scholarly journals Water Storage for Food Security in Nepal

1970 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 35-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khem Raj Sharma

Increasing trend of water scarcity for drinking, irrigation, hydropower generation and other purposes has been a serious challenge for Nepal. As food need rises, the country's reliance on irrigated agriculture increases. The existing run-of-river types of irrigation systems provide little leverage in providing adequate, timely and equitable water supply to the farmers' fields. With the approval of the 2002 Water Resources Strategy, the country is in the process of changing its water development paradigm from sect oral to integrated water resource management. In this context, intensification of agriculture is the most viable option of achieving food security and this requires assured supply of irrigation water which is possible mainly through water storage systems.Key words: Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM); Irrigation; Water storage; Agriculture intensification; NepalDOI: 10.3126/hn.v7i0.4234Hydro Nepal Journal of Water, Energy and Environment Vol 7, July, 2010Page: 35-37Uploaded date: 31 January, 2011

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 35-37
Author(s):  
Khem Raj Sharma

As food need rises, Nepal's reliance on irrigated agriculture does increase. Increased production to satisfy the food demand of the future must essentially come from intensification, not from expansion of agriculture. Intensification potential of irrigated agriculture is much higher than rainfed system. Technologies, professionals and farmers should go together to achieve greater impacts and ensure the country's food security. Key words: Irrigated agriculture, food security, farmer participation, conjunctive use, physical infrastructure, integrated water resource management, Nepal  doi: 10.3126/hn.v3i0.1918 Hydro Nepal Journal of Water, Energy and Environment Issue No. 3, July 2008. Page 35-37


Water Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajmal Khan Shams ◽  
Nur Shazwani Muhammad

Abstract Afghanistan has abundant water resources; however, the current state of affairs is dismal because of the lack of integrated water resources management (IWRM) practices and prolonged war and conflict in the country. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic approach to water management, which can be materialized by integrating IWRM and the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus approach to maintain a critical balance of available water resources and their various uses at the national level. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of Afghanistan's water resource management, including the current state, challenges, opportunities, and way forward. The identified challenges are categorized as social and environmental issues, engineering and technical and regulatory, policy and government role. These challenges are inter-connected and a novel framework toward the implementation of IWRM and the WEF nexus in Afghanistan is proposed. This framework can be used by the relevant stakeholders to prepare a roadmap for sustainable management of water resources. Such integrative approaches will enhance Afghanistan's water, food, and energy security and significantly contribute to its economic development. Moving forward, the Afghanistan government must play a crucial role with regards to the efficient management of the country's water resources in an integrated manner as suggested in this paper.


Author(s):  

A significant part of the Sochi resort region is included into the unique natural protected areas, such as the Caucasus biosphere reserve and Sochi National Park. Development of the regional economy is largely dependent on the natural geo/bio/cenoses management effectiveness on the protected territories. Monitoring of the water resources status and their management is of the particular importance, since the biodiversity of the aquatic environment and the terrestrial flora and fauna of the area dependent on these factors, as well as ensuring the citizen’s requirements and rights. However, presently no one of the existing water environment state assessment methods is able to account various and complex natural communities’ responses to different stress factors and their combined impact.The article presents the world experience on concept of the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) application and development of the some aspect of the comprehensive natural resources regulation methodology. The authors believe that some elements of environmental management practiced in national parks and reserves of the republic of South Africa can be applicable in development of a system that provides consistent monitoring of environmental quality, the mastering of a sufficient and user-friendly database, based on a set of measures for the conservation and restoration of natural resources One of the most significant watercourses of the protected nature territories of the South of Russia, the Mzymta River has been used as a study case


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1750
Author(s):  
Bente Castro Campos ◽  
Yanjun Ren ◽  
Jens-Peter Loy

This study globally analyzes the nonlinear relationship between cereal import dependency and total renewable water resources per capita by testing for potential thresholds in water resources. Data are from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and consider the years of 2002, 2007, and 2012. The results show evident ceiling effects with a threshold of 1588 m3/(capita/year) in the multiple predictor model. Above this value, the total renewable water resources per capita no longer have a considerable effect on cereal import dependency. Importantly, we found that if integrated water resource management improves, cereal import dependency will increase for countries with total renewable water resources per capita between 1588 m3/(capita/year) and 5000 m3/(capita/year), but not for countries below or equal to the threshold of 1588 m3/(capita/year). Water-scarce countries above the threshold use cereal imports as a coping strategy to save limited national water resources. This strategy might be suggested to extremely water-scarce countries below the threshold to increase their water use efficiency. Global solidarity of grain exporters with water-scarce countries is required to guarantee their food security, while water-scarce countries need to overcome their skepticism of foreign dominance through food imports.


