Though each of the watersheds in the estuaries and coastal areas is distinctive, they are all under threat from the effects of global warming (Gönenç 178). As such, several forces have contributed to the degradation of these watersheds. A number of these result from human activities that speed up global warming.
Environment and land alterations, sedimentation, effluence, and climate change are the products of human activities (Gönenç 178). The above activities have severely altered the quality and quantity water in the estuaries and coastal areas that receive their discharge. In the article, the societal implications of changing water resource use and availability in terms of environmental issues caused by global warming are analyzed.
As people upstream modify the landscape through actions like settling along the rivers, building of dams, construction of flood control erections, and diverting water flow, they alter the quantity and the speed of the water that runs downstream to the coastal areas (Gönenç 179). When humans settled along the rivers, they clear the vegetation around these water bodies resulting in increased runoff.
Owing to this, soil erosion occurs. The soils deposited in the rivers are swept downstream leading to increased sedimentation in the estuaries and coastal areas. Because of this, freshwater inflows to coastal areas and estuaries are altered leading to negative impacts on fish reproduction (Gönenç 179).
Considered that fish is the major supply of protein to residents living around the estuaries, a disruption in their reproduction will affect their food supply. Similarly, if fish reproduction in these water bodies is altered the aquatic ecosystem will significantly be affected because the food chain would be disrupted.
In addition, increased stresses on estuarine systems have resultant effects of aquatic animals and plants. With a depletion of their habitats, the resources they rely on diminish as water quality decreases.
Humans can also alter the quality and quantity of water flowing downstream by introducing aquatic nuisance species. For instance, if eucalyptus trees are planted along the rivers they will consume much of the water that should have flowed downstream (Valiela 296).
Similarly, introduction of foreign fishes in local rivers has had an effect on the population of native fishes. The above human activities have had unanticipated ecosystem, economic, and societal effects. Aquatic nuisance species disadvantage the indigenous fishes and plants in a number of ways. They dominate the indigenous species’ habitat and prey upon them. Because of this, the aquatic food webs are disrupted.
The fitness of aquatic and estuarine systems and the people that rely on them, depend on watersheds that offer vital food, hidings, migratory routes, and reproduction areas for coastal and aquatic flora and fauna (Valiela 296). For people, fit coastal and estuarine habitats enhance the growth of tourism and seafood industries, which are very important to numerous economies.
Based on the above illustrations it is apparent that human activities can fatally alter the amount and quality of water in the estuaries and the coastal areas that receive their discharge. As a result, major consequences for the health of humans that depend on those waters as well as the sustainability of the ecological and socioeconomic systems in which they live will be experienced.
In this regard, governments, NGOs and the relevant bodies should move with haste to ensure that rivers are preserved against disastrous human activities (Valiela 297).
Works Cited
Gönenç, Ethem. Sustainable use and development of watersheds. Dordrecht: Springer, 2008. Print.
Valiela, Ivan. Global coastal change. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2006. Print.