Adoption of Sustainable Water Management Practices among Farmers in Saudi Arabia

Climate change is increasingly recognized as a worldwide phenomenon that impacts people's livelihoods in many ways. This is especially important in rural areas where households are heavily dependent on rainfed agriculture and natural resources in general for their livelihoods. Farmers' perception and the household level data were collected and analysed to understand the determinants of adaptation to climate change and the impacts of sustainable land and water management practices on agricultural productivity and climate change vulnerability. Rainfall has been showing a decreasing trend and increased variability so there have been new practices adopted by farmers to minimize the impact. Using the case study of Niger, this chapter explores the question of what drives adaptation to climate change in the region, including the adoption of land and water management practices using econometric analysis. Context-specific policy recommendations were drawn from the results that enhance the adaptation to climate change and reduce vulnerability through integrated land, water and soil management practices.

Water cycle, land management, and environmental sustainability are intimately linked. Sustainable land and water management practices are vital for sustaining agricultural productivity and regional development. Unsustainable land and water management practices that violate the system's carrying capacity constraint over long periods can impose significant costs in terms of lost opportunities in farm production and regional development, say by causing waterlogging and salinity. On‐farm and regional salt and water balance dynamics are modeled as a sustainability or carrying capacity constraint, proxied by regional salt and water balance; on‐farm land and water management practices are then adjusted to meet the constraint, such that individual actions do not lead to a net change in the ground water and salt balance. Common actions across the farms would achieve the overall environmental sustainability. An irrigated area in southern Murray‐Darling Basin in Australia serves as a case study example. Integrated hydrologic, economic, agricultural, and environmental models called SWAGMAN series are used to evaluate the impacts of a range of on‐farm interventions on farm income and environmental sustainability. The results show that policies such as restrictions on area under certain crops, and tradable groundwater recharge/salinity credits both offer higher total gross margin and net present value than the business as usual scenario, specifically in the long run—win–win options for the farmers and the environment. The modeling results thus confirm the widely held view that unsustainable land and water management practices that violate the system's carrying capacity can impose significant costs on regional communities. In‐depth hydrological and economic analyses are needed to shape and guide society's vision for sustainable land and water management. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Knowledge sharing and adoption behaviour: An imperative to promote sustainable soil use and management

Poor water management doesn't just lead to water scarcity; it is also driving a health crisis in Namibia. The aim of this study was to generate solid, applicable, evidence-based insights that will inform and enhance the present community water management policy and practice in a way that markedly improves community health. This study adopted a qualitative research approach. Sixteen participants selected using purposive sampling. Four participants answered semi structured questionnaires and twelve were interviewed. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. On the impact of sustainable water management, the study found social, economic and environmental protection as benefits to the community. On support provided by government, the study found effective support in some areas and failure in other areas. Specifically, delays, budget dry up, ineffective engagement of the grassroots community and selective development were found as short comings by government. These barriers were established to be the major causes of ineffective sustainable water management. Health and quality were found to exist in areas where there is clean water, while most rural places that are far away from institutions were found to use unsafe water. Therefore, the study revealed that sustainable water management practices are promoting health in a few areas of the region, with a larger part left out. The exclusion of these areas implies that, Namibia will not be able to achieve Sustainable Development Goal six. The study recommended inclusive engagement of the community and adoption of contextualised interventions to promote sustainable water management. In addition, the study recommended benchmarking to create opportunities to learn from the best. Furthermore, realistic robust strategic planning was indicated as necessary to help leadership in prioritizing sustainable water management projects. Moreover, a stakeholder integrated approach is recommended, to enhance synergetic benefits and taking all on board.

Cotton is a major agricultural crop in Brazil, particularly in the state of Mato Grosso. Despite its significance, little is known about the spatial and temporal distribution of cotton farming and its environmental impacts in the region. This study aims to evaluate the presence of cotton farming in various mesoregions of Mato Grosso and assess soil use and coverage trends between 2019 and 2021. Utilizing satellite images provided by Mapbiomas, the dynamics of cotton cultivation were analyzed. The results reveal that the Northern Mesoregion has the largest cotton cultivation area, although it represents a small fraction of overall land use, with forest formations being predominant. The Northeast and Southeast Mesoregions also exhibit an increase in cotton areas, albeit on a smaller scale. Moreover, significant changes in land use are associated with livestock and soybeans, which dominate most studied mesoregions. The study concludes that cotton farming has limited expansion in Mato Grosso, presenting lower environmental impact compared to other human activities. Nevertheless, continuous monitoring of the crop and the adoption of sustainable soil and water management practices are recommended.

