Your search found 22 records
1 Leal Filho, W. (Ed.) 2011. Experiences of climate change adaptation in Africa. London, UK: Springer. 315p.
Climate change ; Adaptation ; Mapping ; Economic value ; Wildlife ; Rain ; Rainfed farming ; Disasters ; Risk reduction ; Policy ; Case studies ; Indigenous knowledge ; Food security ; Pastoralism ; Grazing lands ; Lowland ; Decentralization ; Drought ; Remote sensing ; Satellite surveys ; Ecosystems ; Solar energy ; Soil analysis ; Erosion ; Carbon ; Statistical analysis ; Research projects ; Smallholders ; Farmers ; Environmental effects ; Ecosystems ; Models / Africa / Tanzania / Kenya / Ethiopia / Africa South of Sahara / Zambia / Nigeria / Kilombero Ramsar Site / Nandi District / Keiyo District / Samburu East District / Tigray / Zanzibar / Mount Kenya Ecosystem
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 551.6 G100 LEA Record No: H044413)
(0.34 MB)
2 Leal Filho, W. (Ed.) 2011. Experiences of climate change adaptation in Africa. London, UK: Springer. 315p.
Climate change ; Adaptation ; Mapping ; Economic value ; Wildlife ; Rain ; Rainfed farming ; Disasters ; Risk reduction ; Policy ; Case studies ; Indigenous knowledge ; Food security ; Pastoralism ; Grazing lands ; Lowland ; Decentralization ; Drought ; Remote sensing ; Satellite surveys ; Ecosystems ; Solar energy ; Soil analysis ; Erosion ; Carbon ; Statistical analysis ; Research projects ; Smallholders ; Farmers ; Environmental effects ; Ecosystems ; Models / Africa / Tanzania / Kenya / Ethiopia / Africa South of Sahara / Zambia / Nigeria / Kilombero Ramsar Site / Nandi District / Keiyo District / Samburu East District / Tigray / Zanzibar / Mount Kenya Ecosystem
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 551.6 G100 LEA c2 Record No: H044416)
(0.35 MB)
3 Bruijnzeel, L. A.; Bremmer, C. N. 1989. Highland-lowland interactions in the Ganges Brahmaputra River Basin: a review of published literature. Kathmandu, Nepal: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). 136p. (ICIMOD Occasional Paper 11)
Highlands ; Lowland ; River basins ; Plains ; Geomorphology ; Geology ; Hydrology ; Climate change ; Precipitation ; Rain ; Evaporation ; Vegetation ; Land use ; Sedimentation ; Water yield ; Water budget ; Erosion / India / Ganges River Basin / Brahmaputra River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 551.483 G000 BRU Record No: H044505)
(0.37 MB)
4 Alemehayu, T.; Demissie, A.; Langan, Simon; Evers, J. 2011. Irrigation practice and policy in the lowlands of the Horn of Africa. Final draft. [Background paper]. Contribution to FAO Expert Meeting, Nairobi, Kenya, 24 - 25 November 2011. 21p.
