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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Hayley Fowler
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2022 The Authors. Earth's Future published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union. River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB region will be affected by considerable (yet poorly quantified) changes to the seasonality and composition of runoff in the future, which are likely to have considerable impacts on these supplies. Given how directly and indirectly communities and ecosystems are dependent on these resources and the growing pressure on them due to ever-increasing demands, the impacts of climate change pose considerable adaptation challenges. The strong linkages between hydroclimate, cryosphere, water resources, and human activities within the UIB suggest that a multi- and inter-disciplinary research approach integrating the social and natural/environmental sciences is critical for successful adaptation to ongoing and future hydrological and climate change. Here we use a horizon scanning technique to identify the Top 100 questions related to the most pressing knowledge gaps and research priorities in social and natural sciences on climate change and water in the UIB. These questions are on the margins of current thinking and investigation and are clustered into 14 themes, covering three overarching topics of “governance, policy, and sustainable solutions”, “socioeconomic processes and livelihoods”, and “integrated Earth System processes”. Raising awareness of these cutting-edge knowledge gaps and opportunities will hopefully encourage researchers, funding bodies, practitioners, and policy makers to address them.
Author(s): Orr A, Ahmad B, Alam U, Appadurai A, Bharucha ZP, Biemans H, Bolch T, Chaulagain NP, Dhaubanjar S, Dimri AP, Dixon H, Fowler HJ, Gioli G, Halvorson SJ, Hussain A, Jeelani G, Kamal S, Khalid IS, Liu S, Lutz A, Mehra MK, Miles E, Momblanch A, Muccione V, Mukherji A, Mustafa D, Najmuddin O, Nasimi MN, Nusser M, Pandey VP, Parveen S, Pellicciotti F, Pollino C, Potter E, Qazizada MR, Ray S, Romshoo S, Sarkar SK, Sawas A, Sen S, Shah A, Shah MAA, Shea JM, Sheikh AT, Shrestha AB, Tayal S, Tigala S, Virk ZT, Wester P, Wescoat JL
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Earth's Future
Year: 2022
Volume: 10
Issue: 4
Print publication date: 13/04/2022
Online publication date: 24/03/2022
Acceptance date: 16/03/2022
Date deposited: 11/05/2022
ISSN (electronic): 2328-4277
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc
URL: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002619
DOI: 10.1029/2021EF002619
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