Download or read book Agricultural Use of Groundwater written by Cesare Dosi and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Groundwater is endangered and polluted in several ways. Conservation and better management of this invisible resource should be a key ingredient of sustainable water policies. This is especially true in areas, such as many Mediterranean regions, which are already exposed to scarcity problems and which are likely to experience increasing competition between freshwater uses and users. Agriculture is an important user of groundwater not only in terms of abstractions, but also in terms of generation and release of pollutants. Agricultural policies, traditionally directed towards other objectives, are beginning to pay more attention to environmental considerations. However more effective initiatives are required to reduce the pressure upon groundwater resources and to achieve a better integration between agricultural and environmental policies. This book has been developed from three workshops held as part of the EU Concerted Action SAGA, "Sustainable Agricultural Use of Aquifers in Southern Europe: Integration between Agricultural and Water Management Policies" (FAIR5-CT97-3673). The Concerted Action and the workshops brought together researchers working in different but complementary fields, in order to get a picture of the state-of-the art about interlinkages between agriculture and groundwater, as well a critical review of alternative regulatory approaches and policy instruments aimed at improving groundwater management.
Download or read book The Agricultural Groundwater Revolution written by Mark Giordano and published by CABI. This book was released on 2007 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While addressing the issues of using groundwater in agriculture for irrigation in the developing world, this book discusses the problems associated with the degradation and overexploitation of using it. It explores the practiced and potential methods for its management in the context of agricultural development.
Download or read book Water Conservation Reuse and Recycling written by Committee on U S-Iranian Workshop on Water Conservation Reuse and Recycling and published by . This book was released on 2005-03-01 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In December 2002, a group of specialists on water resources from the United States and Iran met in Tunis, Tunisia, for an interacademy workshop on water resources management, conservation, and recycling. This was the fourth interacademy workshop on a variety of topics held in 2002, the first year of such workshops. Tunis was selected as the location for the workshop because the Tunisian experience in addressing water conservation issues was of interest to the participants from both the United States and Iran. This report includes the agenda for the workshop, all of the papers that were presented, and the list of site visits.
Download or read book Field guide to improve water use efficiency in small scale agriculture written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The role of irrigation in gearing agriculture development towards a broader economic growth is undeniable. Accordingly, irrigation is growing into key operational strategy for governments and their agencies to increase agricultural productivity, thus combatting food insecurity and boosting overall growth. While agriculture absorbs rural workforce, generates income and increases food security, it has become the most important driver in freshwater exploitation. The rapid expansion of water demand leads to the generalized phenomena of imbalance between water supply and water demand. This increasing pressure on water resources urges enhancing Water Use Efficiency. Enhancing Water Use Efficiency requires actions at all levels, from agricultural practitioners to scheme managers, and up to the policy-makers. The objective of this Field Guide is to show practical measures to improve Water Use Efficiency in small-scale agriculture based on case studies from Burkina Faso, Morocco and Uganda. The Book not only presents applicable Water Use Efficiency measures, but also guide the readers through their real-term implementation. While the Guide provides complete set of instructions to improve Water Use Efficiency in order to reach optimal irrigation practices, the successful outcome still depends on the farmers’ willingness to embrace and adopt the recommended measures. The Guide holds in evidence that farmers are often constrained by available resources to improve their practices in terms of budget, inputs or labour. In order to take these issues into account, the recommendations are limited on practical measures, which can be followed by farmers without requiring additional resources.
Download or read book Water Law in a Nutshell written by David H. Getches and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Softbound - New, softbound print book.
Download or read book Water Implications of Biofuels Production in the United States written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2008-02-09 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National interests in greater energy independence, concurrent with favorable market forces, have driven increased production of corn-based ethanol in the United States and research into the next generation of biofuels. The trend is changing the national agricultural landscape and has raised concerns about potential impacts on the nation's water resources. To help illuminate these issues, the National Research Council held a colloquium on July 12, 2007 in Washington, DC. Water Implications of Biofuels Production in the United States, based in part on discussions at the colloquium, concludes that if projected future increases in use of corn for ethanol production do occur, the increase in harm to water quality could be considerable from the increases in fertilizer use, pesticide use, and soil erosion associated with growing crops such as corn. Water supply problems could also develop, both from the water needed to grow biofuels crops and water used at ethanol processing plants, especially in regions where water supplies are already overdrawn. The production of "cellulosic ethanol," derived from fibrous material such as wheat straw, native grasses, and forest trimmings is expected to have less water quality impact but cannot yet be produced on a commerical scale. To move toward a goal of reducing water impacts of biofuels, a policy bridge will likely be needed to encourage growth of new technologies, best agricultural practies, and the development of traditional and cellulosic crops that require less water and fertilizer and are optimized for fuel production.
