Comenius 2009

Röllingby Gymnasium, Sweden Group 10- Jessica - Jesper- Alexander- Amanda- Joakim- Mikaela

Global warming on water management

Comenius project 2009-2010Group 10

Flooding – Sea level rise

• Thermal expansion ( The water expands because of the rising temperatures caused by global warming).

(Applies to the whole world)

• Melting glacier (The rising temperature are making the glacier melt, which leads to the sea level rising).

(Applies to the whole world)

From different point of views

• Social – When the sea levels rise above groundlevel people may have to move, since they can’t live under water.

• Political – When big floodings occur the world has to find a place for these people to live. And the affected country´s systems will collapse because the people who don’t emigrate will have big demands on the politicians who probably can’t live up to these demands because of lack of resources. And that will lead to a disaster in that country.

• Economic – It will get very expensive to build new homes for all the people from the affected countries. In the flooded areas we also loose a lot of ground to harvest on.

Drought

• Creates deserts ( Droughts happen because lack of rain, and can expand or create deserts like the Sahara).

When it’s too warm the water vapor can’t turn into raindrops.

(The closer to the ecvator the bigger the risk is of drought)

From different point of views

• Social – Most people will start to move because they wont have any water, or any possibility to harvest any food.

• Political – Drought will start conflicts between countries about access to water, because there’s not enough water for everyone in the affected areas.

For example: If a drought occurs and there’s a river that flows through several countries these countries will start fighting about who the water of that river belongs to.

• Economic – If a country can’t harvest anything it can’t export products, which will impair the economy of the country.

Heavy rain

• Monsoons (When heavy moisty winds come in from the ocean the moisture condense and falls like rain when it comes ashore).

(It happens because of temperature differences in continents and oceans)

(Applies to tropical areas, like south- and east Asia. Northern Australia, southwest-north America and the Sahelarea in Africa).

From different point of views

• Social and political – Because of the temporary flooding the people will need to move to another part of the country while the government restores the area with help from Non-Governmental-Organisations.

• Economic – The affected communities have to be restored and that will cost a lot of money, which the country usually can’t afford themselves.

Water temperature change

The global warming effects the ecosystem by:

• Ecosystem changes (Some organisms and fish die when the ecosystem changes)

• Eutrophication (For example the sea get ”overfed”- the chemical nutrients are too many.)

• Algal Blooming (Happens when nitrogen and phosphorus leak out into for example. the sea)

From different point of views

• Social – Certain fish will disappear and people will not be able to eat that kind of fish anymore, and some countries might not be able to fish at all.

• Political – If this happens the world need to agree on new fishing quotas.

• Economic - A lot of counties are depended on their fish-export, like Iceland. This will have a negative effect on the country’s economy.

Natural disasters

• Tyfoons• Cyclones• Hurricanes• Tornadoes• Tsunamis(When the temperature rises because of global warming

natural disasters get more intense and occure more often).

From different point of views

• Social – In natural disasters there is usually a great loss of human life. And in richer countries the government help the habitants to evacuate the affected areas, while the habitants in developing countries need to take care of themselves.

• Political - The government (affected country) need to restore the areas as soon as possible, which can be difficult.

• Economic – Restoration in these drastic measures are very expensive and require a lot of planning.