Irrigation practices ; Policy ; Lowland ; Drought ; Food security ; Irrigation programs ; Irrigation schemes ; Spate irrigation ; Groundwater irrigation ; Groundwater development ; River basins ; Drainage / Africa / Ethiopia / Kenya / Eritrea / Somalia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044639)
(1.80 MB)
5 Johnston, Robyn; Hoanh, Chu Thai; Lacombe, Guillaume; Lefroy, R.; Pavelic, Paul; Fry, Carolyn. 2012. Managing water in rainfed agriculture in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Final report prepared by IWMI for Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI); Stockholm, Sweden: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). 100p. [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2012.201]
Water management ; Agroecology ; Environment ; Rainfed farming ; Irrigated farming ; Farming systems ; Crop production ; Agricultural production ; Yields ; Poverty ; Climate change ; Drought ; Floodplains ; Rain ; Mapping ; Case studies ; Reservoirs ; Deltas ; Groundwater ; Farm ponds ; Water storage ; Rivers ; Lowland ; Highlands ; Plains ; Landscape ; Coastal area ; Urban areas ; Aquifers / Southeast Asia / Cambodia / Laos / Myanmar / Thailand / Vietnam / Greater Mekong Subregion
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044646)
(4.39 MB) (2.44MB)
6 Krause, S.; Jacobs, J.; Bronstert, A. 2007. Modelling the impacts of land-use and drainage density on the water balance of a lowland–floodplain landscape in northeast Germany. Ecological Modelling, 200(3-4):475-492. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2006.08.015]
Land use ; Water balance ; Lowland ; Floodplains ; Simulation models ; Rivers ; Hydrology ; Water quality / Northeast Germany / Havel River
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044989)
(1.47 MB)
This study presents the modelling approach and impact assessment of different strategies for managing wetland water resources and groundwater dynamics of landscapes which are characterised by the hydrological interactions of floodplains and the adjacent lowlands. The assessment of such impacts is based on the analysis of simulation results of complex scenarios of land-use changes and changes of the density of the drainage-network. The method has been applied to the 198km2 Lower Havel River catchment as a typical example of a lowland–floodplain landscape. The model used consists of a coupled soil water and groundwater model, where the latter one is additionally coupled to the surface channel network. Thus, the hydrological processes of the variable saturated soil zone as well as lateral groundwater flow and the interactions between surface water and groundwater are simulated in an integrated manner. The modelwas validated for several years of significantly different meteorological conditions. The comparison of lateral and vertical water balance components showed the dominance of lateral flow processes and the importance of the interactions between surface water and groundwater for the overall water balance and the hydrological state of that type of landscape.
The simulation of land-use change scenarios showed only minor effects of land-use change on the water balance and groundwater recharge. Changes of groundwater recharge were particularly small within the wetland areas being part of the floodplain where interactions between surface water and groundwater are most pronounced. Alterations in vertical groundwater recharge were counter-balanced by the lateral interaction between groundwater and surface water. More significant deviations in groundwater recharge and storage were observed in the more peripheral areas towards the catchment boundaries which are characterised by greater groundwater distance from the surface and less intense of ground water–surface water interactions.
However, the simulation results assuming a coarsening of the drainage network density showed the importance of drainage structure and geometry for the water balance: The removal of the artificial draining ditches in the floodplain would result in significant alterations of total groundwater recharge, i.e., less recharge from winter to early summer and an increase of groundwater recharge during summer and autumn. Furthermore the different effects of groundwater recharge alterations on the dynamics of groundwater stages within the wetland areas close to the floodplains compared to the more peripheral areas could be quantified. Finally, it will be discussed that a well-adjusted co-ordination of different management measures is required to reach a sustainable water resources management of such lowland–floodplain landscapes.
The simulation of land-use change scenarios showed only minor effects of land-use change on the water balance and groundwater recharge. Changes of groundwater recharge were particularly small within the wetland areas being part of the floodplain where interactions between surface water and groundwater are most pronounced. Alterations in vertical groundwater recharge were counter-balanced by the lateral interaction between groundwater and surface water. More significant deviations in groundwater recharge and storage were observed in the more peripheral areas towards the catchment boundaries which are characterised by greater groundwater distance from the surface and less intense of ground water–surface water interactions.
However, the simulation results assuming a coarsening of the drainage network density showed the importance of drainage structure and geometry for the water balance: The removal of the artificial draining ditches in the floodplain would result in significant alterations of total groundwater recharge, i.e., less recharge from winter to early summer and an increase of groundwater recharge during summer and autumn. Furthermore the different effects of groundwater recharge alterations on the dynamics of groundwater stages within the wetland areas close to the floodplains compared to the more peripheral areas could be quantified. Finally, it will be discussed that a well-adjusted co-ordination of different management measures is required to reach a sustainable water resources management of such lowland–floodplain landscapes.
