Building understanding of climate variability into planning of groundwater supplies from low storage aquifers in Africa (BRAVE)

非洲人口正在迅速增长，预计在2000年至2050年期间将增加150%以上。这将导致对水的需求增加。地下水被认为有潜力满足家庭用水、粮食生产和其他生产用途日益增长的水需求，特别是因为地下水被认为比地表水资源更能适应气候变化。然而，人们认识到，在地下水储量相对较小的非洲广大地区，可能会出现长期地下水补给量低导致水资源短缺的情况。由于正在推广地下水作为解决非洲未来供水需求的一种手段，因此必须开展进一步研究，以研究越来越依赖这些低蓄水层的社区的潜在脆弱性。这将有助于在规划地下水开发时做出更好的决定。BRAVE项目（将对气候变异性的了解纳入非洲低蓄水层地下水供应规划）旨在利用气候、地表水和地下水模型的最新发展，更好地了解这些地下水资源在当前和未来气候下如何受到气候变异性的影响，以及土地使用和水需求变化的影响。该项目的一个关键要素是确保该模型的产出能够解决水资源开发决策者提出的问题。BRAVE项目将以西非的沃尔特河流域（RVB）为案例研究地区，在布基纳法索和加纳开展工作。它汇集了一支由国际公认的气象学家，水文地质学家，陆地表面建模人员和知识交流专家组成的强大团队，具有在非洲工作的丰富经验，并建立在最近NERC资助的研究基础上。

Africa's population is growing rapidly and is expected to increase by over 150% between 2000 and 2050. This will result in an increased demand for water. Groundwater has been identified as having the potential to meet much of the growing water requirements for domestic use, food production and other productive uses, especially as it is seen as being more resilient to climate variability than surface water resources. However, it is recognised that in large regions of Africa where the groundwater store is relatively small there may be occasions when extended periods of low groundwater recharge result in water shortages. As groundwater is being promoted as a means to address Africa's future water supply needs, further research is crucial to study the potential vulnerability of communities that become more reliant on these low storage aquifers. This will allow better decisions to be made when planning groundwater development. The BRAVE project (Building understanding of climate variability into planning of groundwater supplies from low storage aquifers in Africa) aims to take advantage of recent developments in models of climate, the land surface and groundwater to improve the understanding of how these groundwater resources are affected by climate variability, under present and future climate, and by changes in land use and water demand. A key element of the project is to ensure that the output from the model is in a form that addresses the questions being asked by those making decisions on water resource development.The BRAVE project will use the River Volta Basin (RVB) in West Africa as a case study area, working in Burkina Faso and Ghana. It brings together a strong team of internationally-recognised meteorologists, hydrogeologists, land surface modellers and knowledge exchange experts, with extensive experience of working in Africa, and builds on recent NERC-funded research.