Pre-Columbian farming method resurrected in Bolivia
Poor farmers in the heart of Bolivia's Amazon are being encouraged to embrace the annual floods - by using a centuries-old irrigation system for their crops. See BBC article here . 18 Aug 09
Laos: Flooding starts, testing stops for NT2 hydropower project
Latest on Nam Theun 2 in the World Bank blog 18 Aug 09
Asia must reform its water use to feed 1.5 billion extra people by 2050
IWMI report noted by BBC here . Congratulations to Aditi. 17 Aug 09
Determinants of globalization and growth prospects for Sub-Saharan African countries
"The countries and regions that are driving the process of knowledge creation are benefiting the most from globalization, increasingly acting as drivers and relegating Sub-Saharan Africa to the end-user status. In this process, the income gap between Sub-Saharan Africa and the globalizers has increased." Report from the WB here 17 Aug 09
India Sate of Environment Report
Recent report (beware, 6.62 Mb) detailing state of India's water and land resources, pointing out causes for concern. 20 July 2009
India's water use 'unsustainable'
A BBC news report on a recent paper in Nature on GW depletion in India. Link to Nature here
Water scarcity looms
An interesting article from the Worldwatch Institute
What can African agriculture learn from China?
29thJuly 2009. An excellent report from researchers at the University of Stellenbosch on the lessons that can be learned from development of Chinese agriculture.
"The challenge for Africa is to operationalise technologies in the absence of much of the necessary flanking support (policies, prices, infrastructure, agricultural credit etc). But what are these actual technologies?
The study team considers that water and soil related technologies offer the best Chinese examples for transfer to Africa. Africa is generally a water-challenged land, and soil degradation is a problem. Here China offers packages that can be applied, especially when focusing on small-scale farmers. This includes water saving and augmenting techniques, tillage and planting methods, soil enhancing methods such as mulching, and the maximisation of fertilizer usage by soil testing and application techniques. "
Learning for sustainability
An internet resource to support and explain dialogue processes and interedisciplinarity in natural resource management. Offered by Will allen. Highly recommended. Visit site here.
Worldwatch Institute Launches Initiative to Assess Agricultural Methods’ Impacts on Sustainability, Productivity
A new Gates Foundation project to examine potentials for improved water use, nutrient and C cycling, germplasm development and gender equity to meet challenges for increased and sustainable productivity. See more July 8. Worldwatch Institute Homepage
G8 money for food production
G8 leaders have announced a multi-billion dollar initiative aimed at boosting food production in countries with shortages, particularly in Africa.
The 20 billion dollar initiative involves a focus on preventing, and not just responding to, famine. Read More....
G8 shifts focus from food aid to farming
The G8 countries announce a “food security initiative”, committing more than $12bn for agricultural development over the next three years, in a move that signals a further shift from food aid to long-term investments in farming in the developing world. See full article in the FT
6th July 09
ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model
ASTER GDEM is an easy-to-use, highly accurate DEM covering all the land on earth, and available to all users regardless of size or location of their target areas at 30 meter postings.
Watershed projects
A May 2008 report by Salah Darghouth and others reviewing experience through World Bank projects on watersheds here.
Addressing China's Water Scarcity
A 2009 report by the World Bank here. 30 June 2009.
Better governance helps in the fight against poverty
"Research by many scholars shows that improved governance strengthens development, and not the other way around. When governance is improved by one standard deviation, infant mortality declines by two-thirds and incomes rise about three-fold in the long run."
See report on Governance Indicators from the World Bank. 29 June 2009
World Water Development Report 2009 available
"Unsustainable management and inequitable access to water resources cannot continue. We might not have all the information we would like to have before acting, but we do know enough now to begin to take significant steps". For full report, facts and figures of this major effort focussing on water and development visit here
Water-flows in the river systems of India to be made public
Central Information Commission (CIC) directed the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) to make the Ganga Basin studies Public and not to consider River flow data secret. This will have far reaching implications on water governance in India. CIC has also directed to make reports of the Central Water Comssion and National Institute of Hydrology on the impacts of hydropower projects public. For more information, visit here
IFAD and GEF fund $13.2m of projects in Ethiopia
19 June. IFAD and GEF fund projects in the Lake Tana region to reduce soil loss and improve food security over an area of 15,000 km2.
For more information, visit IFAD media page here
INVITATION TO COMMENT on a draft policy brief on Hydropower:
Making hydropower more sustainable? A sustainability measurement approach led by International Hydropower Association DRAFT for Public Comment. By T. Foran. June 2009. The purpose of this brief is to increase understanding about a new "Sustainability Assessment Protocol" being prepared by an international multi-stakeholder panel led by the International Hydropower Association (IHA). Our brief is an M-POWER output. It is independent from, and not funded by, IHA. For more background information on activities in the Mekong, visit Mpower. Click M-POWER Policy Brief on IHA Sustainability Assessment Protocol June 2009 draft.pdf to see the draft report.
It is planned to translate this brief into languages such as Chinese, Laotian, and Thai, for release later in 2009. We welcome your comments on the attached draft and encourage readers to comment by 15 July 2009 (e-mail tira@sea-user.org).
