Adaptation of Land-Use Demands to the Impact of Climate Change on the Hydrological Processes of an Urbanized Watershed

Yu-Pin Lin, Nien-Ming Hong, Li-Chi Chiang, Yen-Lan Liu and Hone-Jay Chu
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Yu-Pin Lin: Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Da-an District, Taipei City 106, Taiwan
Nien-Ming Hong: Environment and Energy Management Research Center, Overseas Chinese University, No. 100, Chiao Kwang Road, Taichung, 407, Taiwan
Li-Chi Chiang: Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Da-an District, Taipei City 106, Taiwan
Yen-Lan Liu: Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Da-an District, Taipei City 106, Taiwan
Hone-Jay Chu: Department of Geomatics, National Cheng Kung University, No.1, University Road, Tainan City 701, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2012, vol. 9, issue 11, 1-20

Abstract: The adaptation of land-use patterns is an essential aspect of minimizing the inevitable impact of climate change at regional and local scales; for example, adapting watershed land-use patterns to mitigate the impact of climate change on a region’s hydrology. The objective of this study is to simulate and assess a region’s ability to adapt to hydrological changes by modifying land-use patterns in the Wu-Du watershed in northern Taiwan. A hydrological GWLF (Generalized Watershed Loading Functions) model is used to simulate three hydrological components, namely, runoff, groundwater and streamflow, based on various land-use scenarios under six global climate models. The land-use allocations are simulated by the CLUE-s model for the various development scenarios. The simulation results show that runoff and streamflow are strongly related to the precipitation levels predicted by different global climate models for the wet and dry seasons, but groundwater cycles are more related to land-use. The effects of climate change on groundwater and runoff can be mitigated by modifying current land-use patterns; and slowing the rate of urbanization would also reduce the impact of climate change on hydrological components. Thus, land-use adaptation on a local/regional scale provides an alternative way to reduce the impacts of global climate change on local hydrology.

Keywords: adaptation; hydrological components; climate change; land use management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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