7 Moors, E. J.; Groot, A.; van Scheltinga, C. T.; Siderius, C.; Stoffel, M; Huggel, C.; Wiltshire, A.; Mathison, C.; Ridley, J.; Jacob, D.; Kumar, P.; Bhadwal, S.; Gosain, A.; Collins, D. N. 2011. Adaptation to changing water resources in the Ganges basin northern India. Environmental Science and Policy, 14:758-769.
Water resources ; Water demand ; Climate change ; Adaptation ; Water availability ; River basins ; Glaciers ; Runoff ; Lowland / India / Ganges basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045015)
(1.02 MB)
An ensemble of regional climate model (RCM) runs from the EU HighNoon project are used to project future air temperatures and precipitation on a 25 km grid for the Ganges basin in northern India, with a view to assessing impact of climate change on water resources and determining what multi-sector adaptation measures and policies might be adopted at different spatial scales. The RCM results suggest an increase in mean annual temperature, averaged over the Ganges basin, in the range 1–4 8C over the period from 2000 to 2050, using the SRES A1B forcing scenario. Projections of precipitation indicate that natural variability dominates the climate change signal and there is considerable uncertainty concerning change in regional annual mean precipitation by 2050. The RCMs do suggest an increase in annual mean precipitation in this region to 2050, but lack significant trend. Glaciers in headwater tributary basins of the Ganges appear to be continuing to decline but it is not clear whether meltwater runoff continues to increase. The predicted changes in precipitation and temperature will probably not lead to significant increase in water availability to 2050, but the timing of runoff from snowmelt will likely occur earlier in spring and summer. Water availability is subject to decadal variability, with much uncertainty in the contribution from climate change. Although global social-economic scenarios show trends to urbanization, locally these trends are less evident and in some districts rural population is increasing. Falling groundwater levels in the Ganges plain may prevent expansion of irrigated areas for food supply.
8 Mekuria, Wolde. 2013. Conversion of communal grazing lands into exclosures restored soil properties in the semi-arid lowlands of northern Ethiopia. Arid Land Research and Management, 27(2):153-166. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15324982.2012.721858]
Grazing lands ; Common lands ; Soil properties ; Soil organic matter ; Soil sampling ; Soil conservation ; Lowland ; Vegetation ; Biomass ; Climate change / Northern Ethiopia / Raya-azebo District / Alemata District / Tanqua-abergele District
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045710)
(0.41 MB)
In the semi-arid tropics, communal grazing lands provide a livelihood for millions of people.However, it is highly threatened by overgrazing and continuous land degradation and, as a result, proper management is important to improve the livelihood of the people. This study investigated the effectiveness of exclosures established on communal grazing lands to restore soil properties and identified the relationship among soil properties, site and vegetation characteristics, and exclosure age. A space-for-time substitution approach to detect changes in soil properties following the establishment of exclosures on communal grazing lands was used. Replicated (n¼3) 5-, 10-, and 15-year-old exclosures were selected and paired, each exclosure with an adjacent communal grazing land. All exclosures showed higher soil organic matter (OM), total soil nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), and cation exchange capacity (CEC) than the adjacent grazing lands. The increases in soil properties between exclosures and grazing lands in the 0- to 0.2-m depth varied between 58 and 101% for OM, from 54 to 108% for N, from 26 to 128% for P, and from 18 to 28% for CEC over the grazing lands. Soil properties in exclosures and grazing lands showed significant (p<0.05) correlations with biomass and vegetation cover indicating that vegetation restoration is a key to restore degraded soils through exclosure establishment. Establishing exclosures on communal grazing lands can be effective in restoring the degraded soils in the semi-arid lowlands of Ethiopia. However, further studies are required on the ecological and economic benefits of future exclosures, as expansion of exclosure could cause grazing pressure on the remaining communal grazing lands.
