Impact of Climate and Land Use/Land Cover Change on the Water Resources of a Tropical Inland Valley Catchment in Uganda, East Africa
The impact of climate and land use/land cover (LULC) change continues to threaten water resources availability for the agriculturally used inland valley wetlands and their catchments in East Africa. This study assessed climate and LULC change impacts on the hydrological processes of a tropical headw...
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doaj-d4b5aa8255674231b0bef0469b35b1282020-11-25T03:23:42ZengMDPI AGClimate2225-11542020-06-018838310.3390/cli8070083Impact of Climate and Land Use/Land Cover Change on the Water Resources of a Tropical Inland Valley Catchment in Uganda, East AfricaGeofrey Gabiri0Bernd Diekkrüger1Kristian Näschen2Constanze Leemhuis3Roderick van der Linden4Jackson-Gilbert Mwanjalolo Majaliwa5Joy Apiyo Obando6Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 166, 53115 Bonn, GermanyDepartment of Geography, University of Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 166, 53115 Bonn, GermanyDepartment of Geography, University of Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 166, 53115 Bonn, GermanyDepartment of Environment and Sustainability, DLR Project Management Agency, Heinrich-Konen-Straße 1, 53227 Bonn, GermanyInstitute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76128 Karlsruhe, GermanyDepartment of Geography, Geoinformatics and Climate Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala P.O BOX 7062, UgandaDepartment of Geography, Kenyatta University, Nairobi P.O Box 43844-00100, KenyaThe impact of climate and land use/land cover (LULC) change continues to threaten water resources availability for the agriculturally used inland valley wetlands and their catchments in East Africa. This study assessed climate and LULC change impacts on the hydrological processes of a tropical headwater inland valley catchment in Uganda. The hydrological model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was applied to analyze climate and LULC change impacts on the hydrological processes. An ensemble of six regional climate models (RCMs) from the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment for two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, were used for climate change assessment for historical (1976-2005) and future climate (2021-2050). Four LULC scenarios defined as <i>exploitation</i><i>,</i> <i>total </i>c<i>onservation</i><i>, </i><i>slope </i><i>conservation, </i>and<i> </i><i>protection </i><i>of headwater catchment</i> were considered. The results indicate an increase in precipitation by 7.4% and 21.8% of the annual averages in the future under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. Future wet conditions are more pronounced in the short rainy season than in the long rainy season. Flooding intensity is likely to increase during the rainy season with low flows more pronounced in the dry season. Increases in future annual averages of water yield (29.0% and 42.7% under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively) and surface runoff (37.6% and 51.8% under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively) relative to the historical simulations are projected. LULC and climate change individually will cause changes in the inland valley hydrological processes, but more pronounced changes are expected if the drivers are combined, although LULC changes will have a dominant influence. Adoption of <i>total </i>c<i>onservation</i><i>, </i><i>slope </i><i>conservation </i>and<i> </i><i>protection </i><i>of headwater catchment </i>LULC scenarios will significantly reduce climate change impacts on water resources in the inland valley. Thus, if sustainable climate-smart management practices are adopted, the availability of water resources for human consumption and agricultural production will increase.https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/8/7/83water resourceswetland-catchment nexusSWAT modelclimate change impactsland use/land cover management |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Geofrey Gabiri Bernd Diekkrüger Kristian Näschen Constanze Leemhuis Roderick van der Linden Jackson-Gilbert Mwanjalolo Majaliwa Joy Apiyo Obando |
spellingShingle |
Geofrey Gabiri Bernd Diekkrüger Kristian Näschen Constanze Leemhuis Roderick van der Linden Jackson-Gilbert Mwanjalolo Majaliwa Joy Apiyo Obando Impact of Climate and Land Use/Land Cover Change on the Water Resources of a Tropical Inland Valley Catchment in Uganda, East Africa Climate water resources wetland-catchment nexus SWAT model climate change impacts land use/land cover management |
author_facet |
Geofrey Gabiri Bernd Diekkrüger Kristian Näschen Constanze Leemhuis Roderick van der Linden Jackson-Gilbert Mwanjalolo Majaliwa Joy Apiyo Obando |
author_sort |
Geofrey Gabiri |
title |
Impact of Climate and Land Use/Land Cover Change on the Water Resources of a Tropical Inland Valley Catchment in Uganda, East Africa |
title_short |
Impact of Climate and Land Use/Land Cover Change on the Water Resources of a Tropical Inland Valley Catchment in Uganda, East Africa |
title_full |
Impact of Climate and Land Use/Land Cover Change on the Water Resources of a Tropical Inland Valley Catchment in Uganda, East Africa |
title_fullStr |
Impact of Climate and Land Use/Land Cover Change on the Water Resources of a Tropical Inland Valley Catchment in Uganda, East Africa |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impact of Climate and Land Use/Land Cover Change on the Water Resources of a Tropical Inland Valley Catchment in Uganda, East Africa |
title_sort |
impact of climate and land use/land cover change on the water resources of a tropical inland valley catchment in uganda, east africa |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Climate |
issn |
2225-1154 |
publishDate |
2020-06-01 |
description |
The impact of climate and land use/land cover (LULC) change continues to threaten water resources availability for the agriculturally used inland valley wetlands and their catchments in East Africa. This study assessed climate and LULC change impacts on the hydrological processes of a tropical headwater inland valley catchment in Uganda. The hydrological model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was applied to analyze climate and LULC change impacts on the hydrological processes. An ensemble of six regional climate models (RCMs) from the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment for two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, were used for climate change assessment for historical (1976-2005) and future climate (2021-2050). Four LULC scenarios defined as <i>exploitation</i><i>,</i> <i>total </i>c<i>onservation</i><i>, </i><i>slope </i><i>conservation, </i>and<i> </i><i>protection </i><i>of headwater catchment</i> were considered. The results indicate an increase in precipitation by 7.4% and 21.8% of the annual averages in the future under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. Future wet conditions are more pronounced in the short rainy season than in the long rainy season. Flooding intensity is likely to increase during the rainy season with low flows more pronounced in the dry season. Increases in future annual averages of water yield (29.0% and 42.7% under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively) and surface runoff (37.6% and 51.8% under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively) relative to the historical simulations are projected. LULC and climate change individually will cause changes in the inland valley hydrological processes, but more pronounced changes are expected if the drivers are combined, although LULC changes will have a dominant influence. Adoption of <i>total </i>c<i>onservation</i><i>, </i><i>slope </i><i>conservation </i>and<i> </i><i>protection </i><i>of headwater catchment </i>LULC scenarios will significantly reduce climate change impacts on water resources in the inland valley. Thus, if sustainable climate-smart management practices are adopted, the availability of water resources for human consumption and agricultural production will increase. |
topic |
water resources wetland-catchment nexus SWAT model climate change impacts land use/land cover management |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/8/7/83 |
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