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Water Security Problems in Asia and Longer Term Implications for Australia

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Book cover Sustainable Water Use and Management

Part of the book series: Green Energy and Technology ((GREEN))

Abstract

This paper reports on water security issues in Asia that has long-term security implications for Australia. Asia’s water problems are severe with one in five people not having access to safe drinking water. Water security is defined as the availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks to people, environments and economies. It is a function of access to adequate quantities and acceptable quality, for human and environmental users. This analysis shows many Asian countries will face greater challenges than present from population explosion, shifts of populations from rural to urban areas, pollution of water resources and over-abstraction of groundwater. These challenges will be compounded by the effects of climate change over the next 50 years. It is then necessary to mobilise technologies, techniques, skills and research to aid security issues in Asia now. Otherwise, population growth, rapid urbanisation and climate change issues will worsen placing strong demands on water resources, thus creating water refugees, and this will affect countries close to Asia such as Australia. Reducing water’s destructive potential and increasing its productive potential is a central challenge and goal for the sake of future generations in Asia and Australia.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Futures Research Institute, Science Environment Engineering and Technology [ENV], Griffith University Brisbane, Brisbane, Australia

    Gurudeo A. Tularam & Kadari K. Murali

Authors
  1. Gurudeo A. Tularam
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  2. Kadari K. Murali
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Correspondence to Gurudeo A. Tularam .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Department of International Relations, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey

    Vakur Sümer

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 5.

Table 5 Water security concerns and impacts in Asia
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Tularam, G.A., Murali, K.K. (2015). Water Security Problems in Asia and Longer Term Implications for Australia. In: Leal Filho, W., Sümer, V. (eds) Sustainable Water Use and Management. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12394-3_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12394-3_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-12393-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-12394-3

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