Showing papers by "Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz published in 2000"

Coping with hydrological extremes.

Abstract: Coping with hydrological extremes, floods, and droughts has been a major concern since the dawn of human civilization Freshwater, a necessary condition of life and a raw material used in very high volumes in virtually every human activity, is becoming increasingly scarce Water use has risen considerably in the last hundred years at a pace exceeding the population growth Therefore, societies are increasingly vulnerable to droughts and water deficits Although the 21st century is heralded as the age of water scarcity, flood losses continue to grow Increasing global vulnerability results to a large extent from soaring anthropopressure: settlements in hazardous locations and adverse land use changes Deforestation and urbanization lead to reduction of the storage volume and higher values of runoff coefficient In more wealthy countries, it is the material flood losses that continue to grow, while the number of fatalities goes down Advanced flood preparedness systems can save lives and reduce hum