Download or read book Agricultural Chemical Use and Ground Water Quality written by Robert L. Kellogg and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Water Productivity in Agriculture written by J. W. Kijne and published by CABI. This book was released on 2003 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First title in a major new seriesAddresses improving water productivity to relieve problems of scarcity and competition to provide for food and environmental securityDraws from scientists having a multitude of disciplines to approach this important problemIn a large number of developing countries, policy makers and researchers are increasingly aware of the conflicting demands on water, and look at agriculture to be more effective in its use of water. Focusing on both irrigated and rain-fed agriculture, this book gives a state of the art review of the limits and opportunities for improving water productivity in crop production. It demonstrates how efficiency of water use can be enhanced to maximize yields. The book represents the first in a new series of volumes resulting from the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, a research program conducted by the CGIAR's Future Harvest Centres, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and partners worldwide. It will be of significant interest to those working in areas of soil and crop science, water management, irrigation, and development studies.
Download or read book Understanding Institutional Diversity written by Elinor Ostrom and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-11-13 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The analysis of how institutions are formed, how they operate and change, and how they influence behavior in society has become a major subject of inquiry in politics, sociology, and economics. A leader in applying game theory to the understanding of institutional analysis, Elinor Ostrom provides in this book a coherent method for undertaking the analysis of diverse economic, political, and social institutions. Understanding Institutional Diversity explains the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, which enables a scholar to choose the most relevant level of interaction for a particular question. This framework examines the arena within which interactions occur, the rules employed by participants to order relationships, the attributes of a biophysical world that structures and is structured by interactions, and the attributes of a community in which a particular arena is placed. The book explains and illustrates how to use the IAD in the context of both field and experimental studies. Concentrating primarily on the rules aspect of the IAD framework, it provides empirical evidence about the diversity of rules, the calculation process used by participants in changing rules, and the design principles that characterize robust, self-organized resource governance institutions.
Download or read book OECD Studies on Water Drying Wells Rising Stakes Towards Sustainable Agricultural Groundwater Use written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2015-09-28 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Groundwater has provided great benefits to agriculture irrigation in semi-arid OECD countries, but its intensive use beyond recharge in certain regions has depleted resources and generated significant negative environmental externalities.
Download or read book Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-04-21 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly a century, scientific advances have fueled progress in U.S. agriculture to enable American producers to deliver safe and abundant food domestically and provide a trade surplus in bulk and high-value agricultural commodities and foods. Today, the U.S. food and agricultural enterprise faces formidable challenges that will test its long-term sustainability, competitiveness, and resilience. On its current path, future productivity in the U.S. agricultural system is likely to come with trade-offs. The success of agriculture is tied to natural systems, and these systems are showing signs of stress, even more so with the change in climate. More than a third of the food produced is unconsumed, an unacceptable loss of food and nutrients at a time of heightened global food demand. Increased food animal production to meet greater demand will generate more greenhouse gas emissions and excess animal waste. The U.S. food supply is generally secure, but is not immune to the costly and deadly shocks of continuing outbreaks of food-borne illness or to the constant threat of pests and pathogens to crops, livestock, and poultry. U.S. farmers and producers are at the front lines and will need more tools to manage the pressures they face. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 identifies innovative, emerging scientific advances for making the U.S. food and agricultural system more efficient, resilient, and sustainable. This report explores the availability of relatively new scientific developments across all disciplines that could accelerate progress toward these goals. It identifies the most promising scientific breakthroughs that could have the greatest positive impact on food and agriculture, and that are possible to achieve in the next decade (by 2030).
Download or read book Integrated Groundwater Management written by Anthony J Jakeman and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-08-05 with total page 756 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aim of this book is to document for the first time the dimensions and requirements of effective integrated groundwater management (IGM). Groundwater management is a formidable challenge, one that remains one of humanity’s foremost priorities. It has become a largely non-renewable resource that is overexploited in many parts of the world. In the 21st century, the issue moves from how to simply obtain the water we need to how we manage it sustainably for future generations, future economies, and future ecosystems. The focus then becomes one of understanding the drivers and current state of the groundwater resource, and restoring equilibrium to at-risk aquifers. Many interrelated dimensions, however, come to bear when trying to manage groundwater effectively. An integrated approach to groundwater necessarily involves many factors beyond the aquifer itself, such as surface water, water use, water quality, and ecohydrology. Moreover, the science by itself can only define the fundamental bounds of what is possible; effective IGM must also engage the wider community of stakeholders to develop and support policy and other socioeconomic tools needed to realize effective IGM. In order to demonstrate IGM, this book covers theory and principles, embracing: 1) an overview of the dimensions and requirements of groundwater management from an international perspective; 2) the scale of groundwater issues internationally and its links with other sectors, principally energy and climate change; 3) groundwater governance with regard to principles, instruments and institutions available for IGM; 4) biophysical constraints and the capacity and role of hydroecological and hydrogeological science including water quality concerns; and 5) necessary tools including models, data infrastructures, decision support systems and the management of uncertainty. Examples of effective, and failed, IGM are given. Throughout, the importance of the socioeconomic context that connects all effective IGM is emphasized. Taken as a whole, this work relates the many facets of effective IGM, from the catchment to global perspective.
