Forests and water - Ensuring forest benefits outweigh water costs

As societies develop, river basin water resources are increasingly controlled, diverted and consumed for agricultural, domestic and industrial purposes, hence reducing the ability to meet the growing demands from various sectors and interests. Basins are closed when additional water commitments for domestic, industrial, agricultural or environmental uses cannot be met during all or part of a year. Basin closure is already prevalent in the world today, with 1.4 billion people living in areas that have to deal with the situation. Societies may adapt to this in various ways, with reallocation of water, demand management or interbasin transfers as the primary means of dealing with the problem. However, ‘quick-fix’ measures such as further groundwater or surface water exploitation or ill-planned water appropriation that unfairly reallocates water from one user are common. Symptoms of poorly managed closed basins include groundwater overdraft, limited or no environmental flows, pollution and inequitable allocat...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07900620701723570

Wake Up to Realities of River Basin Closure

Watershed development is an important component of rural development and natural resource management strategies in many countries. A watershed is a special kind of common pool resource: an area defined by hydrological linkages where optimal management requires coordinated use of natural resources by all users. Management is difficult because natural resources comprising the watershed system have multiple, conflicting uses, so any given management approach will spread benefits and costs unevenly among users. To address these challenges, watershed approaches have evolved from more technocratic to a greater focus on social organization and participation. However, the latter cannot necessarily be widely replicated. In addition, participatory approaches have worked better at a small scale, but hydrological relationships cover a larger scale and some projects have faced tradeoffs in choosing between the two. Optimal approaches for future efforts are not clear, and theories from common property research do not support the idea that complex watershed management can succeed everywhere. Solutions may include simplifying watershed projects, pursuing watershed projects where conditions are favorable, and making other investments elsewhere, including building the organizational capacity that can facilitate watershed management.

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Watershed Management: Lessons from Common Property Theory

The role of water harvesting to achieve sustainable agricultural intensification and resilience against water related shocks in sub-Saharan Africa

Climate change and variability present new challenges for agriculture, particularly for smallholder farmers who continue to be the mainstay of food production in developing countries. Recent global food crises have exposed the structural vulnerability of globalized agri-food systems, highlighting climate change as just one of a complex set of environmental, demographic, social and economic drivers generating instability and food insecurity, the impacts of which disproportionately affect poorer groups in marginal environments. Rather than search for single causes, there is a need to understand these changes at a systemic level. Improved understanding of and engagement with the adaptive strategies and innovations of communities living in conditions of rapid change provides an appropriate starting point for those seeking to shape agricultural innovation systems responsive to food insecurity and climate change. This paper draws lessons from selected country experiences of adaptation and innovation in pursuit of food security goals. It reviews three cases of systems of innovation operating in contrasting regional, socio-economic and agro-ecological contexts, in terms of four features of innovation systems more likely to build, sustain or enhance food security in situations of rapid change: (i) recognition of the multifunctionality of agriculture and opportunities to realize multiple benefits; (ii) access to diversity as the basis for flexibility and resilience; (iii) concern for enhancing capacity of decision makers at all levels; and (iv) continuity of effort aimed at securing the well-being of those who depend on agriculture. Finally, implications for policymakers and other stakeholders in agricultural innovation systems are presented.

/pdf/shaping-agricultural-innovation-systems-responsive-to-food-458q0ba74g.pdf

Shaping agricultural innovation systems responsive to food insecurity and climate change

There have been dramatic changes in the hydrology of many of the dry areas of South India in recent years as a result of increased groundwater-based irrigation, watershed development and land use change. Although intensive development of water resources has brought about huge benefits, its very success has thrown up new challenges. Demand and competition for water has increased to the extent that — in some areas — current levels of annual water use are so high that, in all but the wettest years, annual water use approximates towards annual replenishment of surface and ground water resources. In these areas, it is clear that the emphasis should switch from development to the management of water resources to ensure that water is allocated to activities with the highest economic and social value. Although current watershed development programmes bring a range of benefits, they may also change the temporal and spatial pattern of water availability and use. This can result in significant negative trade-offs such as more unreliable domestic water supplies in ‘downstream’ areas, particularly during low rainfall or drought years. As part of the Karnataka Watershed Development Project (KAWAD), a water resource audit assessed the status of water resources in the project watersheds and identified resource management practices that should be promoted by the project. This paper summarises the audit’s findings and recommendations, the main lessons learned and progress to date in implementing recommendations. For comparison, findings and recommendations from a water audit in southern Andhra Pradesh are also summarised.

Mohan Rao

Papers

Watershed development: A solution to water shortages in semi-arid India or part of the problem?