This research study conducted in Egypt focuses on addressing the issue of industrial water pollution and promoting sustainable water and environmental management practices. The study introduces a novel tool called the Industrial Wastewater Quality Index (IWQI) and utilizes two assessment methods to evaluate the extent of water pollution caused by industrial effluents. The IWQI takes into consideration both the environmental limits specified by Egyptian legislation and industry‐specific parameters, effectively condensing extensive water quality data into simplified categories. The IWQI model proves to be a dependable instrument for assessing the overall quality of groundwater intended for industrial use. It incorporates multiple water quality indices and employs multivariate statistical analysis techniques to determine the contribution of each parameter to industrial water quality. This comprehensive analysis enhances the reliability of the model, making it a valuable point of reference for similar locations worldwide, particularly those sharing similar climatic conditions. The outcomes of this study provide valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders involved in regulating and mitigating industrial water pollution in Egypt. The findings also have relevance to other countries facing similar challenges, highlighting the importance of developing effective techniques for investigating pollution sources, monitoring water quality, and forecasting future trends. The study underscores the necessity of implementing proactive measures to address industrial water pollution and protect water resources and ecosystems. By emphasizing these aspects, the study emphasizes the importance of promoting sustainable water and environmental management practices. Overall, the IWQI and the study's findings contribute to the development of strategies to manage and control industrial water pollution and can guide policymakers and stakeholders in Egypt and other countries facing similar challenges.

Since 2000, with the elaboration of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), a general agreement was achieved at the European level for implementing sustainable urban water management (SUWM) practices. However, there is criticism on the applicability of the WFD at the local level leading to disparities between administrative units of the same region or state (Andersson, Petersson, and Jarsjö 2012). Even so, research based on Australian cases shown that, regardless the regional or national legislation, discrepancies between administrative units have a local origin. In effect, they rest on the capacity for local governance systems to accept innovative ideas, to have a leading actor in SUWM practices and, to enhance interdisciplinary approaches (Brown and Libeman 2004). A recent concept, adaptive governance, aims to create similar conditions by combining top-down and bottom-up initiatives (Folke et al. 2005). The fit-for-purpose governance framework proposes a tool to evaluate the transition towards adaptive governance based on three steps: identifying the purpose, mapping the context and evaluating the outcome of governance strategies (Rijke et al. 2012).A similar discrepancy, at a smaller scale, in Brussels’ Capital Region, is perceived. Each commune has a different attitude towards disseminating SWUM practices. Among them, the commune of Forest proves to be one of the most advanced in this aspect by turning constraints into opportunities. For example, the lack of coordination between the communal and regional departments allowed the emergence of two key actors: the commune’s water service and an active non-governmental association. They maintained the dissemination and implementation of SWUM practices by organising working groups based on SWUM objectives. This paper investigates the conditions specific to the commune of Forest at the level of the local governance that allowed a faster dissemination of SUWM practices. The data gathered on site (semi-structured interviews with the main stakeholders, urban regulations and on-going SWUM projects) is analysed through fit-for-purpose governance framework. On the one hand, the paper draws conclusions about the level of development of the local governance and the current constraints on moving towards adaptive governance. On the other hand, it tests the limits of the fit-for-purpose framework in the case of Forest.Andersson, Ingela, Mona Petersson, and Jerker Jarsjö. 2012. “Impact of the European Water Framework Directive on Local-Level Water Management: Case Study Oxunda Catchment, Sweden.” Land Use Policy 29 (1): 73–82. Brown, M, and M Libeman. 2004. “Bringing Water Sensitive Design into Mainstream.” http://www.sustainabilityworkshop.com/publications/enviro_04_wsudintomainstream.pdf.Folke, Carl, Thomas Hahn, Per Olsson, and Jon Norberg. 2005. “Adaptive Governance of Social-Ecological Systems.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 30 (1): 441–73Rijke, Jeroen, Rebekah Brown, Chris Zevenbergen, Richard Ashley, Megan Farrelly, Peter Morison, and Sebastiaan van Herk. 2012. “Fit-for-Purpose Governance: A Framework to Make Adaptive Governance Operational.” Environmental Science & Policy 22 (October). Elsevier Ltd: 73–84.