9 Samarasinha, G. G. de L. W.; Aheeyar, M. M. M. 2013. Informal land fragmentation in settlement schemes. Colombo, Sri Lanka: Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (HARTI). 30p. (HARTI Research Report 157)
Land consolidation ; Settlement ; Irrigation schemes ; Land tenure ; Land productivity ; Land distribution ; Legal aspects ; Highlands ; Lowland ; Water sharing ; Farmers ; Socioeconomic environment ; Living standards ; Case studies / Sri Lanka / Polonnaruwa / Kandy / Anuradhapura / Badulla / Kurunegala / Batticaloa / Matale / Minneriya Settlement Scheme / Minipe Settlement Scheme / Rajangana Left Bank Settlement Scheme / Mahaweli System C / Girandurukotte / Wennoruwa Tank / Navagiri Scheme / Dewahuwa Settlement Scheme
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 333.33 G744 SAM Record No: H046990)
(0.30 MB)
10 Dasgupta, P.; Das, B. S.; Sen, S. K. 2015. Soil water potential and recoverable water stress in drought tolerant and susceptible rice varieties. Agricultural Water Management, 152:110-118. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2014.12.013]
Water stress ; Soil water potential ; Drought tolerance ; Lowland ; Rice ; Plant growth ; Plant developmental stages ; Soil water content ; Crop yield ; Physiological response ; Models / India / Kharagpur
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047497)
(0.73 MB)
We conducted a two-year field experiment to determine if water stress could be exploited to recover yield in one drought resistant (Vandana) and three susceptible (IR36, IR72 and Swarna) rice varieties. Stress was induced in active tillering, flowering and grain filling stages by suspending irrigation until the soil became sufficiently dry and plants began to show stress symptoms when irrigation was resumed, such that plants could recover from stress. We observed that terminal soil water potential (SWP) as low as -110 kPa in the active tillering stage was less detrimental to relative water content, proline content, and electrolyte leakage. A 27% rise in the level of stress led to ~8%, 44% and 21% increase in yield in IR36, Vandana and Swarna. The possible causes are 23%, 39% and 10% increase in the corresponding root biomass ofthe varieties, resulting in higher water uptake in the vegetative stage treatment plots. This was further supported by high correlations between yield and terminal SWP in this treatment. Critical limits of SWP may be identified to exploit the potential of rice varieties to sustain or improve yield under water stress. Results also suggest an opportunity to design a water saving strategy in lowland rice production.
11 Sugden, F. 2009. Neo-liberalism, markets and class structures on the Nepali lowlands: the political economy of agrarian change. Geoforum, 40:634-644. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2009.03.010]
Agricultural sector ; Agrarian structure ; Small farms ; Surpluses ; Marketing policies ; Lowland ; Political aspects ; Economic aspects / Nepal / Terai
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047884)
In recent years, neo-liberalism has manifested itself in peripheral social formations on an ideological basis through strategies of poverty alleviation. This process is epitomized by Nepal’s donor led agrarian strategy, which constructs farmers as ‘rational entrepreneurs’ responsible for their own welfare. In the processit seeks to encourage smallholders to shift from subsistence to market oriented production. However, over 10 years since the current agrarian strategy was released, there is little evidence of commercialisation and the integration of rural populations into global or domestic markets, while subsistence production remains dominant. To understand this failure, one must examine both the contradictions inherent in neo-liberal ideologies and the rural political economy of Nepal. While the emphasis on self-help through market access can be understood to be an ideological process constitutive of the overdetermined nature of capitalist expansion, contradictions are evident in such ideologies when they are mobilised in regions dominated by non-capitalist economic systems. The depoliticizing assumptions inherent in such ideologies can serve the interests of capitalist expansion through glossing over the associated forms of class exploitation. However, a case study from Nepal’s eastern lowlands demonstrates how they also divert attention from complex non-capitalist modes of surplus appropriation in both the relations of production and circulation. Such forms of exploitation have not only obstructed the process of classical agrarian transition long envisaged in Marxian theory, but have also blocked the emergence of the particular form of rural commodity production envisaged in Nepal’s neo-liberal agrarian strategy itself.
