Your search found 10 records
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044254)
(0.23 MB)
This paper is a review of the international literature concerning both the positive and negative effects on the environment and public health of the use of treated or non-treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation. It includes not only physical but also social and economic aspects. The extent of the use of treated and non-treated wastewater for agriculture is discussed along with its drivers. The data clearly show that non-treated wastewater is used more commonly than treated wastewater. This occurs mainly in around urban and peri-urban areas where municipal wastewater is produced that is better suited to this practice. The impacts observed on agricultural production, human health, the quality of the irrigation water, groundwater and surface water sources, food security, animal health, the local economy, reduction of poverty and food exports are presented, considering especially developing countries. These factors are further discussed to gain an understanding of how the practice, if well managed, contributes to sustainable development. Barriers to increasing the reuse of wastewater to irrigate are explained, considering the social perception in both developed and developing countries. The importance of reusing wastewater to reclaim water and nutrients are summarized. The positive and negative impacts resulting from the expected increase in the practice are discussed, together with control measures to obtain maximum benefits.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044668)
(5.42 MB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 577 G000 COS Record No: H046862)
(0.58 MB)
4 McCartney, Matthew; Foudi, S.; Muthuwatta, Lal; Sood, Aditya; Simons, G.; Hunink, J.; Vercruysse, K.; Omuombo, C. 2019. Quantifying the services of natural and built infrastructure in the context of climate change: the case of the Tana River Basin, Kenya. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 61p. (IWMI Research Report 174) [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2019.200]
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H049163)
(2.31 MB)
This report presents findings from a study conducted to explore the synergies and trade-offs between built (i.e., engineered) and natural (i.e., ecological systems) infrastructure in the Tana River Basin, Kenya. The study considered hydrological, ecological and economic processes in order to value flow-related ecosystem services. It provides quantitative insights into the links between flow and the benefits derived from both built and natural infrastructure. The results provide initial perspectives not just on the monetary values of a number of ecosystem services (and how they change as flows vary and are altered by large dams) but also, importantly, aspects of equity and social inclusion, that also need to be considered in decision-making.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049325)
(5.22 MB) (5.22 MB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050108)
(1.99 MB) (1.99 MB)
Since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was published, a plethora of ecosystem service frameworks have been developed to conceptualise the links between the natural environment and society. The intended geographic scales of application, the policy/practice context, and the scientific disciplines involved have driven variations in how the frameworks are constructed. However, the frameworks are homogenous in that they have been created predominately based on expert opinions and views of how ecosystem services are structured. Here, we use the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) to examine the extent to which frameworks capture people’s values for British woodlands. Our findings reveal several disparities between how experts and the public conceptualise ecosystem services. The considerable refinement and specificity provided by CICES does not align with public values (e.g. some provisioning, and regulation and maintenance, services), which tend to be more generalised. We also demonstrate differences in values explained by social characteristics (e.g. ethnicity) that need to be accounted for in decision-making processes. Moving forwards, we need to consider how society views the services derived from nature and reflect this in frameworks to ensure ecosystem service approaches are effective, transparent and widely supported.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050360)
(0.59 MB) (604 KB)
Nature-based solutions (NbS) provide direct benefits to people who live in areas where these approaches are present. The degree of direct benefits (thermal comfort, reduced flood risk, and mental health) varies across temporal and spatial scales, and it can be modelled and quantified. Less clear are the indirect benefits related to opportunities to learn about the environment and its influence on personal behaviour and action. The present study, based on survey data from 1955 participants across 17 cities worldwide, addressed whether participation in NbS through two types of interactions (a passive learning experience about NbS and a more active experience based on Citizen Science) stimulates motivation and willingness to be more environmentally sustainable. Over 75% of participants improved their understanding of environmental sustainability and were highly motivated and more confident in their ability to improve sustainability in their local environment/nature. Similar percentage improvements arose from both types of activity across all cities. Those NbS that had elements of both blue and green infrastructure rated higher than those that had predominantly green NbS. Interestingly, a large percentage of the participants did not live near the NbS that were the focus of these activities. This indicated that expected spatial limitations between benefit and recipient may be overcome when dedicated programmes involve people in learning or monitoring NbS. Therefore, opportunities have arisen to expand inclusion from the immediately local to the larger community through participation and Citizen Science, with potential benefits to social cohesion and urban sustainability.
