Rainwater-Smart Agriculture in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas


Book Description

This book introduces state-of-the-art approaches, methods and research, focusing on smart management of rainwater. In addition, it provides an overview of projects from across the world, illustrating how rainwater-smart management has been implemented in drylands. Focusing on the scientific perspective it demonstrates how rural dryland agriculture can be improved. It also documents the wealth of rainwater-smart know-how available today, and replicates and transfers results to other countries and regions, to encourage cross-sector interactions among various stakeholders, such as practitioners from governmental and public organisations, policy- and decision-makers, and teaching staff from academic scientific institutions. The contributors showcase vital lessons learned from research, field projects and best-practice examples. They address the integrated use of rainwater harvesting management with landscape restoration practices and water-, and climate-smart agriculture for food security and poverty alleviation in arid and semi-arid areas. Original research, combined with the contributors’ synthetic approach, lays a foundation for new concepts and ideas. Through case studies and research reports, the book discusses all the relevant issues necessary for the comprehensive analysis and successful implementation of the technologies in rainwater management. Highlighting the working principles and technical recommendations with regard to cost-efficient rainwater-smart solutions, it is of interest to practitioners. It is also a valuable resource for academic specialists, professionals and students, since many development agencies are funding rainwater harvesting for irrigation purposes.




International Rainwater Catchment Systems Experiences: Towards water security


Book Description

From time immemorial, people have been managing rain. The availability of water and water sources determined where people would be able to live. Adequate rainfall decided on the quality of agriculture. Technical advances and finance may have enabled societies to inhabit big cities and expand agriculture into dry areas, but only because of the resource rain provided through the water cycle. Due to population growth, pollution, and climate change, water scarcity will be one of the most critical problems all around the world in the next 15 years. Today, around 10% of the world’s population lacks a proper water supply service. Harvesting rainwater and using it for drinking, domestic, industrial, and agricultural uses will help to supply quality water to urban and rural populations. Divided into four sections, basic concepts, narratives of RWH, programs implemented by diverse sectors of society, and notable cases, the book summarizes experiences from 14 different countries all around the globe, developed and developing countries, urban and rural areas. The subject of this book is related to the promotion of different international rainwater experiences that provides sustainable water services and climate resilience, including technical aspects and socio-cultural and policy affairs. This book was written for all people interested in sustainable rainwater management. Students, people just starting in the subject, and experts will find this book interesting as it creates an overview of rainwater harvesting practice and technology all around the world. We encourage all readers to read these stories and arguments at your leisure. Some many ideas and techniques can be picked up and applicable for serving the last 10% that is waiting for water security and proper water service.




Groundwater for Sustainable Livelihoods and Equitable Growth


Book Description

Groundwater for Sustainable Livelihoods and Equitable Growth explores how groundwater, often invisibly, improves peoples’ lives and livelihoods. This unique collection of 19 studies captures experiences of groundwater making a difference in 16 countries in Africa, South America and Asia. Such studies are rarely documented and this book provides a rich new collection of interdisciplinary analysis. The book is published in colour and includes many original diagrams and photographs. Spring water, wells or boreholes have provided safe drinking water and reliable water for irrigation or industry for millennia. However, the hidden nature of groundwater often means that it’s important role both historically and in the present is overlooked. This collection helps fill this knowledge gap, providing a diverse set of new studies encompassing different perspectives and geographies. Different interdisciplinary methodologies are described that can help understand linkages between groundwater, livelihoods and growth, and how these links can be threatened by over-use, contamination, and ignorance. Written for a worldwide audience of practitioners, academics and students with backgrounds in geology, engineering or environmental sciences; Groundwater for Sustainable Livelihoods and Equitable Growth is essential reading for those involved in groundwater and international development.







Towards Sustainable Food Production in Africa


Book Description

This edited book is focused on Sustainable Development Goal 2. It offers a comprehensive and topical collection of practices, technologies and innovations in the field of sustainable food production and security under a changing climate. It is a one-stop handbook for farmers, researchers, extensionists, policy makers and other stakeholders seeking to identify and disseminate best fit technologies for local and regional landscapes. It offers an understanding of the challenges, risks and uncertainties as well as opportunities to foster productive and sustainable food production. Smallholder farming and agriculture in general is facing a serious threat from climate change that has resulted in erratic and unpredictable rainfall and increased temperatures, among other abiotic stresses. These climate change induced pressures have reduced productivity mainly among the smallholder farmers, who are critical in driving the attainment of sustainable development goals like SDG 2, 12 and 13. The objective of the book is to document effective and practicable practices and technologies that can be adopted by smallholder African farmers as mitigation measures against the effects of climate change. This book is of interest to researchers, agricultural scientists, climate change scientists, capacity builders and policymakers.




