You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Contributed articles.
Although gender issues are today a priority on the agendas of irrigation policy makers, interventionists, farm leaders and researchers, there is still a considerable gap between positive intentions and concrete action. An important but hitherto ignored reason for this is the lack of adequate generic concepts and tools that are policy-relevant and can accommodate the vast variation in irrigation contexts worldwide. The Gender Performance Indicator for Irrigation (GPII) aims to fill this gap. In any particular scheme, this tool diagnoses the gendered organization of farming and gender-based inclusion or exclusion in irrigation institutions. It informs irrigation agencies what they themselves can do for effective change-if necessary. The tool also identifies gender issues beyond a strict mandate of irrigation water provision. The Indicator was applied and tested in nine case studies in Africa and Asia. The research report presents the underlying concepts, methodological guidelines and selected applications of the GPII.
This report explores the theory and practice of Adaptive Water Management (AWM) based on a detailed field study in the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A five-step framework is used to analyze the extent to which AWM is practiced and how it could be improved. The analysis shows that the LBP system has increasingly fulfilled the criteria of a complex adaptive system over the years. The main uncertainty factor, rainfall variability, has been considered in a stepwise way during the system change cycles and has been included in the LBP system design. The study shows that in spite of contending with an imperfect irrigation system design and intense competition for water resources, water resource managers and farmers are able to adapt and continue to reap benefits from a productive agricultural system.
In 4 out of 5 cities in developing countries, wastewater is used to cultivate perishable crops for urban markets. Such practices create a health risk but provide important livelihood benefits. This study through an analysis of 53 cities in developing countries, contributes to understanding the factors that drive wastewater use. The main drivers are (1) increasing urban water demand without wastewater treatment causing pollution of irrigation water sources; (2) urban food demand favoring agriculture close to cities where water sources are polluted; and (3) lack of cheaper, similarly reliable or safer water sources. Poverty, which constrains the infrastructure needs of urbanization, is an added factor. The study makes policy recommendations stressing on, effectively applying the WHO guidelines, linking investments in water supply with sanitation for maximum beneficial impact on water pollution, and involving actors at both the national and local level, for water quality improvements and health risk reduction
Can humans flourish without destroying the earth? In this book, experts on many of the world's major and minor religious traditions address the question of human and earth flourishing. Each chapter considers specific religious ideas and specific environmental harms. Chapters are paired and the authors work in dialogue with one another. Taken together, the chapters reveal that the question of flourishing is deceptively simple. Most would agree that humans should flourish without destroying the earth. But not all humans have equal opportunities to flourish. Additionally, on a basic physical level any human flourishing must, of necessity, cause some harm. These considerations of the price and distribution of flourishing raise unique questions about the status of humans and nature. This book represents a step toward reconciliation: that people and their ecosystems may live in peace, that people from different religious worldviews may engage in productive dialogue; in short, that all may flourish.
The success of development programs depends on the role of underlying institutions and the impact synergies from closely related programs. Existing literature has limitations in accounting for these critical factors. This paper fills this gap by developing a methodology, which can quantify both the institutional roles in impact generation and the impact synergies from related programs. The methodology is applied to the Kala Oya Basin in Sri Lanka for evaluating the impacts of three development programs and 11 institutions on food security. The results provide valuable insights on the relative roles of institutions and the varying flow of impact synergies both within and across impact pathways.
Rural people in Nepal and other developing nations are part of complex, social-ecological systems. Efforts to provide assistance to these people must integrate knowledge from a variety of perspectives. This report documents the use of a role-playing game, supported by an agent-based model, to demonstrate the interaction between migration, social capital and the effectiveness of water storage. The importance of these interactions was highlighted by fieldwork conducted at several sites in the Koshi River Basin. The model underlying the game was a stylized representation based on the Indrawati Subbasin northeast of Kathmandu, Nepal. The report highlights that (a) role-playing tournaments can be an effective way to engage technical and policy experts with the complex interactions between the social and physical dimensions of watershed management; and (b) migration and the economic changes which drive these interactions are forces that need to be accepted, and investments in water storage need to be selected depending on how they fit into these trends.
In this report, the concept and procedures of hydronomic (hydro water + nomus management) zones are introduced. A set of six hydronomic zones are developed and defined based on key differences between reaches or areas of river basins. These are the: Water Source Zone, Natural Recapture Zone, Regulated Recapture Zone, Stagnation Zone, Final Use Zone, and Environmentally Sensitive Zone. The zones are defined based on similar hydrological, geological and topographical conditions and the fate of water outflow from the zone. In addition, two conditions are defined which influence how water is managed: whether or not there is appreciable salinity or pollution loading; and whether or not groundwater that can be used for utilization or storage is present. Generic strategies for irrigation for four water management areas, the Natural Recapture, Regulated Recapture, Final Use, and Stagnation Zones, are presented. The Water Source Zone and Environmentally Sensitive Zone are discussed in terms of their overall significance in basin water use and management.