Water Policy ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 457-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Al Khabouri Abdulbaqi ◽  
Muyibi A. Suleyman ◽  
Ahmed M. Thamer ◽  
Kabbashi A. Nassereldeen

Water resources management is a continuous challenge in the Sultanate of Oman. Owing to its rapid development during the last 30 years, the growing economy has brought an increase in urbanization with a high demand for quality water supplies. Increasing demands to be met include agriculture, population increase and rapid industrial and commercial development. These factors have created a lot of stress in the water resources availability in the country. This has resulted in degradation of the quality of the water especially in the coastal areas owing to over-pumping and saline intrusion. To satisfy water users' requirements and safeguard the scarce water resources in the country, an integrated water resources management plan is proposed. This plan is based on the perception of water as an integral part of the ecosystem, a natural resource and a social and economic good, whose quantity and quality determines the nature of its utilization. The integrated approach will review the current water resources situation in the Sultanate of Oman (increasing water shortages, deteriorating water quality, stress in water supplies, etc) and incorporate policy options that recognize these elements, develop national water policy and base the demand for and allocation of water resources on equity and efficient use. The Integrated Water Resources Management Plan (IWRMP) will also consider the capacity building of the human resources working in the water sector, the development of new institutions that will serve and match this goal, the integration of water planning into the national economy and, more significantly, community participation.


1997 ◽  
Vol 352 (1356) ◽  
pp. 937-947 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Wallace ◽  
C. H. Batchelor

Increasing crop production to meet the food requirements of the world's growing population will put great pressure on global water resources. Given that the vast freshwater resources that are available in the world are far from fully exploited, globally there should be sufficient water for future agricultural requirements. However, there are large areas where low water supply and high human demand may lead to regional shortages of water for future food production. In these arid and semi–arid areas, where water is a major constraint on production, improving water resource management is crucial if Malthusian disasters are to be avoided. There is considerable scope for improvement, since in both dryland and irrigated agriculture only about one–third of the available water (as rainfall, surface, or groundwater) is used to grow useful plants. This paper illustrates a range of techniques that could lead to increased crop production by improving agricultural water use efficiency. This may be achieved by increasing the total amount of water available to plants or by increasing the efficiency with which that water is used to produce biomass. Although the crash from the Malthusian precipice may ultimately be inevitable if population growth is not addressed, the time taken to reach the edge of the precipice could be lengthened by more efficient use of existing water resources.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-64
Author(s):  
Tagelsir Mohamed Gasmelseid

The use of software agent systems and technologies to simulate water resources management scenarios and improve the engagement of stakeholders in policy making is gaining paramount importance. Such importance originates from two main concerns or change agents. Firstly, the context of water management is becoming highly complicated due to the intensity of connections with other systems, the diversity of stakeholders and the multiplicity (and sometime conflicting) objectives of decision partners. Moreover, the domain used for capitalizing on water management issues is becoming planetary (as it is the case of shared basins) rather than being local (watershed, watercourse, scheme, etc.). As a result, the concern is not limited to the optimization of the utility matrix of stakeholders but additional attention is required to incorporate many emerging issues such as the maintenance of financial sustainability, functional mainstreaming and improving engagement to promote reconciliation and change of water use behaviors. Secondly, the recent technological developments have improved the processing capacity of hardware, software functionalities and the accessibility of telecommunication platforms. Such developments have been reflected in the improvement of the capacities of decision makers to address complex problem domains. Software agents' technologies possess the qualities that make them useful for the provision of decision support in water management domains. As it is the case of irrigated agriculture, software agents' technology can be used for the design of farm surface irrigation systems, the improvement of irrigation systems management and the enhancement of the involvement of farmers in the processes of integrated water management. This paper is concerned with the use of agent based systems to facilitate the engagement of farmers in Al Ahsaa area in the management of water resources. The government of the Kingdom is adopting a demand management approach for the management of irrigation water by discouraging the cultivation of water-consuming crops such as wheat and dates. Improving the ability of farmers to analyze alternative cropping patterns significantly affects their water use behavior.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Homero Castanier

