Water Issues and the Brazilian Agricultural Agenda

2018 ◽  
pp. 362-379
Author(s):  
Vanessa Lucena Empinotti
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Current Dependence ◽  
Tropical Conditions ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
Sound Management ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
Water Issues ◽  
System Today

The transition to high technology farming in Brazil, adapted to tropical conditions has led to a unique farming system in which water and soil conservation is a key element. The purpose of this chapter is to show how rainfed agriculture in Brazil has evolved effective and sustainable production practices, including the sound management of green water, and how the agro-neoliberal system, today in place, is transforming productivity and environmental stewardship. However, Brazilian farmers still tend to overlook how their productive practices impact natural resources. Their view of natural resources is still primarily utilitarian. They categorize water issues as environmental concerns; not as productive ones. To reverse this tendency, new approaches are needed. It is essential to recognize the vulnerable position of farmers in the world food production system and to promote incentives that allow them to make production choices without the current dependence on private actors and economic gains.

scholarly journals Farmers’ and Herders’ Perceptions on Rangeland Management in Two Agroecological Zones of Benin

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 425
Author(s):  
Rodrigue Vivien Cao Diogo ◽  
Luc Hippolyte Dossa ◽  
Sèyi Fridaïus Ulrich Vanvanhossou ◽  
Badirou Dine Abdoulaye ◽  
Kossi Hélliot Dosseh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Rangeland Management ◽  
Mineral Fertilization ◽  
The North ◽  
Unused Land ◽  
Agroecological Zones ◽  
Sound Management

The sustainable use of rangelands in pastoral areas requires the inclusion of all stakeholders to develop sound management strategies. However, the role of these actors in the sustainable management of natural resources is still poorly understood. The present study aims to (i) assess the perception of farmers and herders of the risks and opportunities of transhumance on rangeland resource use and management, and to (ii) generate useful knowledge for the design and implementation of policies that favor the coexistence of these actors and reduce competition over rangeland resources use in Benin. To this end, interviews were conducted with 240 crop farmers and herders using a semi-structured questionnaire in two contrasting agroecological zones in the northern (Kandi) and the southern (Kétou) part of the country. Among the respondents, 64% of farmers in the North were agro-pastoralists (owning 10.6 ha of land and 10.7 cattle) and 36% were herders (keeping 45.8 cattle and cultivating about 3.7 ha of land). They perceived that communal rangelands were entirely degraded. In the South, 36% of respondents were agro-pastoralists (with 0.3 cattle and farming 4 ha of land) and 64% cattle herders (raising 45.3 cattle and farming 0.9 ha of land only). Of the herders, 50% kept cattle for more than 20 years, while agro-pastoralists had no previous experience in cattle herding. Cultivation practices among crop farmers, such as high use of mineral fertilization (23.8%) and bush fires for land clearing (22.5%), were reported in Kandi (North) and Kétou (South) as factors that might contribute to land degradation. However, these farmers perceived transhumance as a threat to the sustainable use of natural resources. In contrast, herders perceived transhumance as an opportunity to valorize unused land and increase the availability of manure to cropland. The prevalent negative attitude of crop farmers regarding transhumant herders increases the vulnerability of cattle herding in both regions. There is an urgent need of raising awareness concerning the mutual benefits provided by the coexistence of crop farmers with herders to promote participative rangeland management strategies. This may contribute towards coping with the current challenges of food insecurity and increasing climate variability as well as to reducing recurrent conflicts in the region.

Triggers for securitization: a discursive examination of Israeli–Palestinian water negotiations

Water Policy ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Nathan ◽  
Itay Fischhendler
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Water Conflict ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Background Events ◽  
Water Issues ◽  
Negotiation Protocols

Discursive studies on natural resources often fail to examine how the language of existential threats is constructed, while the probable contextual factors for triggering securitization and its implications are also left unexamined. Applied to the Israeli–Palestinian water conflict, this study utilizes negotiation protocols from the Annapolis peace process to quantitatively examine how securitized discourses are triggered and constructed. The study determines that asymmetric actor ratio and negative background events trigger securitizing moves that in this case perpetuate enmity and division. Securitization under conflict scenarios is found to be mostly detrimental to the resolution of water issues as the resource becomes secondary to other high-profile concerns. A more favorable securitized discourse is identified, but this discourse is infrequent and characteristically aligned with the literature that espouses desecuritization.

scholarly journals Prospects for Rooftop Farming System Dynamics: An Action to Stimulate Water-Energy-Food Nexus Synergies toward Green Cities of Tomorrow

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9042
Author(s):  
Angela Huang ◽  
Fi-John Chang
Keyword(s):  
System Dynamics ◽  
Tap Water ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Energy Utilization ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Urban Food Security ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Rooftop Farming ◽  
The Cost

Rooftop farming is a practical solution of smart urban agriculture to furnish diverse socio-environmental benefits and short food supply chains, especially in densely populated cities. This study aims to raise urban food security with less use of public water and energy in food production, through utilizing green water and energy for sustainable management. A system dynamics (SD) model framed across the nexus of climate, water, energy and food (WEF) sectors is developed for a rooftop farm in Taipei City of Taiwan. The urban WEF Nexus is structured to address how local weather affects water and energy utilization to grow vegetables. The SD results showed that the annual yields of sweet potato leaves achieved 9.3 kg/m2, at the cost of 3.8 ton/m2 of harvested rainwater and 2.1 ton/m2 of tap water together with 2.1 kwh/m2 of solar photovoltaic power and 0.4 kwh/m2 of public electricity. This study not only demonstrates that green resources show great potential to make a significant reduction in consuming urban irrigation resources for rooftop farming, but contributes to urban planning through a sustainable in situ WEF Nexus mechanism at a city scale. The WEF Nexus can manifest the rooftop farming promotion as cogent development to facilitate urban sustainability.

scholarly journals Integrated farming system for the foothill-regions of Colombia – Ariporo System (A.S.)

