scholarly journals Livelihood diversification and climate change adaptation in Indo-Gangetic plains: implication of rainfall regimes

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 77-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gopal D Bhatta ◽  
Pramod K Aggarwal ◽  
Amit Shrivastava

We investigate whether spatial variations in climatic resource such as rainfall have prompted livelihood diversification, local adaptation and household food availability in Indo-Gangetic Plains using data from a household survey of 2660 farm-families carried out in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. We found that on-farm livelihood sources are higher in high rainfall regime (1300-1800 mm) compared to medium (<1300 mm) and very high rainfall regime (>1800 mm). The off-farm sources are higher in medium rainfall regime. Although a large number of changes are attributed to harvest better yield, yet farmers made numbers of changes in response to climatic variability as well. Although agricultural livelihood and local adaptation are restrained by several climatic and non-climatic factors; the amount of annual rainfall significantly affects livelihood diversification, and the impact of climatic stressors becomes more pronounced when there is interaction with other non-climatic factors. The results imply that livelihood and adaptation strategies should be tailor made along the climatic and non-climatic resources.

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-125

The present study concerns the impact of a change in the rainfall regime on surface and groundwater resources in an experimental watershed. The research is conducted in a gauged mountainous watershed (15.18 km2) that is located on the eastern side of Penteli Mountain, in the prefecture of Attica, Greece and the study period concerns the years from 2003 to 2008. The decrease in the annual rainfall depth during the last two hydrological years 2006-2007, 2007-2008 is 10% and 35%, respectively, in relation to the average of the previous years. In addition, the monthly distribution of rainfall is characterized by a distinct decrease in winter rainfall volume. The field measurements show that this change in rainfall conditions has a direct impact on the surface runoff of the watershed, as well as on the groundwater reserves. The mean annual runoff in the last two hydrological years has decreased by 56% and 75% in relation to the average of the previous years. Moreover, the groundwater level follows a declining trend and has dropped significantly in the last two years.


2003 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 1031 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Allan ◽  
W. K. Mason ◽  
I. J. Reeve ◽  
S. Hooper

The Sustainable Grazing Systems (SGS) Program has assisted producers in the high rainfall zone (HRZ, annual rainfall >600 mm/year) of southern Australia, by developing and delivering more productive and sustainable grazing systems. It was evaluated by 2 external surveys — a benchmarking survey in 1994 before the start of SGS, and a follow-up survey of producers in 2001. The 2001 survey showed that SGS had assisted red meat and wool producers in southern Australia make significant and beneficial changes to their grazing systems. Substantial changes in grazing practices occurred between 1994 and 2001 in the HRZ. These changes included an increase in the number of producers who rotationally graze (25%), as well as those undertaking practices aimed at improved pasture management. Participants in SGS were more likely to have made changes to their grazing systems than non-participants. There were no overt differences between regions in producer demographics, or changes made to management practices. The survey confirmed SGS had achieved its goal. Sixty percent of producers in the target regions were aware of SGS (out of a total of 23 689 producers); 42% (9839) had some involvement with SGS and/or received the SGS magazine 'Prograzier'; while 26% (6141) actively participated in SGS through undertaking a PROGRAZE course, and/or by attending regional SGS activities. Of the estimated 9839 producers who participated in the program, up to 8000 made beneficial changes to enhance the productivity and sustainability of their grazing operations. Active participants (6141) attributed many of these benefits to their involvement in SGS.


Hydrology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahtsente Tibebe Tadese ◽  
Lalit Kumar ◽  
Richard Koech ◽  
Birhanu Zemadim

The objective of this study was to characterize, quantify and validate the variability and trends of hydro-climatic variables in the Awash River Basin (ARB) in Ethiopia using graphical and statistical methods. The rainfall and streamflow trends and their relationships were evaluated using the regression method, Mann–Kendall (MK) test and correlation analysis. The analysis focused on rainfall and streamflow collected from 28 and 18 stations, respectively. About 85.7% and 75.3% of the rainfall stations exhibited normal to moderate variability in annual and June to September rainfall, respectively, whereas 96.43% of rainfall stations showed high variability in March to May. The MK test showed that most of the significant trends in annual rainfall were decreasing except in two stations. These research findings provide valuable information on the characteristics, variability, and trend of rainfall and streamflow necessary for the design of sustainable water management strategies and to reduce the impact of droughts and floods in the ARB.


