Water resources and development of women in arid regions in northern China

1996 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-109
Author(s):  
Zhou Wei-wen
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Northern China

scholarly journals The Adjustment of China’s Grain Planting Structure Reduced the Consumption of Cropland and Water Resources

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7352
Author(s):  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Jieyong Wang ◽  
Chun Dai
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
National Level ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Semiarid Region ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Continuous Growth ◽  
Northern Regions

Driven by technological progress and market demand, the optimization and adjustment of grain planting structure played an important role in increasing grain output. Due to the great difference between the yield per unit area of different types of food crops, the consumption of cropland and water resources has a significant change during the grain growth. From the perspective of structural adjustment, rather than the usual productive factor input, we analyze the process of adjustment for grain planting structure in China and its effect on the consumption of cropland and water resources by using the scenario comparative analysis method. The results show that: (1) From 2003 to 2019, China’s grain output has increased steadily and the planting structure has changed greatly. Rice was replaced by corn to become the grain crop with the maximum proportion of planting area since 2007. The increase of corn planting structure proportion is concentrated in the northern regions. (2) At the national level, according to the adjustment of grain planting structure, the saving of cropland and water resources consumption showed a “cumulative effect” as time went on. (3) The saving effects of structural adjustment in the northern regions on cropland and water resources consumption are better than that in the southern regions, such as Northeast China Plain, Northern arid and semiarid region and Loess Plateau. (4) In reality, although the adjustment of grain planting structure saved lots of cropland and water resources, the continuous growth of grain output has increased the pressure on the ecological environment in the northern regions according to theirs water limits. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously optimize the grain planting structure and restrict land reclamation in northern China. In addition, to ensure food security, it is feasible to encourage the southern regions with abundant water and heat resources to increase the grain planting area and meet its self-sufficiency in grain demand.

scholarly journals Simulation of Pan-Evaporation Using Penman and Hamon Equations and Artificial Intelligence Techniques

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 793
Author(s):  
Abdul Razzaq Ghumman ◽  
Mohammed Jamaan ◽  
Afaq Ahmad ◽  
Md. Shafiquzzaman ◽  
Husnain Haider ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Fuzzy Inference ◽  
Sunshine Duration ◽  
Pan Evaporation ◽  
Estimation Of Parameters ◽  
Inference System ◽  
Daunting Task ◽  
The Impact

The evaporation losses are very high in warm-arid regions and their accurate evaluation is vital for the sustainable management of water resources. The assessment of such losses involves extremely difficult and original tasks because of the scarcity of data in countries with an arid climate. The main objective of this paper is to develop models for the simulation of pan-evaporation with the help of Penman and Hamon’s equations, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), and the Artificial Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). The results from five types of ANN models with different training functions were compared to find the best possible training function. The impact of using various input variables was investigated as an original contribution of this research. The average temperature and mean wind speed were found to be the most influential parameters. The estimation of parameters for Penman and Hamon’s equations was quite a daunting task. These parameters were estimated using a state of the art optimization algorithm, namely General Reduced Gradient Technique. The results of the Penman and Hamon’s equations, ANN, and ANFIS were compared. Thirty-eight years (from 1980 to 2018) of manually recorded pan-evaporation data regarding mean daily values of a month, including the relative humidity, wind speed, sunshine duration, and temperature, were collected from three gauging stations situated in Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia. The Nash and Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) and Mean Square Error (MSE) evaluated the performance of pan-evaporation modeling techniques. The study shows that the ANFIS simulation results were better than those of ANN and Penman and Hamon’s equations. The findings of the present research will help managers, engineers, and decision makers to sustainability manage natural water resources in warm-arid regions.

scholarly journals Simulating impact of over-grazing on grassland degradation using GIS: a case study in the Heihe River Basin, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Bingyu Wang ◽  
Takashi Oguchi ◽  
Lin Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Heihe River ◽  
Grassland Degradation ◽  
Inland River ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Heihe River Basin

