oa Climate change, water cycle and ecosystems

Climate change may affect micro and macro-components of ecosystems. The impacts may extend to affect agriculture, water cycles and human stability and health. Costal and arid areas could be under higher risks due to several factors associated with seawater rise, desertification, water and food scarcity, etc. Both marine and terrestrial biodiversity in vulnerable areas to climate change may show imbalance, disappearance, migration and mutation. Qatar –as well as the GCC region- could be affected directly and indirectly by climate change where seawater is the main source of desalination. Oceans acidification and salinization phenomena have been recorded due to inputs of CO2 and brines associated with water losses through evaporation. One of the major features is the sea level rise which is like an invisible tsunami, building force while we do almost nothing. Climate change makes all needs to be less workable. Simply, climate change means changing the hydrological cycle where water is the sum of heating and cooling processes. Climate change means that it is hard to predict water availability. On the other hand, agriculture will be particularly under stress, water is scarce, there will be increase of water demand for other purposes. Moreover, water is the key component of any ecosystem. Ecosystems, like general systems, consist of components between which there are exchanges for processes that exist in a state of dynamic equilibrium if left undisturbed. The state is maintained by negative feedback and altered by positive feedback. Finally, changes in climatic water balance drive shifts in plant and animal species. The talk will cover the following: (1) features of climate change in arid and semi-arid regions; (2) climate change in terms of hydrology; (3) climate change and ecosystems; (4) climate, water and food security.