*Water Security and Temperature Biomes*

Temperate forest climate zones are the hosts of the Eurasian Civilizations, which are the most prevalent human life history stories on Earth. The Studies of temperate forest and its current dynamic under climate change is important as it can reflect the reactions of the world most relied ecosystems. For a healthy temperate forest, water is essential. If a temperate forest ecosystem is experiencing water scarcity, then the question of water security should be examined to assess the healthiness of the ecosystem. According to popular definition, water security is the capacity of a population to have access to potable water (wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_security). This definition not only apply to human populations, but also applicable to other species too. When considering the issue of water security, we not only need to pay attention to the flowing water in liquid form, but also we need to consider visual water such as food, plant and other water containing substance that we are utilizing from the ecosystems.

On its own, agriculture is the largest consumer of water, it is estimated to make up about 69% of global water consumptions (WBCSD). It is also the dominate cause of deforestation of temperate forest. Over the past centuries, most of the temperate forest biomes in Europe, Asia, and America have experienced land clearing for framing. While the clearing of forests clearly reduced the biodiversity and total biomass, it also provides challenges for the water security for both humans and ecosystems. Agriculture contributes staple crops, and it then can be turn into other forms of proteins, none of these processes are not water intensive. The concern of conservationists on the transformation of temperate forests into mono-cropping fields is primarily associated with water security for humans and biomes (Vorosmatry, 2010). The reduction of temperature forest biomes will make the crisis of water even more severe.

For humans, technological improvement in water purification methods and better pipe network would alleviate some pressure, however, this does not generate any water for ecosystems. Furthermore, water projects like dams and reservoir are the recently just became major cause of deforestation, the long term effects of major engineering projects are being questioned by scholars. In some case badly designed and managed artificial water storage structures have very strong links to the deterioration of water quality and degradation of forest biomes. Pollutions from agricultural fertilizer and chemicals have no less influence when comparing with projects listed above.

Reference


WBCSD, (2009), Facts and Trends: Water, Vision 2.
http://www.unwater.org/downloads/Water_facts_and_trends.pdf


Vorosmatry et. al., (2010), "Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity", Nature, Vol 467.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v467/n7315/full/nature09440.html