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Inland river basins in arid to semi-arid regions are widely distributed in Northwest China, Central Asia, Central Australia, and North Africa, and are often subject to significant human activities. The most distinctive natural feature of such basins is the shortage of water resources, and the pivotal reasons involve less precipitation and heavy evapotranspiration (ET). In recent years, intensive human activities also damage the natural environment of the basins. They result in many problems especially the deterioration of ecological environment which will lead to severe consequences such as desertification, sandstorm, the disappearance of wetlands, reduction of forest and grassland degradation. They prevent us from achieving the goal of sustainable development. How to balance economic development and ecosystem conservation and to realize the sense of sustainability in inland river basins will be vitally important.</p><p>The Heihe River is the second largest inland river in the Northwest of China with a long history development by human (Figure 1). Water resources from the river are crucial not only for the ecosystem but also for local human societies. The Heihe River Basin (HRB) is divided into three zones with different landscapes and natural environments. The upstream of HRB is the headstream which generates water resources mainly from glaciers and snow in Qilian Mountain. A large population of nomadic national minorities inhabits here and keeps animal husbandry as the primary production activity. In the early times, the Chinese government encouraged production activities to stimulate economic growth, and significant over-grazing and resultant severe grassland degradation occurred. Grassland is crucial for maintaining water resources especially in arid regions, without grasses most water will quickly evaporate into the air. Therefore, land resource management about grassland and the impact of human activities on the natural environment are of high research value in the HRB.</p><p>This research aims to investigate the impact of over-grazing on grassland degradation in the inland ecosystem of the HRB. The changes of grassland distribution were simulated under different over-grazing scenarios to provide a reference for resource management and the related decision-making process and to contribute to the sustainable development of the region.</p>

scholarly journals Survey of ancient water technologies in semi-arid and arid regions: traditional knowledge for the future

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1278-1286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry W. Mays
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
Sustainability Problems ◽  
Semi Arid ◽  
Water Resources Sustainability

There are many people on Earth today that live with severe water shortages and severe lack of sanitation, particularly among the poor. These people for the most part do not understand the knowledge base of methodologies of harvesting and conveying water and sanitation methods that have been around for thousands of years. A survey of ancient water technologies used in semi-arid and arid regions is presented in this paper. The survey will include methodologies used by Mesopotamians, the Persians, the Egyptians, and the Nabataeans. The attempt here is to explore how these traditional methods developed by the ancients in semi-arid and arid regions of the world could possibly be used to help solve the present-day water resources sustainability problems, especially in developing parts of the world. The advantages of the traditional knowledge of ancient water technologies are explored with the goal of determining ways to help poor people with water shortages and sanitation.

scholarly journals REÚSO DE ÁGUA E CONSTRUÇÃO DE CENÁRIOS FUTUROS: PERSPECTIVAS E DESAFIOS PARA REGIÕES SEMIÁRIDAS

polemica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 072-086
Author(s):  
Sandra Sereide Ferreira da Silva ◽  
Vera Lúcia Antunes De Lima ◽  
Ângela Maria Cavalcanti Ramalho ◽  
Allan Carlos Alves
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Water Reuse ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
The Public ◽  
Building Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Semi Arid

Resumo: A escassez da água em regiões áridas e semiáridas tem sido tema de debates, políticas e pesquisas com o objetivo principal de subsidiar as ações capazes de permitir o seu aproveitamento racional, permitindo a convivência da população com os períodos de seca ou reduzida precipitação. Assim, a escassez de água tem conduzido à implantação de projetos de desenvolvimento, que têm como desafio a busca de alternativas de convivência com a seca que conduzam a melhorias sociais. Com base nesse contexto, este estudo tem como objetivo propor a criação de um modelo de construção de cenários para viabilidade do reúso de água para ser utilizado como elemento mitigador das implicações da seca em regiões semiáridas. O modelo de construção de cenários é um importante instrumento de gerenciamento de recursos naturais, neste caso específico, recursos hídricos, pois permite envolver um grande número de participantes, tem a possibilidade de orientar o debate público para a construção estratégica coletiva de um futuro almejado, contribui para um eficaz processo de aprendizagem organizacional no âmbito do Sistema Nacional de Gerenciamento de Recursos Hídricos visando um melhor entendimento, tanto dos aspectos ambientais quanto dos aspectos sociais e institucionais relacionados aos recursos hídricos no País, em especial, nas regiões semiáridas. Como se trabalham e convivem com a incerteza, os cenários procuram analisar e sistematizar as diversas probabilidades dos eventos e dos processos por meio da exploração dos pontos de mudança e das grandes tendências, de modo que as alternativas mais prováveis sejam antecipadas.Palavras-chaves: Recursos Hídricos. Reúso de Água. Regiões Semiáridas. Construção de Cenários.Abstract: Water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions has been the subject of debates, policies and research with the main objective of subsidizing actions capable of allowing their rational use, allowing the population to coexist with periods of drought or reduced precipitation. Thus, water scarcity has led to the implementation of development projects, which challenge the search for alternatives to coexistence with drought that lead to social improvements. Based on this context, this study aims to propose the creation of a model for the construction of scenarios for the feasibility of water reuse to be used as a mitigating element of the drought implications in semi-arid regions. The scenario building model is an important tool for managing natural resources, in this specific case, water resources, since it allows a large number of participants to be involved, it has the possibility of guiding the public debate towards the collective strategic construction of a desired future, contributes to an effective organizational learning process within the National Water Resources Management System aiming at a better understanding of both the environmental aspects and the social and institutional aspects related to the water resources in the Country, especially in the semi-arid regions. As they work and coexist with uncertainty, the scenarios seek to analyze and systematize the various probabilities of events and processes by exploring the points of change and the major trends, so that the most likely alternatives are anticipated.Keywords: Water Resources. Water reuse. Semi-Arid Regions. Construction of Scenarios.