12 Sugden, Fraser. 2017. A mode of production flux: the transformation and reproduction of rural class relations in lowland Nepal and North Bihar. Dialectical Anthropology, 41(2):129-161. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-016-9436-3]
Agricultural production ; Climate change ; Cultivated land ; Lowland ; Landowners ; Agrarian structure ; Tenant farmers ; Labour ; Living standards ; Political aspects ; Capitalism ; Feudalism ; Colonialism ; Rural communities ; Households ; Social aspects ; History ; Caste systems ; Migration ; Economic situation ; Indebtedness ; Farm income ; Remuneration / Nepal / India / North Bihar / Tarai / Eastern Gangetic Plains / Madhesh / Mithilanchal / Madhubani / Dhanusha / Morang / Purnea / Sunsari
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047834)
(2.24 MB)
The Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia represents a peripheral region far from the centers of global capitalist production, and this is all the more apparent in Mithilanchal, a cultural domain spanning the Nepal/Bihar border. The agrarian structure can be considered ‘semi-feudal’ in character, dominated by landlordism and usury, and backed up by political and ideological processes. Paradoxically, Mithilanchal is also deeply integrated into the global capitalist market and represents a surplus labor pool for the urban centers of Western India as well as the Persian Gulf in a classic articulation between pre-capitalist and capitalist modes of production. A review of the changes in the agrarian structure over recent decades in the context of globalisation, out-migration and climate stress, shows that while landlordism remains entrenched, the relationship between the marginal and tenant farmer majority and the landed classes has changed, with the breakdown of ideological ties and reduced dependence on single landlords. The paper thus ends on a positive note, as the contemporary juncture represents an opportune moment for new avenues of political mobilization among the peasantry.
13 Djanibekov, U.; Van Assche, K.; Boezeman, D.; Villamor, G. B.; Djanibekov, N. 2018. A coevolutionary perspective on the adoption of sustainable land use practices: the case of afforestation on degraded croplands in Uzbekistan. Journal of Rural Studies, 59:1-9. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2018.01.007]
Sustainable land use ; Innovation adoption ; Afforestation ; Land degradation ; Farmland ; Lowland ; Agricultural development ; Farmers ; Social aspects ; Ecological factors ; Coevolution ; Case studies ; Institutions / Uzbekistan / Amu Darya River
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048701)
(0.40 MB)
Cotton export substantially contributes to Uzbekistan's economy. To produce cotton, the state imposes output targets on farmers which results in intensified cotton production practices, and consequently in land degradation. Improving degraded croplands via afforestation is an option explored through research experiments in the region, yet is currently not practiced by farmers. Using the example of the Amu Darya River lowlands of Uzbekistan, we analyze afforestation and its implementation constraints, by developing a coevolutionary socio-ecological systems framework that leans on evolutionary economics and evolutionary governance theories. Our study shows that farmers' perceptions and rationalities, in close association with governance configurations of actors, institutions and knowledges, make them unreceptive towards afforestation. Altering relations between agricultural institutions and actors that are currently present in the cotton-centric configuration is difficult given the path-, inter- and goal dependencies. To change rural sustainable development paths, we conclude that the adoption of innovations requires a tailoring of knowledge and technology fitting local situation, as well as the reassembling of relations between actors, institutions and knowledge.
