The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship between the impacts of climate change and transboundary water management (TWM) mechanisms. The thesis does so through a case study of the transboundary water agreements between Israel, Palestine and Jordan – states that share the transboundary waters in the Jordan River Basin (JRB), a basin that lies in a region of high political tensions and decreasing precipitation. By using empirical climate data on precipitation, temperature and general climate change projections for the basin, the author seeks to understand how these environmental changes will challenge TWM in the JRB. By using qualitative methods to examine the water agreements through the method of process tracing, the thesis seeks to understand how the water agreements are constructed to handle changes in waterflow due to climate change. The results show that the transboundary mechanisms, the water agreements and Joint Water Committees (JWC), managing the transboundary waters in the JRB, possess weak mechanisms to manage changes in waterflow. As a consequence, the whole basin might experience increasing political pressures in the future over the fulfilment of water allocation provisions. The thesis further suggests that the TWM structures in the case lack awareness and mechanisms to handle climate change impacts. On the other hand, the JWCs have an institutional capacity, expertise, and mandate in managing these potential risks in the future. However, incidents in the past, manifest that decreased waterflow leads to increasing political tensions and conflicts between the states in the basin due to the lack of conflict resolution mechanisms in the TWM structures. In order to establish a sustainable TWM in the JRB, the suggested recommendation is that climate change impacts ought to be embedded into the water agreements by incorporating flexible mechanisms for water allocation. In addition, the conflict resolution mechanisms should be strengthened.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / O territÃrio baiano vem passando por grandes transformaÃÃes nas Ãltimas dÃcadas, entre as quais tem-se destacado a introduÃÃo e expansÃo da eucaliptocultura, atividade que desperta discussÃes da sociedade acerca dos impactos ambientais no ciclo hidrolÃgico. Neste sentido, esta pesquisa seleciona a Bacia HidrogrÃfica do Rio SubaÃma-BA, que possui expressivas Ãreas de reflorestamento com eucalipto, para investigar os efeitos dessa cultura no ciclo hidrolÃgico. Para compreender a dinÃmica de ocupaÃÃo na bacia hidrogrÃfica e seus efeitos nos recursos hÃdricos, foram processados dados geoambientais, de uso da terra, de qualidade da Ãgua, de fluviometria e de pluviometria entre os anos de 1973 e 2013, utilizando ferramentas de geoprocessamento. Os resultados mostram uma bacia formada por rochas de origem sedimentar e relevos planos onde ocorrem precipitaÃÃes bem distribuÃdas ao longo do ano, condiÃÃes que favorecem a infiltraÃÃo e orientaram a ocupaÃÃo do territÃrio e a descaracterizaÃÃo da vegetaÃÃo original, inicialmente pela introduÃÃo da agropecuÃria e posteriormente da eucaliptocultura. As modificaÃÃes da paisagem impactaram os processos run off com a alteraÃÃo na velocidade do escoamento superficial e da resposta hidrolÃgica da bacia hidrogrÃfica, que apresentou tendÃncia de evoluÃÃo inversa ao crescimento das Ãreas florestais. A variaÃÃes espaciais e temporais da qualidade de Ãgua tambÃm indicam que esta Ãrea vem sendo impactada, especialmente no mÃdio e alto curso, onde houveram as maiores modificaÃÃes nos usos da terra. Os resultados mostram a importÃncia do planejamento ambiental para uso sustentÃvel do espaÃo e para minimizaÃÃo dos impactos negativos destes sobre os sistemas naturais e antrÃpicos.

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Today, many migrating fish stocks find it difficult to reach their breeding grounds. This is because there are different types of obstacles e.g., hydropower plants and dams. Such power plants need environmental adaptations and fish counters are becoming an increasingly common tool for such adaptations. This essay investigates, with the help of data from a fish counter, whether there is a size- dependency and how it is affected by water temperature, water flow and seasonality. The results can contribute with knowledge about how fish counters can be used for evaluation of environmental adaptations of hydropower plants and dams. The highest migration intensity was noted during three migration periods; spring (March – April), summer (June-July) and autumn (September – November) and all differed in intensity.  The average intensity of migration in autumn was nine times higher than spring and three times higher than summer. In addition, more large fish migrated in autumn than in spring and summer. However, autumn showed no significant correlation between the size of the fish and prevailing waterflow and water temperature at the time of passage. In summary, the results show that there may be a need to increase water discharge in the autumn as both the migration intensity and the length distribution were the highest. The use of a fish counter can in the future give the operator good conditions to environmentally monitor their surroundings. To ensure the quality of the data, it is recommended to plan well in advance, ensure the right settings from the beginning and perform regular supervision. The person in charge should also have sufficient knowledge in order to be able to recognize any oddities in the data of the fish counter. The results should also be supplemented with other studies, which concern both downstream and upstream migration, and that the observations are repeated for several years to investigate the significance of mid-year variation. / Idag har många migrerande fiskbestånd svårt att nå till sina reproduktionsplatser. Detta beror på att det finns olika typer av hinder (exempelvis vattenkraftverk och dammar) som gör det svårt för fiskarna att komma fram. Sådana kraftverk behöver miljöanpassas och fiskräknare blir ett allt vanligare verktyg för att följa upp sådana miljöanpassningar. Denna uppsats undersöker, med hjälp av data från en fiskräknare, om fiskvandringen är storleksberoende och hur den påverkas av vattentemperatur, vattenföring och säsong. Resultaten kan bidra med kunskap om hur fiskräknare kan användas vid utvärdering av miljöanpassningar av vattenkraftverk och dammar. Den största fiskvandringsintensiteten noterades under tre vandringsperioder; vår (mars – april), sommar (juni-juli) och höst (september-november). Höstens genomsnittliga vandringsintensitet var ca nio gånger högre än på våren och tre gånger högre än på sommaren. Dessutom vandrade fler stora fiskar på hösten än under våren och sommaren.  Under hösten fanns det dock inget signifikant samband mellan fiskens storlek och rådande vattenflöde och vattentemperatur vid passagetillfället. Sammanfattningsvis visar resultatet att det kan finnas ett behov av att öka vattentappningen på hösten då både vandringsintensiteten och längdfördelningen är som störst för fiskarna. Användningen av en fiskräknare kan i framtiden ge verksamhetsutövaren goda förutsättningar att miljöbevaka sin omgivning. För att kvalitetssäkra datan är rekommendationen att planera arbetet i god tid, ställa in rätt inställningar från början och att utföra regelbunden tillsyn. Den ansvarige bör också vara tillräckligt införstådd för att kunna känna igen eventuella konstigheter i fiskräknarens data. Resultaten bör även kompletteras med andra studier, som rör både nedströms och uppströms vandring, samt att observationerna upprepas under flera år för att undersöka betydelsen av mellanårsvariation.