The Economics of Climate Change: Case Studies and Best Practices in Water Management

The impact of climate change on water resources manifests itself as follows: river runoff rates and the thickness and depth of groundwater aquifers are changing; the frequency and intensity of extreme hydrometeorological events (floods, high water, droughts) are increasing; the water supply to the country’s economic sector is decreasing during periods and years of low water, and so on. These changes give rise to economic problems in the water sector and related industries (agriculture, hydraulic engineering, land reclamation, fisheries, shipping, etc.). The task is to identify ways to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on Ukraine’s economy. The course examines methods for assessing the potential depletion of water resources in southern Ukraine as a result of global warming, in conjunction with water management interventions (irrigation, drainage, creation of artificial reservoirs), and ways to prevent the drying up of rivers, the silting up of estuaries, the increase in salinity of surface and groundwater, and the destruction of aquatic ecosystems through the management of the water management system based on developed mathematical models, in particular the ‘climate-runoff’ model.