Understanding the Impact of Human Interventions on the Hydrology of Nile Basin Headwaters, the Case of Upper Tekeze Catchments


Book Description

The availability and distribution of water resources in catchments are influenced by various natural and anthropogenic factors. Human-induced environmental changes are key factors controlling the hydrological flows of semi-arid catchments. Land degradation, water scarcity and inefficient utilization of available water resources continue to be important constraints for socio-economic development in the headwater catchments of the Nile river basin in particular over the Ethiopian Catchments. This research investigates the impact of landscape anthropogenic changes on the hydrological processes in the Upper Tekeze basin (A tributary of the Nile). The hydrology of the basin is investigated through analysis of hydro-climatic data, remote sensing techniques, new field measurements and parsimonious hydrological models. The empirical evidence provided in this book confirms that human-induced environmental changes can significantly change the hydrology of catchments, both in negative (degradation) and in positive (restoration) ways. This book also shows that rainfall-runoff relationships in semi-arid catchments are non-uniform and hence the application of hydrological models in such catchments need special attention. Moreover, parsimonious dynamic hydrological model improves our understanding of the hydrological response to dynamic environmental changes.




Green Roads for Water


Book Description

Roads and water are generally seen as enemies, with water responsible for most of the damage to roads, and roads being a major cause of problems such as erosion, waterlogging, flooding, and dust storms. This tension, however, can be reversed. The concept of Green Roads for Water (also known as “Green Roads†? or “roads for water†?) places roads in the service of water and landscape management and climate resilience without sacrificing or diminishing their transport functions. With global investment in roads of US$1†“US$2 trillion per year, plus maintenance costs, the widespread adoption of Green Roads approaches can leverage investment at a transformative scale, making road development and maintenance a vital tool for achieving climate resilience, water security, and productive use of natural resources. Green Roads for Water: Guidelines for Road Infrastructure in Support of Water Management and Climate Resilience provides strategies to use roads for beneficial water management tailored to diverse landscapes and climates, including watershed areas, semiarid climates, coastal lowlands, mountainous areas, and floodplains. The underlying premise of Green Roads is therefore quite simple: designing roads to fit their natural and anthropomorphic contexts; minimize externalities; and balance preservation of the road, water resources, landscape, and soil resources will usually cost less than traditional protective resilience approaches and will produce more sustainable overall outcomes.




Rainwater Harvesting for Agriculture and Water Supply


Book Description

This book offers key resource materials developed for an international training course on Rainwater Harvesting and Utilization hosted annually by the Gansu Research Institute for Water Conservancy in Lanzhou, China since 2003. Topics cover the design, construction and management of rainwater harvesting systems for domestic water supply and supplementary irrigation, rainwater quality issues and runoff farming. It presents case studies from successful rainwater-harvesting projects both in China and around the globe, and provides readers with essential information and inspiration alike. It is a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners and students in the area of water management, agriculture and sustainable development. Qiang Zhu is a research professor at Gansu Research Institute for Water Conservancy, Lanzhou, China; John Gould is a rainwater harvesting consultant based in Christchurch, New Zealand; Yuanhong Li is a research professor at Gansu Research Institute for Water Conservancy, Lanzhou, China; Chengxiang Ma is an engineer at Gansu Research Institute for Water Conservancy, Lanzhou, China.




Rural Road Engineering in Developing Countries


Book Description

Rural Road Engineering in Developing Countries provides a comprehensive coverage of the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of rural roads in developing countries and emerging nations. It covers a wide range of technical and non-technical problems that may confront road engineers working in the developing world, focusing on rural roads which provide important links from villages and farms to markets and offer the public access to health, education, and other services essential for sustainable development. Most textbooks on road engineering are based on experience in industrialised countries with temperate climates or deal only with specific issues, with many aspects of the design and construction of roads in developing regions stemming from inappropriate research undertaken in Europe and the USA. These approaches are frequently unsuitable and unsustainable for rural road network environments, particularly in low to middle income countries. This book takes on board a more recent research and application focus on rural roads, integrating it for a broad range of readers to access current information on good practice for sustainable road engineering in developing countries. The book particularly suits transportation engineers, development professionals, and graduate students in civil engineering.