The Cycling Nature Of Water And Our Global Linkage: Analysis

The cycling nature of water and our global linkage mean that every person on this planet is living downstream. So, it is necessary for all of us to step back and take a clear look at our water supplies, using all possible tools, from the small scale to the global scale. In the 21st century, we all have been facing pervasive stresses on our water resources, globally. These problems affect societies, political relations, public health and agriculture and industrial development. Transboundary conflicts (both in national and international levels), water overuse, lack of access to clean drinking water and drying of wetlands are some examples of these challenging problems. The UN world water development report [UNESCO, 2015] highlighted an endless
Also, many socio-economic problems that the nations across the world are facing today is projected to be more intense in the near future. Another factor is climate change, as higher temperatures and erratic weather patterns will likely disrupt rainfall. On the other hand, 50 percent of the world relies solely on groundwater to meet basic daily needs and around 748 million people worldwide have poor access to clean drinking water [UNESCO, 2015]. Thus, Long-term climate change and population growth will further stress water resources in many regions, and good adaptation will only be achieved through integrated water resources management [IPCC 2001].This is the fact that Iran is not immune to this global problems. Most (65%) of the country is considered to be arid, 20% is semi-arid, and the rest has a humid or semi-humid
So, all the aforementioned aspect of water related problems at the global and national scales, show the complex aspect of water management and vital need to implement integrated approaches to reach a sustainable solution. Since Dublin Principles of 1992 and much subsequent research and action under the banner of integrated water resources management (IWRM), many researchers and water educators have been highlighting the need to focus on more efficient understanding and management of institutional and organizational change, instead of technological improvement as an approach to reach sustainability goals [Brown and Farrelly, 2009; Spiller et al., 2012; Thomas and Ford 2005; Kirshen et al., 2004] One of the most important tools to make a natural focus on this objectives is education. Educational capacity building in water and environmental science can play a serious role to obtain