<p>Based on the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Targets - Indicators 2016-2030, the objective of this paper is to emphasize on water resources as a cross-cutting issue and at the center of sustainable development, presenting a specific analysis of the importance of a better knowledge of the hydrology - hydrometrics of country major and local basins as fundamental information for water resources sustainable management. This implies the review of specific indicators related to the knowledge at town level of water resources assessment and availability, fundamental to life, health, food security, energy, the environment, and human well-being.</p><p>There are limitations including the lack of accurate and complete data. Local sub-national variation in water resources and water withdrawal could be considerable, as at the level of local or individual river basins, and the lack of account of seasonal variations in water resources. Regional values may mask huge differences within regions and also within countries where people live in areas of serious water scarcity, although each country could have enough renewable water resources overall.</p><p>In order to ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity, and to implement integrated water resources management at all levels (targets 6.4 and 6.5 of the SDGs), a fundamental baseline is the assessment of available and exploitable water resources at local level, as well as its development feasibility. </p><p>Data on water resources availability is a key indicator that should be approached at local level, since in a majority of countries, i) most local and rural communities and towns do not count with the information regarding their water resources, ii) local information will contribute to improve the accuracy of information of renewable water resources at country level, iii) rural settlements are in general the most vulnerable, lacking services of drinking water and irrigation for food security, and iv) small variations on the estimations of available water resources would represent social, environmental and economic consequences on water resources management and sustainable development planning.</p><p>Based on the analysis of the ecohydrology of two case studies, it is demonstrated that there cannot be effective integrated water resources management (IWRM) at town level if there is a lack of information on water resources availability.</p><p>Considering the limitations described in regard to goals-targets-indicators of sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity, and the implementation of integrated water resources management, it is indispensable to count with adequate and reliable local hydrological - hydrometric data and monitoring systems that would contribute to partially control these limitations, assessing available water supplies for community planning.</p><p>In reference to Agenda 2030, countries must implement a complementary indicator, as the percentage of the population whose water sources are monitored by means of adequate measuring methods, providing information on surface water and ground water regimes that influence water availability.</p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 2473-2486 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Karimi ◽  
W. G. M. Bastiaanssen ◽  
D. Molden ◽  
M. J. M. Cheema

Abstract. The paper demonstrates the application of a new water accounting plus (WA+) framework to produce information on depletion of water resources, storage change, and land and water productivity in the Indus basin. It shows how satellite-derived estimates of land use, rainfall, evaporation (E), transpiration (T), interception (I) and biomass production can be used in addition to measured basin outflow, for water accounting with WA+. It is demonstrated how the accounting results can be interpreted to identify existing issues and examine solutions for the future. The results for one selected year (2007) showed that total annual water depletion in the basin (501 km3) plus outflows (21 km3) exceeded total precipitation (482 km3). The water storage systems that were effected are groundwater storage (30 km3), surface water storage (9 km3), and glaciers and snow storage (2 km3). Evapotranspiration of rainfall or "landscape ET" was 344 km3 (69 % of total depletion). "Incremental ET" due to utilized flow was 157 km3 (31% of total depletion). Agriculture depleted 297 km3, or 59% of the total depletion, of which 85% (254 km3) was through irrigated agriculture and the remaining 15% (44 km3) through rainfed systems. Due to excessive soil evaporation in agricultural areas, half of all water depletion in the basin was non-beneficial. Based on the results of this accounting exercise loss of storage, low beneficial depletion, and low land and water productivity were identified as the main water resources management issues. Future scenarios to address these issues were chosen and their impacts on the Indus Basin water accounts were tested using the new WA+ framework.


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