Besides providing reliable water resources for agricultural production, rural development efforts in Myanmar should target rural water security in terms of safe water supply and sanitation, and by mitigating water-related hazards. However, very few studies are available over the status of water-related development in rural areas of the country, and consequently on suitable practical solutions. The present paper describes a participatory workshop undertaken involving 45 rural development officers of the Department of Rural Development (DRD) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MOALI), aimed at identifying suitable sustainable land and water management (SLWM) practices to be developed in rural areas of the country. Adoption of water safety plans (WSP), water harvesting, and soil and water bioengineering were strongly supported, while the need for improving water sanitation, especially in the poorest areas, was made evident. Insights of the participatory process confirmed that the poorest regions of Myanmar have also the worst water management structures. The results of the present work can represent baseline information and a needs assessment for future development projects in the country. However, there is a strong need for more studies and reports targeting marginalized rural contexts of Myanmar, to support equitable development.

<p>Food security has long been a challenge for East Africa region and is becoming a pressing issue for the coming decades because food demand is expected to increase considerably following rapid population and income growth. Agricultural production in the region is thus required to intensify, in a sustainable way, to keep up with food demand. However, many challenges face the sustainable intensification of the agricultural production including low productivity, inadequate management, small scale operations, and large climate variability. Several pilot initiatives, that involves a bundle of land and water management practices, have been introduced in the region to tackle such challenges. However, their large-scale implementation remains limited. In the framework of a research project which is jointly implemented by the International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA), the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) and the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), we analyse up scaling opportunities for water and land management practices for the sustainable and resilient intensification of rice and fodder production systems in the extended Lake Victoria Basin in East Africa. The expected outcome of this project is to provide an improved understanding of up scaling of such practices through model simulations and integrated analysis of political economy aspects, governance and social and gender dimensions.</p><p>This paper presents an integrated upscaling modeling framework that combines biophysical suitability analysis and economic optimization. Several production system options (i.e., management practices) for rice intensification are examined at high-spatial resolution (0.5°x0.5°) in the extended Lake Victoria basin. The suitability analysis identifies suitable area for the production system options based on a combination of various biophysical factors such as climate, hydrology, vegetation and soil properties using the Global Agroecological Zones (GAEZ) model and the Community Water Model (CWaTM). The economic optimization identifies the optimal combination of those production systems that maximizes their overall contribution to agricultural economic benefits having satisfied various technical and resource constraints including commodity balance, land availability and suitability, water availability, labor availability and capital constraints. A set of socioeconomic (e.g., impact of population and income growth on food demand and agricultural productivity) and climate change (e.g., impact on water resources availability) scenarios based on combinations of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), and co-developed bottom-up policy scenarios, through stakeholders’ engagement with the Basin Commission (LVBC), have been utilized to simulate the modeling framework. Results of this study show the existence of significant opportunities for the sustainable intensification of rice production in East Africa. Moreover, the study identifies the key biophysical and economic factors that could enable the upscaling of sustainable land and water management practices for rice production in the region. Overall, this study demonstrates the capacity of the proposed upscaling modeling framework as a system approach to address the linkages between the intensification of agricultural production and the sustainable use of natural resources.</p>

As projections highlight that half of the global population will be living in regions facing severe water scarcity by 2050, sustainable water management policies and practices are more imperative than ever. Following the Sustainable Development Goals for equitable water access and prudent use of natural resources, emerging digital technologies may foster efficient monitoring, control, optimization, and forecasting of freshwater consumption and pollution. Indicatively, the use of sensors, Internet of Things, machine learning, and big data analytics has been catalyzing smart water management. With two-thirds of the global population to be living in urban areas by 2050, this research focuses on the impact of digitization on sustainable urban water management. More specifically, existing scientific literature studies were explored for providing meaningful insights on smart water technologies implemented in urban contexts, emphasizing supply and distribution networks. The review analysis outcomes were classified according to three main pillars identified: (i) level of analysis (i.e., municipal or residential/industrial); (ii) technology used (e.g., sensors, algorithms); and (iii) research scope/focus (e.g., monitoring, optimization), with the use of a systematic approach. Overall, this study is expected to act as a methodological tool and guiding map of the most pertinent state-of-the-art research efforts to integrate digitalization in the field of water stewardship and improve urban sustainability.

