[MCN] The future of mountain water, circa 2002

[Lance Olsen]

Besieged mountain ecosystems start to turn off the tap
Reduced water flow threatens agriculture and food security around the globe

1st 4 paragraphs:

ROME, 14 October 2002 -- The supply of 
freshwater, recognized on this World Food Day as 
the source of food security, is threatened by the 
increasing degradation of mountain ecosystems.

Mountains are often called nature's water towers. 
They intercept air circulating around the globe 
and force it upwards where it condenses into 
clouds, which provide rain and snow. All the 
major rivers in the world - from the Rio Grande 
to the Nile - have their headwaters in mountains.

As a consequence, one of every two people drinks 
water that originates in mountains. One billion 
Chinese, Indians and Bangladeshis, 250 million 
people in Africa, and the entire population of 
California, United States, are among the 3 
billion people who rely on the continuous flow of 
mountain water. Each day, water from mountains 
turns hydro-electric turbines, aids industrial 
processes, irrigates farmers' fields and quenches 
thirst.

Yet, despite all who depend on it, the future of 
mountain water has never been more uncertain. The 
magnitude of this threat is one of the reasons 
the United Nations declared 2002 the 
International Year of Mountains.

http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2002/9881-en.html

-- 
---------------------------------  Other coupled 
redistributions 
-----------------------------------------

"The rate of movement that occurs in response to 
changes in climate, whether fast or slow, will 
shape the distribution of natural ecosystems in 
the decades to come.  ....  We demonstrate that 
the effectiveness of plant migration strongly 
influences carbon storage, evapotranspiration, 
and the absorption of solar radiation by the land 
surface. As a result, plant migration affects the 
magnitude, and in some cases the sign, of 
feedbacks from the land surface to the climate 
system."

PAUL A. T. HIGGINS AND JOHN HARTE. Biophysical 
and Biogeochemical Responses to Climate 
Change Depend on Dispersal and Migration. 
BioScience May 2006 / Vol. 56 No. 5 * © 2006 
American Institute of Biological Sciences.
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