará....Pages 305-322 Cerrado and Caatinga in the Picos Area....Pages 323-333 Climate and Desertification in the Picos Region....Pages 335-345 Front Matter....Pages 347-347 Quality of Life and Migration — Concepts and Results of the Socio-economic Survey in Tauá and Picos....Pages 349-360 Economic Analysis of Different Farming Systems on the Individual Farm Level in the Northeast of Brazil....Pages 361-374 Structure and Possible Development of the Agricultural Sector of Ceará and Piauí....Pages 375-388 Groundwater Supply Conditions and Willingness To Pay for Desalinated Water in Tauá (Brazil)....Pages 389-398 Front Matter....Pages 399-399 Visualization and 3-D Analysis of Sedimentation in Water Reservoirs....Pages 401-410 Effectiveness of Parallelization of Solution and Optimization Algorithms Applied to Large-Scale Linear Problems for the WAVES Project....Pages 411-424 Back Matter....Pages 425-429