Climate Change and the Borderlands: an Introduction and Assessment

As the border’s population continues to grow, water management is increasingly a zero-sum game: allocations in favor of agriculture mean that in-stream use for habitat conservation suffers; when water is diverted to cities, tribal lands and cattle ranges go without. In addition to the essential parameter of scarcity, the highly variable precipitation patterns common to the borderlands render the region very vulnerable to climate change- whether naturally occurring or anthropogenic. If the global shift toward warmer ambient temperatures is taken into account, that vulnerability becomes even more marked. Given the current trends in population growth and water demand along the border, it is necessary to define planning strategies that consider climate variability and climate change scenarios in developing adaptation plans for water management, urban development, and conservation work on the border.