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Book (series)Negotiated territorial development in a multi-stakeholders participatory Resource Planning approach: an initial sustainable framework for the Near east Region 2016
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No results found.Throughout the Near East, land and water shortages, land degradation, out of date land tenure systems and food insecurity are compounded by asymmetries in gender roles and power, by severe imbalances in the political-military structures within and between countries, by flagrant deficiencies in land and water management and control systems, and by the incessant increases in demand driven by high rates of population growth and urbanization. This interplay of forces and dynamics form a complex hydr o socio-political web that governs the allocation land and water and who benefits from their availability and their ultimate sustainability. The current allocation arrangements of the region's three major river basins - the Nile, the Euphrates-Tigris and the Jordan - are nascent sources of tension, and potential sources of conflict and violence. Political instability that characterizes the Near East continues to intensify scarcity, suppresses growth and engenders poverty and is being increasingl y exacerbated by the impending consequences of climate change. The Middle East is one of the most water poor and water stressed regions of the globe. While the region is home to 5.1% of the people of the world, it has about only 1% of the world renewable fresh water. Today's annual per capita availability of fresh water in the region is only one seventh of its 1960 level, falling from 3,300 cubic metres per person in 1960 to less than 500 cubic metres in 2015. This is the lowest per capita wat er availability in the world. The current land tenure systems are failing to address long-standing problems that include smallholder farmers, landless households and most marginalized groups such as women continue to compete for shrinking natural recourses, while pastoralists are losing control of their traditional grazing areas. Use, management and access to land and water are becoming extremely sensitive matters as the number of users grows. Governments and local actors have often perceived these major issues differently. This requires effort to be made to ensure a participatory approach to decision-making that effectively involves all the local actors concerned in an equitable and balanced manner. About 90% of the land area in this Region is subject to land degradation in different forms and over 45% of land suitable to farming is exposed to various types of land degradation which include soil nutrient depletion, salinity and wind and water erosion. Per capita arable land availa bility in the region is among the lowest in the world where many countries in the region show levels that are exceptionally low (on average less than 0.123 hectares per person) and the range varies between 0.01 hectares per person (Oman, Qatar, Palestine, Kuwait and Bahrain) to 0.34 hectares in the Sudan in 2015. Arable land as a percentage of land area in the region is very low ranging between 0.1% in Oman to 18.4% in Tunisia in 2013. Most of the countries in the region show shares below 10%. O nly Morocco, Tunisia, and Iraq sow percentages above 10%. Irrigated land areas in the region also represent a small share of total arable land areas. In many of the countries in the region these shares are way below the world average. Only Iran (17.4%) and the UAE (12.5%) show high relative shares in the period 2011-2015. The Region’s critical shortage of water and cultivable land, including the increasing pressure on these resources and their degradation makes their efficient management a pa ramount task. It will be necessary in this regard to promote the engagement of all concerned stakeholders in planning and managing land, water and agrobiodiversity. Actual physical scarcity of land and water, even in the Middle East region, is not the only key issue. Conditions of economic scarcity seem to be equally pressing; there is perhaps enough land and water to meet society's need, but there are few incentives for wise, efficient and egalitarian use of these critical resources. Climate change will impinge on this region’s fragile water balances, suitable land for cultivation, grazing land and food production capacities and will exacerbate the problems and issues of food security. Measures, policies, strategies and institutional capacities to mitigate the impending catastrophic consequences of climate change and to improve the societies’ resilience and adaptation to its consequences are needed now. The sooner the regulatory and institutional setups are put in place the easier the task to deal with climate and other risks. It is necessary and vital to rise up to this challenge by enlisting the stakeholders in the initiatives to promote sustainability and efficiency of land and water use and the management of food security issues. An active engagement of concerned stakeholders in planning and managing water, land and agrobiodiversity necessitates first and foremost the engagement of and participation of particularly women and girls and marginalized groups in all wate r and food aspects as they constitute the main agricultural labour force and the most deprived segments of society. Gender and the water and land nexus in the Arab region is an area where