Download or read book Water Reuse for Irrigation written by Valentina Lazarova and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2004-12-28 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This compilation provides guidelines that facilitate the successful planning and operation of water reuse projects. Offering the information, analysis and proven experience for agricultural and landscape irrigation, it bridges the gap between fundamental science and relatively uncharted areas of economic, institutional and liability issues. It delivers a synthesis of information recently emerging in both science and in the practice of irrigation with reclaimed water. The book compiles guidelines, recommendations and codes of best practices from around the world for all types of recycled water uses, and it examines recent concerns about adverse effects on plants, groundwater and public health.
Download or read book Agricultural Productivity and Producer Behavior written by Wolfram Schlenker and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2019-11-13 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agricultural yields have increased steadily in the last half century, particularly since the Green Revolution. At the same time, inflation-adjusted agricultural commodity prices have been trending downward as increases in supply outpace the growth of demand. Recent severe weather events, biofuel mandates, and a switch toward a more meat-heavy diet in emerging economies have nevertheless boosted commodity prices. Whether this is a temporary jump or the beginning of a longer-term trend is an open question. Agricultural Productivity and Producer Behavior examines the factors contributing to the remarkably steady increase in global yields and assesses whether yield growth can continue. This research also considers whether agricultural productivity growth has been, and will be, associated with significant environmental externalities. Among the topics studied are genetically modified crops; changing climatic factors; farm production responses to government regulations including crop insurance, transport subsidies, and electricity subsidies for groundwater extraction; and the role of specific farm practices such as crop diversification, disease management, and water-saving methods. This research provides new evidence that technological as well as policy choices influence agricultural productivity.
Download or read book Water and Sustainable Agriculture written by Iván Francisco García-Tejero and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-08-03 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Irrigated agriculture, a vital component of general agriculture, supplies fruits, vegetables, and cereals consumed by humans and grains fed to animals. Consequently, agriculture is the largest user of fresh water globally, and irrigation practices in many parts of the world are biologically, economically, and socially unsustainable. Water management should balance the need for agricultural water and the need for a sustainable environment. Water-use efficiency is the prime challenge in worldwide farming practices where problems of water shortages are widespread. Currently, agriculture is undergoing significant changes in innovative irrigation, fertilizer technology, and agronomic expertise. These elements constitute a vital platform for sustainable agricultural success and for preventing environmental damage. This review presents several processes linked to environmental irrigation, balancing environmental protection with improved agricultural production.
Download or read book Agricultural Production and Groundwater Conservation written by Frank van Steenbergen and published by Asian Development Bank. This book was released on 2016-11-01 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change and declining water resources threaten food production systems worldwide, increasing the need for efficient agricultural processes. The Shanxi Province of the People's Republic of China has been experiencing declining groundwater tables since 1956. This publication provides examples of how the Asian Development Bank's development support met the rising challenges in water security, food production, and climate change faced by communities in the Shanxi Province. It describes initiatives in four counties in the Shanxi Province selected as pilot areas, where traditional farmers learned modern methods of groundwater use and management. As a result, options for more sustainable use of groundwater were introduced, while farm labor was reduced, crop yields increased, and water was used more efficiently.
Download or read book Safe Use of Wastewater in Agriculture written by Hiroshan Hettiarachchi and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-03-09 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a broad and global level description of the current status of wastewater use in agriculture and then brings the readers to various places in the MENA Region and Europe to explain how some countries and regions have addressed the challenges during implementation. On a global scale, over 20 million hectares of agricultural land are irrigated using wastewater. This is one good, and perhaps the most prominent, example of the safe use potential of wastewater. Water scarcity and the cost of energy and fertilisers are among the main factors driving millions of farmers and other entrepreneurs to make use of wastewater. In order to address the technical, institutional, and policy challenges of safe water reuse, developing countries and countries in transition need clear institutional arrangements and more skilled human resources, with a sound understanding of the opportunities and potential risks of wastewater use. Stakeholders in wastewater irrigation who need to implement from scratch or improve current conditions, find it difficult to gather the necessary information on practical implementation aspects. The main objective of this book is to bridge that gap.