2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 2137-2148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaishali Sharda ◽  
Cameron Handyside ◽  
Bernardo Chaves ◽  
Richard T. McNider ◽  
Gerrit Hoogenboom

Abstract. The study of climate variability and its impacts on crop production has become a continuous effort for the scientific community over the past two decades. However, the impact of spatial soil variability along with climatic factors on crop yield remains uncertain. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of soil and climatic variability on maize yield. We used Alabama as a case study because the agriculture is predominantly rainfed and there is a large variability in growing season precipitation due to the influence of climate variability signals such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The cropping system model CERES-Maize of the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) was used to simulate growth, development, and grain yield for maize for the top ten maize-producing counties in Alabama under rainfed conditions during dry and wet ENSO years. Maize yield simulations were compared for one prominent agricultural soil in each county, the top three prominent agricultural soils in each county, and spatially distributed SSURGO soils in each county. Simulated yields were then compared with maize yields reported by the National Agricultural Statistical Services (NASS). The simulation results showed that maize yield was impacted by both climate variability and spatial soil variability. Statistical relationships were established between crop yield, yield changes, and soil properties. This simulation study established the clear importance of soil variability in crop-climate impact studies. Keywords: Crop Modeling, DSSAT, Database, Soil properties, Spatial variability.


Bragantia ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 239-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Bento Paes de Camargo

The climatic variability is the main factor responsible for the oscillations and frustrations of the coffee grain yield in Brazil. The relationships between the climatic parameters and the agricultural production are quite complex, because environmental factors affect the growth and the development of the plants under different forms during the growth stages of the coffee crop. Agrometeorological models related to the growth, development and productivity can supply information for the soil water monitoring and yield forecast, based on the water stress. A soil water balance during different growth stages of the coffee crop, can quantify the effect of the available soil water on the decrease of the final yield. Other climatic factors can reduce the productivity, such as adverse air temperatures happened during different growth stages. Solar radiation and relative humidity influence many physiological processes of the coffee tree but are not generally thought to play an important role as thermal and rainfall conditions in defining potential yield or ecological limitations for this crop. According to the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007), the global temperature is supposed to increase 1.1ºC to 6.4ºC and the rainfall 15% in the tropical areas of Brazil. Some Global warming projections as presented by IPCC will cause a strong decrease in the coffee production in Brazil. According to the literature besides the reduction of suitable areas for coffee production, the crop will tend to move South and uphill regions. This review article analyze the effect that these possible scenarios would have in the agro-climatic coffee zoning in Brazil, and adaptive solutions, such as agronomic mitigations and development of cultivars adapted to high temperatures is considered.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 7225-7266 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Laceby ◽  
C. Chartin ◽  
O. Evrard ◽  
Y. Onda ◽  
L. Garcia-Sanchez ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) accident in March 2011 resulted in a significant fallout of radiocesium over the Fukushima region. After reaching the soil surface, radiocesium is almost irreversibly bound to fine soil particles. Thereafter, rainfall and snow melt run-off events transfer particle-bound radiocesium downstream. Erosion models, such as the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), depict a proportional relationship between rainfall and soil erosion. As radiocesium is tightly bound to fine soil and sediment particles, characterizing the rainfall regime of the fallout-impacted region is fundamental to modelling and predicting radiocesium migration. Accordingly, monthly and annual rainfall data from ~ 60 meteorological stations within a 100 km radius of the FDNPP were analysed. Monthly rainfall erosivity maps were developed for the Fukushima coastal catchments illustrating the spatial heterogeneity of rainfall erosivity in the region. The mean average rainfall in the Fukushima region was 1387 mm yr−1 (σ 230) with the mean rainfall erosivity being 2785 MJ mm ha−1 yr−1 (σ 1359). The results indicate that the majority of rainfall (60 %) and rainfall erosivity (86 %) occurs between June and October. During the year, rainfall erosivity evolves positively from northwest to southeast in the eastern part of the prefecture, whereas a positive gradient from north to south occurs in July and August, the most erosive months of the year. During the typhoon season, the coastal plain and eastern mountainous areas of the Fukushima prefecture, including a large part of the contamination plume, are most impacted by erosive events. Understanding these rainfall patterns, particularly their spatial and temporal variation, is fundamental to managing soil and particle-bound radiocesium transfers in the Fukushima region. Moreover, understanding the impact of typhoons is important for managing sediment transfers in subtropical regions impacted by cyclonic activity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-481 ◽  

