Water is a vital resource essential for both sustaining life and a healthy environment as well as being a critical hazard in the form of floods or droughts which can destroy people’s livelihoods and property. This gives rise to a multi-faceted set of concerns and issues that affect everybody. For example, when contaminated with pathogens, wastewater can carry and rapidly transmit disease. The global distribution of freshwater is uneven and the problems this creates are likely to get worse due to climate change and the uncertainties associated with changing rainfall patterns and the emergence of more extreme weather events. Water has been described as the “new oil,” with potential conflicts arising out of disputed access to scarce water resources in the rest of this century. Billions of people around the world still do not have access to adequate safe water supplies or basic sanitation facilities, so in bringing basic water services to all there is much still to be done.

Planning for a low-carbon future in Australia will need to address simultaneously three aspects of sustainable development: centralisation/regional development, mobility and communication. After reviewing existing roadmaps for low-carbon growth by 2050, the article identifies the importance for Australia of an integrated and mutually reinforcing set of measures, based on a bold approach to urban and regional planning. Taking account of national geography, the approach is based on the decentralisation of energy production, use and storage, and on new uses of communication, transport and the location of food, water and mineral resources. Revitalised regional centres could be connected, through new energy and transport solutions, by a national transport arc and electrified highways. The use of infrastructure funding to support low-carbon regional development would avoid the ‘tragedy of the commons’, transcending incremental, cumulative approaches based on compensation and incentives for household, business and sectoral abatement efforts. It would generate long-term environmentally sustainable development.

Laws are crucial tools to protect wetlands. How these laws are written has important implications for conservation. We assessed all wetland terms and definitions in Brazilian legislation to identify whether legislation uses any generic terms to represent several or all types of wetlands and to determine if definitions with clear descriptors exist that can easily be used to identify wetland systems. A total of 116 local wetland-related terms and 21 wetland definitions were found in Brazilian legislation. A direct Portuguese translation of the term ‘wetlands’ was found only once in the New Forest Code. The insertion of the term ‘wetlands’ in the New Forest Code has important practical implications for the conservation, since all different Brazilian wetland types would be represented by the generic term ‘wetlands’. The existence of a definition of the term ‘wetlands’ associated with attributes of water and biota in Federal legislation will help environmental technicians to identify wetland systems and to recognize different wetland types. The insertion of this definition in the New Forest Code would make it clear that the drainage of any wetland type – large or small – is prohibited, and those who do so would be breaking Brazilian environmental law.

The Dead Sea is a terminal lake of one of the largest hydrological systems in the Levant and may thus be viewed as a large rain gauge for the region. Variations of its level are indicative of the climate variations in the region. Here, we present the decadal- to centennial-resolution Holocene lake-level curve of the Dead Sea. Then we determine the regional hydroclimatology that affected level variations. To achieve this goal we compare modern natural lake-level variations and instrumental rainfall records and quantify the hydrology relative to lake-level rise, fall, or stability. To quantify that relationship under natural conditions, rainfall data pre-dating the artificial Dead Sea level drop since the 1960s are used. In this respect, Jerusalem station offers the longest uninterrupted pre-1960s rainfall record and Jerusalem rains serve as an adequate proxy for the Dead Sea headwaters rainfall. Principal component analysis indicates that temporal variations of annual precipitation in all stations in Israel north of the current 200 mm yr−1 average isohyet during 1940–1990 are largely synchronous and in phase (∼70% of the total variance explained by PC1). This station also represents well northern Jordan and the area all the way to Beirut, Lebanon, especially during extreme drought and wet spells. We (a) determine the modern, and propose the past regional hydrology and Eastern Mediterranean (EM) climatology that affected the severity and length of droughts/wet spells associated with multiyear episodes of Dead Sea level falls/rises and (b) determine that EM cyclone tracks were different in average number and latitude in wet and dry years in Jerusalem. The mean composite sea level pressure and 500-mb height anomalies indicate that the potential causes for wet and dry episodes span the entire EM and are rooted in the larger-scale northern hemisphere atmospheric circulation. We also identified remarkably close association (within radiocarbon resolution) between climatic changes in the Levant, reflected by level changes, and culture shifts in this region.

