Modeling the Impacts of Climate Change on Cattle Water Demand and Supply in Botswana - System Dynamic Modeling Approach

The climate is changing as a result of GHGs emission mainly from human activities. Climate changes climate will adversely impact various ecosystems and economic activities. Semi-arid environments will be impacted more than other environments as extreme events are likely going to occur more on this regions. The water sector is more likely to be impacted more than other sectors due to its direct link with precipitation, which will be affected by climate change. Though most of the studies have ignored the impacts of climate change on the demand side of water resources, to get a holistic view on the impacts of climate change on water resources there is a need for overall assessment both demand and supply. The rationale for assessing the impact of climate change on both the supply and demand is because water availability is a function of both supply and demand. Thus, this book employs systems dynamic model to simulate the total impacts of climate change on livestock water demand and supply in Botswana. The results can be used to determine the vulnerability of the livestock sector to impacts of climate change on water resources in semi-arid environments of Africa.