New report: Climate Change is detectable driver of migration
200 million people could be on the move due to climate change by 2050 says a new report from CARE International.
"Mexico and the Central American countries are already experiencing the negative impacts of climate change – both in terms of less rainfall and more extreme weather, such as hurricanes and floods. Rainfall in some areas is expected to decline by as much as 50 per cent by 2080, rendering many local livelihoods unviable and dramatically raising the risk of chronic hunger."
"The potential impacts of future sea level rise are at least as startling. In Vietnam’s densely populated Mekong River Delta, for example, a sea level rise of two meters would - assuming current populations densities - flood the homes of more than 14.2 million people and submerge half of the region’s agricultural land,”
From the World Watch Institute
African Leaders Pursue "Malawi Miracle"
Five years ago, millions of Malawian farmers faced drought and were in need of food aid. By late 2007, thanks to improved rains and an innovative program that provides direct subsidies to small farmers for fertilizers and improved seeds, Malawi began exporting its corn surplus to Zimbabwe. A dozen countries in Africa may soon replicate the "Malawi Miracle," reports staff writer Ben Block. See see article here
Senior Researcher Brian Halweil noted earlier this month that some U.N. officials are advocating a new direction for global hunger-relief efforts. In addition to offering specific policy advice, they suggested that producing more crops must go hand in hand with improving the incomes of the hungry. The "Doubly Green Revolution" of raising yields and rebuilding agroecosystems might also benefit from the addition of an economic limb, including the need to guarantee farmers equitable access to markets, Halweil writes in Hunger is Not Just About Food
Profit for good
By Sarah Murray, Financial Times.
Published: May 27 2009 15:15
In water-scarce India, access to modern irrigation technology has long eluded the country’s 260m smallholder farmers. Now, small-scale manufacturing and a distribution system is bringing irrigation products to growing numbers of these farmers, generating water savings of 30-50 per cent, energy savings of 50 per cent and increased crop yields of up to 70 per cent.
Go to FT article
Africa almost giving land away, says UN
Published in the Financial Times: May 24 2009
African countries are giving away vast tracts of farmland to other countries and investors almost for free, with the only benefits consisting of vague promises of jobs and infrastructure, according to a report published on Monday.
Go to FT article
A New Report on the Impacts of GCC from Global Humanitarian Foundation
325m people around the world are seriously affected by climate change every year. This number could more than double, to around 660m, by 2030.
Download report here
The Economist reports that, as in so many reports of this kind, the trend looks plausible, but there seems little basis for the exact numbers. The authors admit with refreshing candour that “the real numbers may be significantly lower or higher.
The Truth about Water Wars
Seven experts debate the past and present existence of water wars, consider the difficulty of owning a fluid resource, and examine the hot spots for future conflict. http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_truth_about_water_wars/
May 2009
JRC and World Bank publish global accessibility map
Travel time to major cities: A global map of accessibility
A new global map released today by the Joint Research Centre and published in the World Bank’s World Development Report 2009 measures urbanisation in the new perspective of Travel Time to 8,500 Major Cities. The map fills an important gap in our understanding of economic, physical and even social connectivity.
In the absence of agreement on the meaning of "urbanisation", the European Commission and the World Bank are proposing a new definition based on a unique mapping of “Accessibility” called the Agglomeration Index. In this context, the new map, developed at the JRC's Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES), uses travel-time as a unit of measurement, representing accessibility through the easily understood concept of “how long will it take to get there?” Accessibility links people with places, goods with markets and communities to vital services. Accessibility - whether it is to markets, schools, hospitals or water - is a precondition for the satisfaction of almost any economic need. Furthermore, accessibility is relevant at all levels, from local development to global trade.
Online map and poster
JRC Link 1
JRC Link 2
EC Press Release
Crops prospects and food security - FAO
Although global cereal production is expected to reach record levels this year, at least 33 countries are forecast to face serious difficulties, largely because of conflict, economic struggles or bad weather, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says. The latest issue of the FAO Crop Prospects and Food Situation report, released May 16 at the agency's headquarters in Rome, found that cereal production is on track to reach 2,095 million tons, a jump of 4.8 percent on the figures from last year. The bulk of the increase is tipped to be in maize production. Demand and prices are on the rise, according to the report, driven by the fast-growing biofuels industry and by stocks hitting their lowest level in more than 20 years.
To learn more, please go to http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/j9940e/j9940e00.htm
Dr. Mobin-ud-Din Ahmad receives Editor's Choice Honorable Mention Award
Mobin has been chosen to receive the Soil and Water Conservation Society's Journal of Soil and Water Conservation – Editor's Choice Honorable Mention Award, 2008. The award is based on the work “Ahmad, Mobin-ud-Din, Mark Giordano, Hugh Turral, Illyas Masih, and Zubair Masood. 2007. At what scale does water saving really save water? Lessons from the use of resource conservation technologies in Pakistan. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 62(2):29A-35A”
The award was presented to Mobin in Tucson, Arizona at an Awards luncheon on 29th July, 2008. Congratulations!
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