WATER RESOURCES VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN YEMEN REPUBLIC: SURDUD DRAINAGE BASIN (original) (raw)

The purpose of this study is to assess climate change impacts on water resources and water management in Wadi Surdud drainage basin area, under certain climate change scenarios, and to identify the required and adequate measures and adaptation strategies that can be applied in such area. Wadi Surdud drainage basin constitutes one part of the western drainage basins area of Yemen. It occupies a surface area of nearly 4050 km2, and is featured by an arid/semi-arid climate. The average rainfall in the drainage basin is reported to be between 200 mm and 400 mm, for the upper and middle catchment areas, respectively, but is significantly less in the Tihama part (around 100 mm). Presently, Water resources in the area suffer from an escalating pressure, due to the high consumption of water by agriculture activities, to cope with the increasing demand by population in cities. Therefore, a reduction in rainfall, as a result of climate change, will make the situation even worst. In this study, a Water Evaluation and Planning software (WEAP) was used to evaluate water demands, supplies and scarcity, among all water users under a range of potential climate change scenarios and adaptation strategies. The simulation period in this study was twenty five years (2008-2033) and the adapted strategies and measures were the Rehabilitation of traditional irrigation channels, Conveying irrigation water through closed conduits, the use of drip irrigation method, and changing crop patterns. The simulation results, showed an improvement in irrigation efficiency through the use of drip irrigation technique, proving to be the best strategy that can be adapted by farmers, followed by the use of closed conduits for conveying irrigation water to farms, and then the least preferred strategy, called the rehabilitation of traditional irrigation channels. The strategy, changing crop pattern, was found to have little impact on water savings. The amount of water saved for the preferred adapted strategies, the use of drip irrigation and use of closed conduits, are 157.3 MCM/y and 91 MCM/y, respectively.