there is still relative little information. There is little systematic knowledge about the many means by which women and men manage water and land in the region. Evidence shows that while women in Egypt have a significant role to play in water use in the process of food production by controlling and managi ng water flows in the fields and supervising workers during irrigation, they rarely own the land they cultivate. Rural women in Yemen spend huge amounts of time collecting and transporting water, often up and down steep slopes and coordinate water allocation and distribution for the various needs of the family and the household but they are rarely involved in decision making and management councils that govern land and water uses. Women everywhere in the Middle East evaluate water quantity and q uality and prioritize water for drinking and health and sanitation purposes but they rarely share equally in the benefits of their labor or in the ownership of the land and water resources. This is why an integrated water and land management system anchored on a genuine participation of stakeholders will be crucial in determining whether the Arab world achieves the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and aspirations for reducing poverty and enhancing shared prosperity. Water and land are the c ommon currency which links nearly every SDG, and it will be a critical determinant of success. Abundant water supplies and cultivable land are vital for the production of food and will be essential to attaining SDG 2 on food security; clean and safe drinking water and sanitation systems are necessary for health as called for in SDGs 3 and 6; and water is needed for powering industries and creating the new jobs identified in SDGs 7 and 8. None of this is achievable without adequate and safe water and sufficient suitable land to nourish the planet’s life-sustaining ecosystem services identified in SDGs 13, 14 and 15. -
DocumentSmallholders and sustainable wells
A Retrospect: Participatory Groundwater Management in Andhra Pradesh (India)
2013Also available in:
No results found.With 16 percent of the world’s population, India has 2.45 percent of the world’s land resources and 4 percent of its water resources. It is obvious that supply will barely match future demand. Around 50 percent of irrigated agriculture and 85 percent of rural drinking water comes from groundwater. Sustainable management of groundwater plays a major role in the agriculture sector, contributing to the economic development of a mainly agrarian country. Half of farmer households in India are indebted and the average outstanding loan increases with the size of the landholding. Smallholders, who have no access to irrigation make up a major portion of the worlds’ poor. In relation to operational area, the poor are well represented in groundwater irrigation. Over 60 percent of India’s irrigated area is dependent on some form of groundwater source. The people nearest the groundwater can best manage this resource, not agencies that visit every now and then. Therefore, t he nature, occurrence and behaviour of aquifer systems need to be understood by those most affected by changes in the system. Local organizations, government, civil society and the private sector all have important, and often unique, roles to play in participatory groundwater management (PGM). This publication is an attempt to describe these roles as they developed during the life of a set of projects in Andhra Pradesh. PGM is highly relevant for India’s rural development, given cu rrent groundwater development practice and related institutional capacities and policy initiatives. Without some method for putting management into the hands of users, the long-term viability of many rural communities is at risk. -
Book (stand-alone)Potential of drinking water alliances to address nitrate pollution – Experiences from Germany
SOLAW21 Technical background report
2022Also available in:
No results found.This paper provides background to the State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture Report, Edition 2021 (SOLAW 21) with an innovative governance approach to addressing non-point pollution sources originating from agricultural activities: alliances between water utilities and farmers in designated water protection areas and drinking water extraction areas. The alliances revolve around the idea of balancing diverging targets such as maintaining drinking water standards and the viability and profitability of agricultural businesses. While farmers can achieve high food production levels by using mineral and organic fertilizers and pesticides, these may have enormous side effects: nitrate and phosphate are transferred into surface and groundwater, impairing water quality and aquatic life. It may also result in the water no longer being usable as drinking water without special, costly treatment. These negative effects led to the establishment of voluntary alliances between water utilities and farmers (hereafter called ‘drinking water alliances’ or ‘alliances’) in the 1980s when the German government strengthened the threshold values for nitrate in drinking water from 90 mg/l to 50 mg/l. Water utilities, together with the regional (Laender) governments, initiated alliances with farmers to adopt fertilization and land management practices in order to protect drinking water resources from nitrate pollution.
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