14 Vote, C.; Eberbach, P.; Inthavong, T.; Lampayan, R. M.; Vongthilard, S.; Wade, L. J. 2019. Quantification of an overlooked water resource in the tropical rainfed lowlands using RapidEye satellite data: a case of farm ponds and the potential gross value for smallholder production in southern Laos. Agricultural Water Management, 212:111-118. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2018.08.016]
Water resources development ; Rainfed farming ; Tropical climate ; Satellite imagery ; Smallholders ; Agricultural production ; Vegetables ; Farm income ; Farm ponds ; Water use ; Household consumption ; Lowland / Lao People's Democratic Republic / Sukhuma / Phonthong
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049089)
(2.14 MB)
In southern Laos, water stored in farm ponds is largely underutilised as it is perceived to be unfit for human consumption; subsequently, groundwater is the preferred source for domestic and agricultural consumption. For the first time, this paper presents the results of a study designed to quantify the total pond water volume within the landscape via remote-sensing methods in two districts in Champasak province that could be used to improve rural household cash income through the expansion of market-oriented dry season crop production. Water bodies were delineated via simple classification of RapidEye data using the Normalised Difference Water Index and a sub-classification was performed to distinguish between ponds and the streamflow network. Final estimates of total pond volume in Sukhuma and Phonthong districts were ~2.30 × 106 m3 and 3.55 × 106 m3 , respectively; and the average pond volume across both districts was ~1987 m3 . Sensitivity analysis of the potential gross value of farm ponds for irrigation of dry season, vegetable production typical of market-oriented smallholder activities in the area indicated that substantial gross economic gains could be made from better use and management of these resources.
15 Scott, C. A.; Zhang, F.; Mukherji, A.; Immerzeel, W.; Mustafa, D.; Bharati, Luna; Zhang, H.; Albrecht, T.; Lutz, A.; Nepal, S.; Siddiqi, A.; Kuemmerle, H.; Qadir, M.; Bhuchar, S.; Prakash, A.; Sinha, R. 2019. Water in the Hindu Kush Himalaya. In Wester, P.; Mishra, A.; Mukherji, A.; Shrestha, A. B. (Eds.). The Hindu Kush Himalaya assessment: mountains, climate change, sustainability and people. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. pp.257-299.
Water availability ; Precipitation ; River basin management ; Flow discharge ; Sedimentation ; Water springs ; Water use ; Water quality ; Water pollution ; Water governance ; Water institutions ; Groundwater management ; Lowland ; Mountains ; Plains ; Drinking water ; Sanitation ; Contaminants ; Urbanization ; Ecosystems ; Environmental flows ; International waters ; International cooperation ; Decision making / Central Asia / South Asia / Hindu Kush / Himalaya
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049103)
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-92288-1.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049103.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049103.pdf
(28.3 MB)
16 Mapa, R. B. (Ed.) 2020. The soils of Sri Lanka. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 128p. (World Soils Book Series) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44144-9]
Soil types ; Soil surveys ; Soil sciences ; Geomorphology ; Geology ; Soil degradation ; Soil fertility ; Soil salinity ; Soil erosion ; Mineralogical soil types ; Tropical soils ; Clay minerals ; Kaolinite ; Smectites ; Luvisols ; Acrisols ; Alluvial soils ; Rock ; Weathering ; Highlands ; Landslides ; Arid zones ; Lowland ; Climatic zones ; Agroecological zones ; Coastal plains ; Floodplains ; Plantation crops ; Land resources ; Land use planning ; Legislation ; Drainage systems ; Eutrophication ; Environmental effects ; Monsoon climate ; Rain ; Temperature ; Waterlogging / Sri Lanka
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy SF Record No: H049945)
17 Maru, H.; Haileslassie, Amare; Zeleke, T.; Esayas, B. 2022. Agroecology-based analysis of meteorological drought and mapping its hotspot areas in Awash Basin, Ethiopia. Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, 8(1):339-360. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-021-01101-y]
Drought ; Mapping ; Agroecological zones ; Meteorological factors ; Precipitation ; Evapotranspiration ; Rain ; Temperature ; Risk management ; Disaster preparedness ; Adaptation ; Arid zones ; Highlands ; Lowland / Ethiopia / Awash Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050179)
(11.30 MB)
Drought-related risk is among the major global challenges of our time. It negatively impacts food security and ecosystem health. It is becoming a persistent problem in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa and specifically in Ethiopia. Information on its intensity and spatiotemporal distribution is critical to contextualize interventions and build agroecosystem and community resilience. This study aims at analyzing spatiotemporal characteristics of meteorological drought over eight Agroecological Zones (AEZs) of the Awash Basin, Ethiopia. Annual gridded temperature and precipitation dataset obtained from the National Meteorological Agency of Ethiopia for the period 1983–2016, covering 1655 grid points, were used. The study applied the Standard Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) methods to characterize the meteorological droughts. The study applied Arc GIS 10.5 to map the drought hotspots. From the result, the value of SPEI and SPI methods was divergent in characterizing the magnitude and spatial occurrence of drought episodes. SPEI has more advantages in detecting dry months and a small advantage in detecting dry seasons compared to the SPI. Temporally, wet and dry years dominated the 1990s and 2010s, respectively. Drought dominated 1980s and normal years dominated the 2000s. The spatial context of drought hotspot showed that AEZs in the upper and lower parts of the Awash Basin were hit by severe to extreme drought while the escarpments and middle parts of the basin experienced mild to moderate drought. This contrasts with the common perception that the hot to warm arid lowlands AEZs are the only hotspot areas to drought. Moreover, previously none frequent drought AEZs, such as tepid to cool humid mid-highlands were identified as drought hotspots in the basin. This information could help policymakers to target AEZs and implement context-specific and informed drought risk management decisions and adaptation measures.