<div> <p>Water balance studies in the Okavango Delta indicate that more than 90% of inflow into the Delta is lost through evaporation. This coupled with high climatic variability threatens the ecohydrology of the Delta. Trends indicate decreasing rainfall amounts and increasing temperature at the area of the Delta. The main aim of this study was therefore to investigate long term trends and variability in rain onset, cessation, number of rainy days and their impact on the dryness index at the Delta. The impact of the above variables is expressed through the standardized precipitation and evaporation index (SPEI) quantified by aggregating the climate water balance and fitting monthly series to a generalized logistic distribution using L-Moments. The SPEI, determined at windows of different time scales of one, three and twelve months, provided an extensive evaluation of dryness severity and its impact on this sensitive ecosystem. Rain onset and cessation dates were generated from cumulative pentad rainfall&ndash;evapotranspiration relationships. Analysis of climatic data showed mean rain onset occurring in November and ceding in March with average of 44 rainy days between 1970/71 and 2013/14. The results revealed a decrease in the number of rainy days at a rate of 0.16 days/yr and of the duration of the rainy season at 0.25 days/yr with high variability. Annual rainfall was found to decrease at the rate of 1.60 mm/yr with 6.8% probability of failure in rainfall onset. Analysis further revealed that both extreme dryness and wetness are rare phenomena with probabilities of less than 1% and near normal conditions for 67% of the time for all SPEI time scales. Although gradual increase in dryness in the Delta is attributed to high climatic variability, simulations undertaken using Artificial Neural Networks did not predict any major changes in the next five years. However, vulnerability to severe droughts is not completely ruled out because of the high variability in rainfall and of the location of the Delta in a semi-arid zone.&nbsp;</p> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mosisa Wakjira ◽  
Darcy Molnar ◽  
Nadav Peleg ◽  
Johan Six ◽  
Peter Molnar

&lt;p&gt;Rainfall timing is a key parameter that farmers rely on to match the cropping season with the time window over which seasonal precipitation provides adequate soil moisture to meet plant growth demand. The unpredictability of rainfall timing affects the selection of an optimal growing season, and hence crop production in regions where rainfed agriculture (RFA) is practiced. In this study, we (a) map rainfall timing, and its interannual variability and changes over RFA areas across Ethiopia for the period 1981-2010, and (b) explore the impact of variability in rainfall timing on cereal crop production in the period 1995-2010.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the mapping of rainfall timing, we used the quasi-global CHIRPS precipitation dataset over Ethiopia. We use information entropy on monthly rainfall to define the rainfall seasonality metrics, i.e. the relative entropy and dimensionless seasonality index, and map them in space. For rainfall timing attributes, we determine the onset, cessation, and length of the wet season from LOESS-smoothed cumulative pentad rainfall anomalies for each hydrological year. Changes in seasonality metrics and rainfall timing attributes are analyzed using non-parametric methods. We show that high seasonality (unimodal rainfall regime) is located in the northern part of the Ethiopian RFA area where high annual rainfall and high relative entropy are coincident, and where the onset of the rainfall season varies between mid-April to late-June and cessation occurs between mid-September to late-October. Low seasonality in the southern part of the Ethiopian RFA area shows low relative entropy regardless of the annual rainfall total. We observed a considerable interannual variability both in seasonality and rainfall timing over the study period, especially in the onset and length of the wet season. The length of the wet season and magnitude of seasonal rainfall are predominantly controlled by the timing of rainfall onset.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the impacts of rainfall timing on crop production, we used cereal crop production data from the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia for the period 1995-2010 in 45 administrative zones. We carried out a parametric correlation analysis between rainfall timing and rescaled and de-trended crop production anomalies. We observe that anomalies in seasonal cereal crop production in RFA areas are significantly correlated with anomalies in rainfall onset (negatively) and the length of the wet season (positively), with a regional average production loss of 3% per pentad of late rainfall onset, and 2.7% per pentad of shorter length of the wet season. Seasonal rainfall is less strongly correlated with cereal crop production anomalies compared to the rainfall onset. These results show that the interannual variability in rainfall timing (start of the rainy season) even under present climate has strong impacts on crop yields in RFA areas in Ethiopia, and this may be exacerbated in a future climate.&lt;/p&gt;


