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年期间将增长150%以上。这将导致对水的需求增加。已确定地下水有潜力满足大部分日益增长的家庭用水、粮食生产和其他生产性用途的用水需求，特别是因为人们认为地下水比地表水更能适应气候变化。然而，人们认识到，在地下水储备量相对较小的非洲大片地区，地下水补给量较低的时间延长可能会导致水资源短缺。由于地下水正被作为满足非洲未来供水需求的一种手段加以推广，进一步的研究对于研究变得更加依赖这些低蓄水层的社区的潜在脆弱性至关重要。这将使在规划地下水开发时能够做出更好的决定。BRAGE项目(在规划非洲低蓄水层地下水供应时加强对气候变异性的了解)的目的是利用气候、地表和地下水模型的最新发展，提高对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以及土地利用和水需求变化影响的了解。该项目的一个关键要素是确保模型的输出以一种形式解决水资源开发决策者提出的问题。Brave项目将以西非的伏尔塔河流域(RVB)为案例研究区域，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、地表建模专家和知识交流专家组成的强大团队，他们具有在非洲工作的丰富经验，并建立在最近由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.