18 Suhardiman, Diana; Scurrah, N. 2021. Institutional bricolage and the (re)shaping of communal land tenure arrangements: two contrasting cases in upland and lowland northeastern Laos. World Development, 147:105630. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105630]
Common lands ; Land tenure systems ; Customary tenure ; Institutional development ; Highlands ; Lowland ; Land use planning ; Land access ; Land governance ; Collective action ; State intervention ; Political aspects ; Farmers ; Households ; Livelihoods ; Strategies ; Rural areas ; Villages ; Local communities ; Case studies / Lao People's Democratic Republic / Houaphan / Viengxay / Khouan / Navit / Pa Khom
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050547)
(1.70 MB)
This article examines the factors shaping communal land tenure and livelihood practices in two villages in Houaphan province, Northeastern Laos. It employs the concept of institutional bricolage to show how local actors combine communal tenure, state intervention, donor programs and local power relations to (re)shape formal rules and day-to-day land tenure and livelihood practices. In particular, it highlights how state territorial strategies in lowland and upland rural spaces have differently shaped state interventions in communal land use and access, producing hybrid forms of communal land management rules and practices. The two cases highlight different processes by which communal tenure is eroded or adapted in the process of state incorporation, raising questions about competing authorities over land and the interests and objectives of different actors in land administration. The village cases illustrate how local communities’ (in)ability to shape, adapt, and reproduce institutional rules and arrangements pertaining to access and use of communal land is closely interlinked with: 1) how farm households perceive communal land tenure in relation to their livelihood options and farming strategies; 2) how power relations among local communities and between local communities and state actors shape decision-making processes and distributional outcomes; and 3) the role of the state in sustaining and advancing its control over land and how this changes over time.
19 Chapagain, D.; Dhaubanjar, Sanita; Bharati, Luna. 2021. Unpacking future climate extremes and their sectoral implications in western Nepal. Climatic Change, 168(1-2):8. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03216-8]
Climate change ; Extreme weather events ; Forecasting ; Trends ; Temperature ; Precipitation ; River basins ; Highlands ; Lowland ; Rain ; Monsoons ; Natural disasters ; Impact assessment ; Water resources ; Energy ; Agriculture ; Food security ; Forests ; Biodiversity ; Tourism ; Public health / Nepal / Karnali River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050668)
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10584-021-03216-8.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050668.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050668.pdf
(2.13 MB) (2.13 MB)
Existing climate projections and impact assessments in Nepal only consider a limited number of generic climate indices such as means. Few studies have explored climate extremes and their sectoral implications. This study evaluates future scenarios of extreme climate indices from the list of the Expert Team on Sector-specific Climate Indices (ET-SCI) and their sectoral implications in the Karnali Basin in western Nepal. First, future projections of 26 climate indices relevant to six climate-sensitive sectors in Karnali are made for the near (2021–2045), mid (2046–2070), and far (2071–2095) future for low-and high-emission scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively) using bias-corrected ensembles of 19 regional climate models from the COordinated Regional Downscaling EXperiment for South Asia (CORDEX-SA). Second, a qualitative analysis based on expert interviews and a literature review on the impact of the projected climate extremes on the climate-sensitive sectors is undertaken. Both the temperature and precipitation patterns are projected to deviate significantly from the historical reference already from the near future with increased occurrences of extreme events. Winter in the highlands is expected to become warmer and dryer. The hot and wet tropical summer in the lowlands will become hotter with longer warm spells and fewer cold days. Low-intensity precipitation events will decline, but the magnitude and frequency of extreme precipitation events will increase. The compounding effects of the increase in extreme temperature and precipitation events will have largely negative implications for the six climate-sensitive sectors considered here.