In this contribution, a case is made for the significance of sedimentation and sea-level change for groundwater management of coastal areas. In groundwater practice these geological processes are rarely considered. The role of sediment loading in causing anomalous fluid pressures and flow fields in relatively shallow aquifer systems is discussed and illustrated via both case studies and generic modelling studies. The role of sea-level changes in controlling current salinity distributions is discussed likewise. Central in the discussion is the concept of memory of groundwater systems, which provides the basic reason why processes that were operative in the geological past are still of relevance today. It is argued and shown that awareness and knowledge of the influence of sediment loading and sea level change on current hydrological conditions can lead to improved characterization of the distribution of hydraulic parameters and of the distribution of water quality in coastal areas. This improved characterization, in turn, serves to enhance the validity of impact assessment studies for the long-term development and management of those areas.

Une étude radioécologique a été menée sur les canaux rhodaniens du réseau hydraulique régional propriété de la région Languedoc Roussillon, gérés par BRL. Ces canaux transfèrent de l’eau du fleuve Rhône vers les territoires des départements du Gard et de l’Hérault à des fins d’irrigation et de production d’eau potable. Nos résultats montrent que les caractéristiques hydrauliques intrinsèques des canaux de transport d’eau influent sur la distribution solide/solution des éléments traces en transit et par conséquent sur leur transfert vers les milieux récepteurs. Si les concentrations en phase dissoute (eau filtrée) sont conservées, les concentrations en phase particulaire (matières en suspension et sédiments) sont significativement modifiées au cours du transit. Outre la ségrégation granulométrique des particules entre l’amont et l’aval du système, ces résultats sont très probablement liés à la production biologique autochtone (phyto et zooplancton). Ces résultats originaux soulignent le caractère atypique des canaux de transport d’eau quant au transfert des éléments potentiellement contaminants.

Phenological patterns of herbaceous and woody plants well represented in the Sudano-Sahelian savannas of northern Cameroon were studied in relation to water availability in three contrasted soil types. Mean annual precipitation in this region is 800 mm, entirely restricted to the period May-June to September-October, but redistribution of rainwater by varying soil substrates leads to considerable heterogeneity in available water resources for plants. Results are discussed in terms of probable competition for water resources among co-occurring plants and the adaptations shown by observed patterns to prevailing environmental conditions. Water stress is seen to be a limiting factor to plant growth but does not constitute the sole trigger for the phenological phases observed, nor is it the principal factor responsible for the preponderance of annual species in the herbaceous stratum.

Developing and implementing water management strategies is imperative for achieving food self reliance in Egypt. Key elements of the strategy for increasing total value added from agriculture must be directed at enhancing efficiency of water use for crop production. This should be complemented by measures to ensure the efficient use and improvement of developed and undeveloped land resources. We examine the need to shift from supply management policies to demand management policies to optimize water use by fanners. Key features for sustainable development of agricultural water management include: greater investment; infusion of modern, appropriate technologies; building an adequate physical and institutional infrastructure; development of human resources and expertise; intensified cooperation and linkages; and technology development. Communities should be involved in reversing the trend from supply-driven to demand-oriented policies. This should be compatible with consideration of social dimensions.

Resources available for dryland farming in Jordan are limited since 91% of the country has an arid climate. Moreover, the available resources are subject to a wide range of natural and human constraints. The farming systems consist of two main types: annual crops such as wheat and barley, and fruit trees such as olives, grapes, and stone fruits. Socioeconomic factors coupled with a fluctuating rainfall pattern cause some shifting in land use and variation in land under cultivation. Alternative land use strategies and preservation and more efficient use of resources are the means to achieve higher production. Substantial addition of land suitable for cultivation is unlikely since it would require additional water resources, which are diminishing in Jordan. Environmental degradation such as desertification is a major concern to land use planners. Several issues must be addressed if agricultural productivity is to be sustained: preservation of resources; overcoming various pressures imposed on agricultural lands; adoption of new practical and economical practices; introduction of modern technologies such as water harvesting, supplemental irrigation, use of treated waste water, and proper soil conservation measures; and adaptive research.