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Alberto Forero Buitrago
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Solar Energy ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Integrated Farming ◽  
Natural Productivity ◽  
Micro Organisms

<p>Abundance of sun, wind and water (provided by equatorial regions) causes agriculture, energy and carbon sequestration to be unique in terms of Productive conditions in Colombia. This natural productivity yields land areas rich in biodiversity due to the high rates of efficient solar energy conversion and water, feeding macro and micro organisms, fauna and flora. This potential is wasted through the current use of extensive livestock production, which is inefficient in the conversion of solar energy into biomass. This article presents an adaptation of farming techniques applied to the seasons as well as to the foothill ecosystems of Colombia in order to exploit such natural resources without negative impact to the environment including the conservation of an endangered animal species.</p>

scholarly journals Nutritional Management of The Transhumant Sheep and Goat in Greece

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Siasiou ◽  
Ioannis Mitsopoulos ◽  
Konstantinos Galanopoulos ◽  
Vasiliki Lagka
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Production System ◽  
Parametric Analysis ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Nutritional Management ◽  
Dairy Sheep ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
Extensive Farming ◽  
Goat Farming ◽  
Non Parametric

In Mediterranean countries dairy sheep and goat farming is based on grazing even though production system can vary from extensive, where nutrition is based on the exploitation of natural resources, to intensive, where nutrition can be a combination of grazing and parallel supplementation of feed.  Transhumance is an extensive farming system where herds are moved to uplands in order to exploit the mountainous rangelands. Purpose of this paper was to study the nutritional management of transhumant sheep and goat herds in Greece. Non parametric analysis was performed to a sample of 551 transhumant herds. The results revealed differences of the nutritional management performed between different species and breeds of the reared animals. More specifically nutrition of goats and indigenous mountainous breeds was based mainly on grazing even to lowlands while nutrition of sheep and improved dairy breeds tended to be more integrated with combination of grazing to supplementation of feed.     

scholarly journals A Comparison of 13 Sweet Pepper Varieties under an Organic Farming System

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
George E. Boyhan ◽  
Cecilia McGregor ◽  
Suzanne O’Connell ◽  
Johannah Biang ◽  
David Berle
Keyword(s):  
Capsicum Annuum ◽  
Total Yield ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Sweet Pepper ◽  
Organic Production ◽  
King Arthur ◽  
Designed Experiment ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
Organic Farming System

There is a dearth of information on pepper (Capsicum annuum) variety production under organic conditions; therefore, a randomized complete block designed experiment of 13 pepper varieties were evaluated in 2016 and 2017 using organic production practices on land managed organically for the 6 previous years. Total yield, graded yield, and early yield were the main factors of interest. There were by-year interactions, so the data were analyzed separately for each year. All of the peppers evaluated except for ‘Sweet Chocolate’ were bell pepper types. The average total yield was 1229 and 1754 boxes/acre (28 lb/box) in 2016 and 2017, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences for total yield or early total yield in 2016. In 2017, the top five highest yielding varieties were Aristotle X3R®, Gridiron, King Arthur, Flavorburst, and Blitz. With the exception of ‘Flavorburst’, all of these entries were among the highest yielding for fancy fruit (≥3 inches diameter and 3.5 inches length). The greatest early yield in 2017 included ‘Aristotle X3R®’, ‘Flavorburst’, ‘Touchdown’, ‘Islander’, and ‘Gridiron’. In 2017, early yields of fancy fruit greater than 100 boxes/acre included ‘Aristotle X3R®’, ‘Red Knight X3R®’, ‘Blitz’, and ‘Gridiron’.

scholarly journals The classification, mapping and description of the vegetation of the Rooipoort Nature Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Bezuidenhout
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Plant Ecology ◽  
Management Units ◽  
Sustainable Utilisation ◽  
Northern Cape ◽  
Floristic Data ◽  
Sound Management

The need for a scientifically-based wildlife management plan and for more knowledge on vegetation led to an investigation into the plant ecology of the Rooipoort Nature Reserve. The main aim of this study was therefore to classify, describe and map the vegetation of the reserve. The floristic data were analysed according to the Braun-Blanquet procedure using the BBPC suite. The data analysis resulted in the identification of 15 communities that can be grouped into ten major community types. This resulted in five ecology-based management units, which could assist with the compilation of an ecologically sound management plan for the reserve in order to achieve sustainable utilisation of the natural resources. The Rooipoort Nature Reserve is one of the oldest and largest private nature reserves in South Africa and as such deserves to be conserved and protected. The riverine and pan vegetation communities are considered to be endangered and are in need of special conservation and protection.Conservation implication: The results suggest five management units, which will assist in the compilation of an ecologically sound management plan for the RNR, in order to allow sustainable utilization of natural resources.

Sustainable Futures

2014 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Environmental Challenges ◽  
Areas Of Concern ◽  
Sustainable Futures ◽  
Water Issues ◽  
Insight Into

Sustainable Futures explores the links between population growth, diminishing resources and environmental challenges, and the implications for Australia's future. Written by leaders in their field, and based on presentations from the 2013 Fenner Conference on 'Population, Resources and Climate Change', this book is a timely insight into the intertwined challenges that we currently face, and what can be done to ensure a sustainable and viable future. The book identifies the major areas of concern for Australia's future, including environmental, social and economic implications of population growth; mineral and natural resources; food, land and water issues; climate change; and the obstacles and opportunities for action. Accessible, informative and authoritative, Sustainable Futures will be of interest to policy makers, students and professionals in the fields of sustainability and population growth.

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