A holistic approach to embracing the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-6) towards water security in Pakistan

To move towards sustainable development, the mining industry needs to identify better mine water management practices for reducing raw water use, increasing water use efficiency, and eliminating environmental impacts in a precondition of securing mining production. However, the selection of optimal mine water management practices is technically challenging due to the lack of scientific tools to comprehensively evaluate management options against a set of conflicting criteria. This work has provided a solution to aid the identification of more sustainable mine water management practices. The solution includes a conceptual framework for forming a decision hierarchy; an evaluation method for assessing mine water management practices; and a sensitivity analysis in view of different preferences of stakeholders or managers. The solution is applied to a case study of the evaluation of sustainable water management practices in 16 mines located in the Bowen Basin in Queensland, Australia. The evaluation results illustrate the usefulness of the proposed solution. A sensitivity analysis is performed according to preference weights of stakeholders or managers. Some measures are provided for assessing sensitivity of strategy ranking outcomes if the weight of an indicator changes. Finally, some advice is given to improve the mine water management in some mines.

Adoption of sustainable land and water management practices and their impact on crop productivity among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

The test on the model with data collected from two years’ field experiments revealed an ability to satisfactorily simulate crop parameters such as LAI, biomass accumulation and partitioning, yield, and variables influencing crop growth and development as nitrogen uptake by crops and partitioning in different organs, and dynamics of soil water and nitrogen including infiltration and leaching. With the model, crop yield, water use efficiency (WUE), nitrogen use efficiency (NYE) and water-nitrogen leaching at specific soil layers under various water and nitrogen management practices were simulated to provide data used as references for designing sustainable nitrogen and water management practices.

Water pollution by nitrogen residues from agricultural intensification has become a recurring problem, particularly in wetlands used for rice production. As a solution to remediate this issue, sustainable water and nutrient management are being explored. These practices involve matching water and nutrient availability with plant needs in space and time while ensuring production objectives are met. In this study, we performed a meta-analysis to synthesize the current knowledge on the effect of water and nutrient management practices on nitrogen losses and uptake by plants in rice cropping systems. Using a random effects model, we summarized the effect sizes of 103 observations from 27 peer-reviewed studies. Tree water management practices were evaluated: “Continuous Flooding” (used as control), “Alternate Wet and Dry (AWD)” and “Controlled Irrigation (CI)”. The response ratio (RR) of nitrate leaching and total nitrogen loss was negative for CI (-0.53 and -0.34, respectively) and AWD (-0.13 and -0.36, respectively). Regardless of water management practices (AWD or CI), desaturating the soil before re-irrigation reduced nitrate and total nitrogen losses. When considering the source of nitrogen input, water management practices involving desaturation of the soil before re-irrigating were effective in reducing nitrogen losses in urea-only applications. However, in the case of controlled release urea (CRF) applications, water management treatments (AWD or CI) were not necessary to reduce nitrogen losses, especially those due to ammonia volatilization. This result also indicates the effectiveness of CRF treatment in retaining the essential nitrogen component required for plant growth and development. Nevertheless, when nitrogen rates exceed 200 kg N/ha, adopting water management practices such as CI and AWD becomes necessary to decrease nitrate leaching and total nitrogen loss in rice fields. Regarding the rice grain yield, water management practices that involve reducing the amount of water (AWD and CI) have shown no significant effect on yield (RR 0.017 and -0.0001). In conclusion, AWD and CI water management practices have been shown to reduce nitrogen losses without compromising rice grain yield. Additionally, the application of CRF reduces nitrogen losses that may occur in a continuous flooding system. Key-words: Water management; Nitrogen; Rice; Controlled release urea; Water pollution