Protecting the world’s freshwater resources requires diagnosing threats over a broad range of scales, from global to local. Here we present the first worldwide synthesis to jointly consider human and biodiversity perspectives on water security using a spatial framework that quantifies multiple stressors and accounts for downstream impacts. We find that nearly 80% of the world’s population is exposed to high levels of threat to water security. Massive investment in water technology enables rich nations to offset high stressor levels without remedying their underlying causes, whereas less wealthy nations remain vulnerable. A similar lack of precautionary investment jeopardizes biodiversity, with habitats associated with 65% of continental discharge classified as moderately to highly threatened. The cumulative threat framework offers a tool for prioritizing policy and management responses to this crisis, and underscores the necessity of limiting threats at their source instead of through costly remediation of symptoms in order to assure global water security for both humans and freshwater biodiversity.

/pdf/global-threats-to-human-water-security-and-river-2hfichkqti.pdf

Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity

Climate change undermines a basic assumption that historically has facilitated management of water supplies, demands, and risks.

/pdf/stationarity-is-dead-whither-water-management-4ssoo2ymrp.pdf

Stationarity Is Dead: Whither Water Management?

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the use of the strategic management tool, Strengths‐Weaknesses‐Opportunities‐Threats or SWOT analysis, and to assess how the methodology has been used as well as changes to the methodology. The findings both for and against SWOT analysis should lead to a balanced view of the technique as well as yield ideas for needed theory building.Design/methodology/approach – Using the ABInform Global® database, academic peer‐reviewed articles were compiled indicating SWOT as one of the article's key index and search words.Findings – The use of SWOT analysis continues to permeate the academic peer‐reviewed literature. Research supports SWOT analysis as a tool for planning purposes. Over the past decade, SWOT research has focused on analyzing organizations for recommended strategic actions. As a methodology for strategic positioning, SWOT analysis has been extended beyond companies to countries and industries and is used in virtually every published business case positi...

Exploring SWOT analysis – where are we now?

This paper reviews roughly 200 recent studies of mobile (cellular) phone use in the developing world, and identifies major concentrations of research. It categorizes studies along two dimensions. One dimension distinguishes studies of the determinants of mobile adoption from those that assess the impacts of mobile use, and from those focused on the interrelationships between mobile technologies and users. A secondary dimension identifies a subset of studies with a strong economic development perspective. The discussion considers the implications of the resulting review and typology for future research.

Research Approaches to Mobile Use in the Developing World: A Review of the Literature

The top priorities for urban water sustainability include the provision of safe drinking water, wastewater handling for public health, and protection against flooding. However, rapidly aging infrastructure, population growth, and increasing urbanization call into question current urban water management strategies, especially in the fast-growing urban areas in Asia and Africa. We review innovative approaches in urban water management with the potential to provide locally adapted, resource-efficient alternative solutions. Promising examples include new concepts for stormwater drainage, increased water productivity, distributed or on-site treatment of wastewater, source separation of human waste, and institutional and organizational reforms. We conclude that there is an urgent need for major transdisciplinary efforts in research, policy, and practice to develop alternatives with implications for cities and aquatic ecosystems alike.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/352/6288/928.full.pdf

Emerging solutions to the water challenges of an urbanizing world

The Handbook of Technology Foresight

This publication considers the future infrastructure requirements to 2030 for telecom, land transport, water and electricity for the developing world and OECD countries. As well as considering issues such as economic growth, population and income levels, the potential impact of infrastructure development of other factors such as climate change, security issues, the likely evolution of public finances, human settlement patterns, and technology-induced substitution effects are included. A set of policy recommendations to OECD governments is provided, based on critical issues for the future. The chapter on telecoms infrastructure includes a discussion of whether teleworking will reduce the need to travel. It is considered that it may reduce the need to travel at peak times, reducing future infrastructure requirements. Part-time teleworking is more common than full-time teleworking. Many teleworkers live greater distances from their place of work. The potential to reduce vehicle miles travelled and pollutant emissions are considered overstated. The need for public transport will continue but telecommunications may enable more flexible services. Videoconferencing and audioconferencing are considered to complement travel patterns, with the increased efficiency and productivity gains from communications technology translated into extra air travel. Reductions in energy costs, office infrastructure requirements, vehicle requirements and vehicle secondary services such as insurance may result from increased use of telecommunications. Increases in travel to remote areas and in electricity use at remote areas, and increased delivery requirements from internet shopping are predicted. The chapter on future demand for surface transport predicts road transport infrastructure requirements for new construction at $220-290 billion/year between 2010 and 2030, with possibly 20% of this amount subject to deliberate policy intervention to achieve greater infrastructure use efficiency. The equivalent figure for rail is $49-58 billion. Infrastructure benefits are expected to exceed infrastructure costs. Transport financing, public willingness to pay, and the effects of short term political considerations are also discussed. A large portion of this publication considers future water demand for domestic, agricultural, public amenities and industrial uses. A current global figure of $574.6 billion/year invested in water infrastructure is predicted. Electricity demand is predicted to increase at 2.5%/year up to 2030, with large requirements for developing countries, especially China.

Infrastructure to 2030 - telecom, land transport, water and electricity

Thumb Culture: The Meaning of Mobile Phones for Society

Purpose – The paper aims to examine the contribution of information and communication technology (ICT) to climate change, the origins of ICT unsustainability and explores some possible remedies.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on a variety of sources to survey the many problems of sustainable ICTs; their energy consumption trends; planned obsolescence; hazardous materials and hazardous disposal; and analyses the way forward.Findings – Highlights the unsustainability of many ICT trends, e.g. power consumption in data centers, and the extent to which ICT affects progress towards an economy's environmental sustainability.Originality/value – This paper provides a novel approach to ICT sustainability, highlighting unsustainability of current software technology and related hardware trends, especially the threat of operating systems to planetary sustainability, as well as the growing power consumption trends in data centers.

Powering down: remedies for unsustainable ICT

Military Communications: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century

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