scholarly journals China’s South-to-North Water Diversion Project Empowers Sustainable Water Resources System in the North

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 3735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giri R. Kattel ◽  
Wenxiu Shang ◽  
Zhongjing Wang ◽  
John Langford
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Water Diversion ◽  
Water Infrastructure ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
Water Resources System ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Water Diversion Project ◽  
North Water

Global freshwaters are severely depleted. Provision of improved water infrastructure technologies and innovation can address challenges posed by water shortages to environmental sustainability. China’s South-to-North Water Diversion Project has generated extensive debates over sustainability of water resources system in the northern drier region, which faces severe water scarcity hindering ecosystems, agriculture, industries and livelihoods. Some arguments extend the views that large infrastructure projects can have negative implications for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem goods and services. However, this study strengthens the opposite view, as such projects would resolve increasing environmental challenges northern China has been facing over many decades due to severe water shortages. The project empowers connectivity among individuals, community, and organizations that the sustainability of goods and services such as energy, irrigation and water supply are perceived, and livelihoods and the standard of peoples’ living is improved. A resilient, robust and adaptive water infrastructure framework can overcome the challenges of water shortages by meeting a long term social, economic and environmental goals for water resources systems in northern China. Such framework can also identify the thresholds of change and the threats associated with environmental sustainability.

scholarly journals Unsustainability Syndrome—From Meteorological to Agricultural Drought in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 838 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Torabi Haghighi ◽  
Nizar Abou Zaki ◽  
Pekka M. Rossi ◽  
Roohollah Noori ◽  
Ali Akbar Hekmatzadeh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Drought Index ◽  
Agricultural Drought ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Fars Province ◽  
Water Capacity ◽  
Irrigated Area ◽  
Semi Arid

Water is the most important resource for sustainable agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions, where agriculture is the mainstay for rural societies. By relating the water usage to renewable water resources, we define three stages from sustainable to unsustainable water resources: (1) sustainable, where water use is matched by renewable water capacity, ensuring sustainable water resources; (2) transitional, where water use occasionally exceeds renewable water capacity; and (3) unsustainable, with lack of water resources for agriculture, society, and the environment. Using available drought indicators (standardized precipitation index (SPI) and streamflow drought index (SDI)) and two new indices for agricultural drought (overall agricultural drought index (OADI) and agricultural drought index (ADI)), we evaluated these stages using the example of Fars province in southern Iran in the period 1977–2016. A hyper-arid climate prevailed for an average of 32% of the province’s spatio-temporal coverage during the study period. The area increased significantly from 30.6% in the first decade (1977–1986) to 44.4% in the last (2006–2015). The spatiotemporal distribution of meteorological drought showed no significant negative trends in annual precipitation during 1977–2016, but the occurrence of hydrological droughts increased significantly in the period 1997–2016. The expansion of irrigated area, with more than 60% of rainfed agriculture replaced by irrigated agriculture (especially between 1997 and 2006), exerted substantial pressure on surface water and groundwater resources. Together, climate change, reduced river flow, and significant declines in groundwater level in major aquifers led to unsustainable use of water resources, a considerable reduction in irrigated area, and unsustainability in agricultural production in the period 2006–2015. Analysis of causes and effects of meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural drought in the area identified three clear stages: before 1997 being sustainable, 1997–2006 being transitional, and after 2006 being unsustainable.

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