Scenario-based decision support for an integrated management of water resources

This chapter examines the links between water, food and society in Africa. Agricultural transformation to promote growth, eliminate poverty and hunger and sustain ecosystems is one of the central pillars of current development agenda in Africa. Achievement of this agenda will crucially depend on sustainable water management. However, agri-food systems and water resources are under greater pressure than ever before due to demographic, economic and climatic changes. The nature and scale of these changes suggest that only a holistic and integrated management of all shades of water resources, green, blue and grey, will allow Africa to eliminate hunger and poverty. Research-based technical solutions as well as institutional and policy measures are proposed that would allow available water resources to be sustainably used to promote climate-resilient farming systems, improve agricultural productivity and food security and spur the development of viable food value chains needed for agricultural and rural transformation.

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Developing a sustainability assessment framework for integrated management of water resources systems using distributed zoning and system dynamics approaches

Environment Development and Sustainability ◽

10.1007/s10668-021-01340-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mehri Abdi-Dehkordi ◽

Omid Bozorg-Haddad ◽

Abdolrahim Salavitabar ◽

Erfan Goharian

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

System Dynamics ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Integrated Management ◽

Assessment Framework ◽

Water Resources Systems

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Common Pool Resource Management: Assessing Water Resources Planning for Hydrologically Connected Surface and Groundwater Systems

Hydrology ◽

10.3390/hydrology8010051 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 51

Author(s):

Francisco Muñoz-Arriola ◽

Tarik Abdel-Monem ◽

Alessandro Amaranto

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Collective Action ◽

Large Scale ◽

Integrated Management ◽

Design Principles ◽

Water Levels ◽

High Plains ◽

Common Pool Resource ◽

Common Pool ◽

Connected Surface

Common pool resource (CPR) management has the potential to overcome the collective action dilemma, defined as the tendency for individual users to exploit natural resources and contribute to a tragedy of the commons. Design principles associated with effective CPR management help to ensure that arrangements work to the mutual benefit of water users. This study contributes to current research on CPR management by examining the process of implementing integrated management planning through the lens of CPR design principles. Integrated management plans facilitate the management of a complex common pool resource, ground and surface water resources having a hydrological connection. Water governance structures were evaluated through the use of participatory methods and observed records of interannual changes in rainfall, evapotranspiration, and ground water levels across the Northern High Plains. The findings, documented in statutes, field interviews and observed hydrologic variables, point to the potential for addressing large-scale collective action dilemmas, while building on the strengths of local control and participation. The feasibility of a “bottom up” system to foster groundwater resilience was evidenced by reductions in groundwater depths of 2 m in less than a decade.

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Decision Support for the (Inter-)Basin Management of Water Resources Using Integrated Hydro-Economic Modeling

Hydrology ◽

10.3390/hydrology8010042 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 42

Author(s):

Gerald Norbert Souza da Silva ◽

Márcia Maria Guedes Alcoforado de Moraes

Keyword(s):

Decision Support ◽

Water Resources ◽

Water Allocation ◽

Hydrological Modeling ◽

Well Being ◽

Water Transfer ◽

Economic Modeling ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Study Results

The development of adequate modeling at the basin level to establish public policies has an important role in managing water resources. Hydro-economic models can measure the economic effects of structural and non-structural measures, land and water management, ecosystem services and development needs. Motivated by the need of improving water allocation using economic criteria, in this study, a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) with a hydro-economic optimization model (HEAL system) was developed and used for the identification and analysis of an optimal economic allocation of water resources in a case study: the sub-middle basin of the São Francisco River in Brazil. The developed SDSS (HEAL system) made the economically optimum allocation available to analyze water allocation conflicts and trade-offs. With the aim of providing a tool for integrated economic-hydrological modeling, not only for researchers but also for decision-makers and stakeholders, the HEAL system can support decision-making on the design of regulatory and economic management instruments in practice. The case study results showed, for example, that the marginal benefit function obtained for inter-basin water transfer, can contribute for supporting the design of water pricing and water transfer decisions, during periods of water scarcity, for the well-being in both basins.

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RIM: Anatomy of a Weed Management Decision Support System for Adaptation and Wider Application

Weed Science ◽

10.1614/ws-d-14-00163.1 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 63 (3) ◽

pp. 676-689 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Myrtille Lacoste ◽

Stephen Powles

Keyword(s):

Decision Support ◽

Decision Support System ◽

Support System ◽

Weed Management ◽

Cropping Systems ◽

Integrated Management ◽

Management Decision ◽

Agricultural Community ◽

End Use ◽

Term Performance

RIM, or “Ryegrass Integrated Management,” is a model-based software allowing users to conveniently test and compare the long-term performance and profitability of numerous ryegrass control options used in Australian cropping systems. As a user-friendly decision support system that can be used by farmers, advisers, and industry professionals, RIM can aid the delivery of key recommendations among the agricultural community for broadacre cropping systems threatened by herbicide resistance. This paper provides advanced users and future developers with the keys to modify the latest version of RIM in order to facilitate future updates, modifications, and adaptations to other situations. The various components of RIM are mapped and explained, and the key principles underlying the construction of the model are explained. The implementation of RIM into a Microsoft Excel® software format is also documented, with details on how user inputs are coded and parameterized. An overview of the biological, agronomic, and economic components of the model is provided, with emphasis on the ryegrass biological characteristics most critical for its effective management. The extreme variability of these parameters and the subsequent limits of RIM are discussed. The necessary compromises were achieved by emphasizing the primary end-use of the program as a decision support system for farmers and advisors.

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