Page - 31 - in options, Volume summer 2015

interview www.iiasa.ac.at people at iiasa 31summer 2015 + options Troubled waters Q&A with IIASA Postdoctoral Research Scholar Luzma Fabiola Nava QQ The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo flows from southern Colorado all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, and for about 2000 kilometers it forms the border between  the USA and Mexico. What  are the major issues facing this river? QA The big problem is that the river is drying up. And it’s projected to get worse because  of climate change, population growth, and competing water uses. The US Bureau of Reclamation projects that the temperature in the Rio Grande region will increase by 2.7–3.3°C during the 21st century, while precipitation and runoff are expected to decrease. Higher temperatures will also increase evaporation rates, which will further decrease runoff and increase the length of the growing season by about two weeks. Agriculture consumes more than 85% of the surface water and groundwater withdrawals. The big crops in the region—cotton, alfalfa, sugar cane, pecans, and pasture—all require lots of surface water, which means water from the river. At the same time, the population is growing, which will contribute to even  greater water demand. The water allocation regime between the USA and Mexico is over 100 years old, and  it  is no longer adequate. It consists mainly of allocating transboundary watercourses and facing environmental issues within a fragmented structure. In all these contexts I think we need to look at the entire river basin and its challenges as  a crosscutting system issue. This is what I started to do in my PhD  work, and I am continuing it at IIASA. QQ How does your research address these issues? QA The major question in my research is how to build strong and adaptive institutions to  govern transboundary water bodies and face environmental challenges.  I’m looking at two case studies that both cross the US–Mexico border: the Rio Grande/Bravo River basin and the Colorado River basin. I hope that I can also use this study and its solutions to help inform other regions with similar climate conditions, for example, the Mekong River in Southeast Asia and the Murray-Darling River in Australia. QQ You’ve stated that the stakeholders in this region have many different opinions about  the river and its problems. How can these viewpoints be reconciled? QA Stakeholders have very different understandings of what the issue is, where the problem is, and how to resolve it. In the stakeholder interviews I’ve conducted so far, I find that the answers to these questions are quite different depending on where stakeholders are located in the basin, the mission and jurisdiction  of the agency, and  even the budget allocated to deal with these issues. I think that the only issue where all stakeholders will come to an agreement is  qualitative, and it is related to the environmental condition of the basin and the  challenges in the face of climate change. All stakeholders can agree on the impacts of drought, habitat losses, the decrease in water availability; increased water demands, degradation of water quality. They might not agree on how and when to address these issues because issues might impact them in  different  ways. But at least they will agree that the environment is an  issue that needs to be addressed. KL Luzma Fabiola Nava is a postdoctoral research scholar in  IIASA’s Water Program. She is the recipient of the Luis Donaldo Colosio Fellowship, which sponsors Mexican citizens to conduct postdoctoral research at the Institute. Further info Read more on the IIASA blog at blog.iiasa.ac.at Luzma Fabiola Nava navajim@iiasa.ac.at