The availability of freshwater is a function of water supply and water demand, with the latter being determined by sectors such as agriculture, energy, industry or domestic use, as well as by competition among these sectors. Formal and informal water extraction and use prevail, and competition includes issues of inequality, power relations and asymmetry. Consequently, the effects of climate change on water resources, people and ecosystems are strongly modulated and often exacerbated by socioeconomic development and related water resource management. For example, the increasing frequency and intensity of droughts in the European Alps, combined with declines and seasonal shifts of river runoff from snowmelt and glacier melt, are expected to result in growing competition among different sectors, such as hydropower, agriculture and tourism. Similar developments are projected or have already been observed in many other mountain regions. This situation calls for strengthening and improving negotiation formats for water management that are transparent, equitable and socially and environmentally just. Management of water demand and strategies that entail multiple uses of water will become increasingly important in this context.
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report