Lesson 12 - The Effects of Water Insecurity

Question 1

What are the two types of water scarcity?

Answer 1

• Physical water scarcity
• Economic water scarcity

Question 2

What is physical water scarcity?

Answer 2

Physical water scarcity is largely determined by climate (the imbalance between precipitation inputs and evapotranspiration outputs) with concentrations, in general terms, in high pressure belts.

Question 3

Give examples of places that suffer from a physical water scarcity?

Answer 3

• The interior of Asia
• Parts of Australia (the Murray-Darling basin)
• South Africa
• North-eastern Brazil
• California

Question 3

What is economic water scarcity?

Answer 3

Economic scarcity has a very different global distribution to physical water scarcity. Above all it is associated with developing nations that lack the capital, technology and good governance to fully exploit their often adequate supplies of blue water.

Question 4

Which factors influence whether a place has a physical water scarcity on a local level?

Answer 4

• Geology
• Drought related climate change

Question 5

Which factors influence whether a region experiences a physical water scarcity?

Answer 5

• Continentality
• Topography

Question 6

Give some examples of countries that experience an economic water scarcity?

Answer 6

• Many nations in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Haiti
• Loas

Question 7

What is the water poverty index?

Answer 7

The water poverty index is an assessment of the degree of water shortage and the subsequent water insecurity problems.