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Babatunde Adeniyi Osunmadewa ◽  
Worku Zewdie Gebrehiwot ◽  
Elmar Csaplovics ◽  
Olabinjo Clement Adeofun

Abstract Time series data are of great importance for monitoring vegetation phenology in the dry sub-humid regions where change in land cover has influence on biomass productivity. However few studies have inquired into examining the impact of rainfall and land cover change on vegetation phenology. This study explores Seasonal Trend Analysis (STA) approach in order to investigate overall greenness, peak of annual greenness and timing of annual greenness in the seasonal NDVI cycle. Phenological pattern for the start of season (SOS) and end of season (EOS) was also examined across different land cover types in four selected locations. A significant increase in overall greenness (amplitude 0) and a significant decrease in other greenness trend maps (amplitude 1 and phase 1) was observed over the study period. Moreover significant positive trends in overall annual rainfall (amplitude 0) was found which follows similar pattern with vegetation trend. Variation in the timing of peak of greenness (phase 1) was seen in the four selected locations, this indicate a change in phenological trend. Additionally, strong relationship was revealed by the result of the pixel-wise regression between NDVI and rainfall. Change in vegetation phenology in the study area is attributed to climatic variability than anthropogenic activities.


Author(s):  
S. A. Gorbanev ◽  
S. A. Syurin ◽  
N. M. Frolova

Introduction. Due to the impact of adverse working conditions and climate, workers in coal-mining enterprises in the Arctic are at increased risk of occupational diseases (OD).The aim of the study was to study the working conditions, causes, structure and prevalence of occupational diseases in miners of coal mines in the Arctic.Materials and methods. Th e data of social and hygienic monitoring “Working conditions and occupational morbidity” of the population of Vorkuta and Chukotka Autonomous District in 2007–2017 are studied.Results. It was established that in 2007–2017 years, 2,296 ODs were diagnosed for the first time in 1851 coal mines, mainly in the drifters, clearing face miners, repairmen and machinists of mining excavating machines. Most often, the ODs occurred when exposed to the severity of labor, fibrogenic aerosols and hand-arm vibration. The development of professional pathology in 98% of cases was due to design flaws of machines and mechanisms, as well as imperfections of workplaces and technological processes. Diseases of the musculoskeletal system (36.2%), respiratory organs (28.9%) and nervous system (22.5%) prevailed in the structure of professional pathology of miners of coal mines. Among the three most common nosological forms of OD were radiculopathy (32.1%), chronic bronchitis (27.7%) and mono-polyneuropathy (15.4%). In 2017, coal miners in the Arctic had a professional morbidity rate of 2.82 times higher than the national rates for coal mining.Conclusions. To preserve the health of miners of coal mining enterprises, technical measures to improve working conditions and medical interventions aimed at increasing the body’s resistance to the effects of harmful production and climatic factors are necessary.


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