Climate change has modified biological rhythms, species distribution areas, ecosystem functioning, food chains, biogeochemical cycles, and ecosystem services. Thus, it could become the leading cause of biodiversity loss in the next few decades. The biosphere represents all living organisms and the environments in which they live. It contains both the notion of biodiversity, which means the diversity of living organisms, including their taxonomic and genetic diversity, and that of the ecosystem, which represents a whole formed by a community of living beings interacting with each other and their environment. The projections we can provide of the future evolution of the biosphere show an amplification of the phenomena observed over the past fifty years. The means of adaptation of living things are very limited, given the speed at which climate change occurs. In this context, nature-based solutions have a big role to play.
TopIntroduction
Thousands have lived without love, not one without water. W. H. Auden
This chapter focuses on a diverted hydrosphere. It seeks answers to questions such as, what are the main elements promoting the self-purifying power of waterways, how we can protect populations from water-borne diseases, which human activities intensify biogeochemical cycles, what the consequence of the intensification of biogeochemical cycles, what the functions of water within the terrestrial biogeochemical system, what tools do we have to improve water management and improve drinking water with minimum sanitary needs, the destructive issue of Nitrogen Phosphorus, the cultural eutrophication Hypoxia, the finite volume (changing) inadequacy of standards and adaptive planning as part of Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Rather than being alarmist, if one is honest, there is no need to wait for the full impact of climate change to see a water crisis arise. This is already very strong in several places (Pietrzak, 2023). It has been affecting us for quite a while now. Several factors contribute to this crisis. First, the human population has experienced rapid growth over the last 200 to 300 years (YİĞİT, 2013). There are now close to eight billion, which imposes unprecedented pressure on water resources because all these people not only drink but also consume food, energy and all kinds of goods whose production also requires vast quantities (Yigit, 2012). In this respect, one must investigate the three functional limits to the Earth system that primarily involve the hydrosphere: the capacity for self-purification, biogeochemical cycles, and the volume of samples.
TopMethodology
Qualitative research is a method of exploration that aims to understand complex phenomena, often in their natural setting, by examining subjective experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours. It employs various qualitative data collection methods to obtain detailed, non-numerical data that can offer an in-depth understanding of the research subject. One can identify seven main characteristics of qualitative research: