water resources
This book synthesizes IDRC's experience in local water management and presents a number of pointed, well-constructed recommendations for decision-makers, policy analysts, and researchers. From a review of the issue of freshwater supply and local water management, it explores examples of IDRC-supported field research in three broad, interconnected categories: small-scale water supply;...
More than 80% of the population in Nepal are still dependant directly and indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. With over 85% of the population living in rural areas and the national GDP being heavily dependant on agriculture, this sector has been prioritized by the government for development. Despite the focus by the government and the importance of agriculture sector, most rural...
There is mounting evidence that climate change is triggering a shrinking and thinning of many glaciers world-wide which may eventually put at risk water supplies for hundreds of millions - if not billions - of people. Data gaps exist in some vulnerable parts of the globe undermining the ability to provide precise early warning for countries and populations at risk. If the trend continues and...
For the first time in 50 years, several state governments in India are dealing with drought in a different way - moving away from drought relief to drough mitigation. Summary of the cover story in Down To Earth (August 15, 2001), titled "A water journey" and written by Richard Mahapatra, Kazimuddin Ahmed and Binayak Das.
Yunnan is a biodiversity hotspot. 74 % of forests are managed by communities, who are very dependent on them for additional income. The region suffers from major environmental problems (floods, erosion, pollution, forest fires/pests, etc.) with high pressure coming from central government to exploit water and timber resources.
The presentation examines how farm...
The Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) mountain range is suffering in recent decades from increasing population pressure, especially in the “Middle Mountains”, where the catchments are degrading rapidly due to unsustainable land management practices. In response to this concern the “People and Resource Dynamics Project – PARDYP” (1996-2006) was launched, with a focus on...
Global warming is already happening. Its impact is being felt most by the world’s poorest people. Food production, water supplies, public health, and people’s livelihoods are all being damaged and undermined. Global warming threatens to reverse human progress, making the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for poverty reduction unachievable. Industrialized...
Over 2,300 leaders in science, government and civil society from more than 130 countries and 200 collaborating organisations gathered at the 2008 World Water Week in Stockholm to chart the path forward for a world where crises and opportunities are converging. Billions suffer ill health due to lack of access to safe sanitation or clean drinking water while growing, richer populations mount...
The perceptions of what is required for sustainable water resources management and sustainability science in general have undergone major changes over the past decade. Initially, water resources management followed an instrumental 'prediction and control' approach, dominated by technical end-of-pipe solutions. Pollution control, for example, relied primarily on waste water treatment instead of...
The mega-dam is well on the way to being busted. It has had a short pre-eminence: all but seven of the world's hundred largest dams were built since World War Two. But people power is now bringing the era of big dam construction to a close. There are few sites ideal for big dams which do not already contain a cliff of clay, rock and concrete. Those that remain are mostly blocked, both because...
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