8 Jakubinsky, J.; Prokopova, M.; Raska, P.; Salvati, L.; Bezak, N.; Cudlin, O.; Cudlin, P.; Purkyt, J.; Vezza, P.; Camporeale, C.; Danek, J.; Pastor, M.; Lepeska, T. 2021. Managing floodplains using nature-based solutions to support multiple ecosystem functions and services. WIREs Water, 8(5):e1545. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1545]
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050581)
(3.50 MB) (3.50 MB)
Floodplains include unique environments shaped over a long time horizon along rivers and smaller streams and formed by alluvial sediments. As floodplains are flat, often with highly fertile and well-accessible land, they have become the intrinsic focus of human society—while providing a variety of goods and ecosystem services. Intensive land use of floodplains is degrading their natural values and significantly reducing their ecosystem functions and services. A significant part of these key services is related with the ability of floodplains to retain water and nutrients, which can be understood as a flood control and a water-retention function. Although these ecosystems serve a number of other basic functions, the importance of floodplains as a place for water retention during extreme discharges caused by intense rainfall or snowmelt and the supply of water in times of drought are essential under conditions of global change. In order to increase the ability of floodplains to perform these functions, it is increasingly required to preserve the connectivity of rivers with surrounding floodplains and adapt human activities to maintain and restore river ecosystems. This article reviews the recent understanding of floodplain delineation, the most common causes of disturbance, the ecosystem functions being performed, discussing in turn the measures being considered to mitigate the frequency and magnitude of hydrologic extremes resulting from ongoing environmental changes.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051456)
(0.58 MB) (592 KB)
In this article, we examine the roles of social dominance orientation (SDO) and ecological dominance orientation (EDO) as predictors of climate change risk and threat perceptions and associated pro-environmental policy support. EDO is a novel measure that we devised based on social dominance theory to assess general preferences for an anthropocentric, hierarchical arrangement between humans, non-human animals, and the natural environment. Across two pre-registered studies (N = 715; USA and Germany) our results indicate that SDO and EDO are uniquely associated with decreased support for climate change mitigation policies benefitting humans, non-human animals, and the natural environment. These relationships in turn are partially mediated by decreased climate change risk and threat perceptions. We successfully replicate our findings using a more behavioral measure as dependent variable. Notably, using a more behavioral measure (Study 2), EDO was significantly associated with pro-environmental behavior but not SDO, when threats are accounted for as mediators.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051684)
(1.62 MB)
The paper proposes a probabilistic approach to the assessment of the impacts of multipurpose dams. It is framed around the notion of Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) in the setting of the Water-Energy-Food nexus. The socio-ecological context of the Tana River Basin in Kenya and the construction of two multipurpose dams are used to highlight co-produced positive and negative NCP under alternative river regimes. These regimes produce both damaging floods that ought to be controlled and beneficial floods that ought to be allowed. But the river regime that results from hydropower generation and flood risk reduction may not be the one that is most conducive to food and feed-based NCP. The approach relates the economic value of river-based NCP coproduction to the probability of flooding to derive the expected annual value of NCP and a NCP value-probability curve. The relation between NCP flows and flood characteristics is tested and estimated based on regression analyses with historical data. Results indicate that the net economic value of key NCP associated with multipurpose dams for local people and associated social equity effects largely depend on the frequency of flood events and on the way impacts are distributed across communities, economic sectors and time.
Powered by DB/Text
WebPublisher, from