20 Leakey, R. R. B.; Tientcheu Avana, M.-L.; Awazi, N. P.; Assogbadjo, A. E.; Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe; Hendre, P. S.; Degrande, A.; Hlahla, S.; Manda, L. 2022. The future of food: domestication and commercialization of indigenous food crops in Africa over the third decade (2012–2021). Sustainability, 14(4):2355. (Special issue: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Mainstreaming Underutilized Crops) [doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042355]
Food crops ; Indigenous organisms ; Domestication ; Commercialization ; Agroforestry ; Tree crops ; Genetic improvement ; Medicinal properties ; Ethnobotany ; Nutritional value ; Nonwood forest products ; Vegetative propagation ; Trade ; Marketing ; Cultivation ; Natural resources management ; Food security ; Livelihoods ; Policies ; Poverty alleviation ; Rural development ; Drylands ; Lowland ; Highlands / North Africa / West Africa / East Africa / Southern Africa / Central Africa / Sahel
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050971)
(1.62 MB) (1.62 MB)
This paper follows the transition from ethnobotany to a deeper scientific understanding of the food and medicinal properties of African agroforestry tree products as inputs into the start of domestication activities. It progresses on to the integration of these indigenous trees as new crops within diversified farming systems for multiple social, economic and environmental benefits. From its advent in the 1990s, the domestication of indigenous food and non-food tree species has become a global programme with a strong African focus. This review of progress in the third decade is restricted to progress in Africa, where multi-disciplinary research on over 59 species has been reported in 759 research papers in 318 science publications by scientists from over 833 research teams in 70 countries around the world (532 in Africa). The review spans 23 research topics presenting the recent research literature for tree species of high priority across the continent, as well as that in each of the four main ecological regions: the humid zone of West and Central Africa; the Sahel and North Africa; the East African highlands and drylands; and the woody savannas of Southern Africa. The main areas of growth have been the nutritional/medicinal value of non-timber forest products; the evaluation of the state of natural resources and their importance to local people; and the characterization of useful traits. However, the testing of putative cultivars; the implementation of participatory principles; the protection of traditional knowledge and intellectual property rights; and the selection of elite trees and ideotypes remain under-researched. To the probable detriment of the upscaling and impact in tropical agriculture, there has been, at the international level, a move away from decentralized, community-based tree domestication towards a laboratory-based, centralized approach. However, the rapid uptake of research by university departments and national agricultural research centres in Africa indicates a recognition of the importance of the indigenous crops for both the livelihoods of rural communities and the revitalization and enhanced outputs from agriculture in Africa, especially in West Africa. Thus, on a continental scale, there has been an uptake of research with policy relevance for the integration of indigenous trees in agroecosystems and their importance for the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. To progress this in the fourth decade, there will need to be a dedicated Centre in Africa to test and develop cultivars of indigenous crops. Finally, this review underpins a holistic approach to mitigating climate change, as well as other big global issues such as hunger, poverty and loss of wildlife habitat by reaping the benefits, or ‘profits’, from investment in the five forms of Capital, described as ‘land maxing’. However, policy and decision makers are not yet recognizing the potential for holistic and transformational adoption of these new indigenous food crop opportunities for African agriculture. Is ‘political will’ the missing sixth capital for sustainable development?
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