water cycle

• UNCLOS is the United Nations Convention on the law of the sea
• UNCLOS sets out the territorial rights of every country to the sea outside of their border and also the right to all countries to fish and conduct scientific exploration in certain areas.
• UNCLOS gives countries a exclusive economic zone where only they are allowed to extract materials and a territorial zone which counts as their countries territory
• In the South China Sea exclusive economic zones overlap so there is conflict over who can extract minerals from where. China also claims the whole thing as their territory
• the Helsinki rules advocated for an 'equitable share' of water but was never enforceable
• the Helsinki rules were replaced by the Berlin rules in 2004
• the nile runs through 11 countries and 300m people live in the Nile Basin
• 95% of Egypt's population live around the Nile
• in 1929 Egypt gained the right to veto all construction projects on the River Nile and as a very rich country has most of the power in the situation
• In 1999 all Nile countries (apart from Eritrea) signed the Nile Basin Initiative which created an institution which aims to resolve conflicts by providing all Nile countries with equitable distribution of water from the Nile to promote their development
• in 2011 ethiopia announced the beginning of building the Ethiopian grand renaissance dam
• Ethiopia claim the dam will provide electricity to 70% of their population, lifting 60m people out of poverty.
• nile countries are afraid that Ethiopia will be able to shut off water supply to Egypt, using it as a geopolitical weapon
• The Ethiopian Grand Renaissance dam is estimated to cost $5bn and is partly funded by China who have given them a loan
• Ethiopian Grand Renaissance dam will provide 12,000 jobs
• Agriculture in the basin is one third of Australia’s food supply and 100% of the country’s rice is grown there - a very water intensive crop
• 2.3m people live in the murray darling basin
• The 2012 Murray Darling Basin plan run by the Murray-Darling basin authority limits the amount of water taken out of the basin. Was allocated $13bn by the government each year. It is estimated in 2024 that it will fall 750 gigalitres short of its planned total of 3200GL of water conservation.
• Singapore’s 4 NEWater plants meet up to 30% of the nations water needs
• china north south water transfer will cost $100bn but benefit 500m people, particularly those in the North who are currently poorer than in the south
• the China water transfer will relocate over 1m people
• millennium drought from 2001-2009 decreased cotton production by 66% and $70m was lost from tourism
• Ras al Khair desalination was completed in 2015 and cost $7.2bn
• two thirds of farmland is in the North while 80% of china’s water is in the South
• the Gilgel Gibe III dam is controversial in Ethiopia as 200,000 people rely on seasonal flooding which the dam threatens
• The UNECE Water convention promoted joint management and conservation of shared freshwater ecosystems in Europe and neighbouring regions.
• physical causes of water insecurity are climate variability, saltwater encroachment and geology
• human causes of water insecurity are over-abstraction, contamination of water from industry or agriculture
• 70% of the world's water is used for agriculture
• human factors that affect the price of water are privatisation, transport infrastructure, water extraction costs and demand
• the berlin rules replaced the Helsinki rules in 2004
• carbon dioxide and water vapour react to form carbonic acid. This then dissolves minerals in rock and forms calcium carbonate. Some of this runs off into rivers and seas and is cemented into sedimentary rock
• monsoons are when a seasonal change in prevailing wind direction brings intense rain to South Asia. In India the usual north-westerly winds are replaced by south-westerly winds
• there are four types of drought: meteorological, hydrological, agricultural and socio-economic
• the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is a belt of low pressure at the equator that moves north or south of the equator seasonally, causing precipitation wherever it moves
• coral and algae have a symbiotic relationship. Algae photosynthesises and produces organic compounds and carbohydrates
• thawing permafrost means more water can infiltrate the ground as before ice made the soil hard
• river regime discharge increases in spring/summer due to snowmelt
• LIDCs are more dependent on forests and oceans for primary raw materials, making their loss more impactful for them
• a less complex structure of coral means fish have less places to hide and escape predators