This study, first published in 1993, analyses the relationship among poverty, food insecurity and commercialization in rural China by employing agricultural household models. Data are derived from a 10,000 household subsample of the annual rural household consumption and expenditure survey.

Drawing on extensive case studies, this book presents innovative approaches for participation and collective decision-making in natural resource management, good practice for research and challenges for future developments. It employs the practical lessons to show how to organize participatory research, the forms of participation and quality of the science involved, and how to scale up participatory approaches and successful initiatives in resource management.

The world's water resources are being tapped at an ever increasing rate, to the extent that sustainability and water quality are being compromised. This book provides accounts of the technology used for managing water resources to reduce risks. Besides controlling floods, overcoming droughts and reducing pollution, the reader will learn to plan and maintain hydraulic structures, and to appreciate the diverse demands on water, including those of the environment. The topics considered include hydrology and assessment of water resources; drought management and flood management tools; and the interaction between land use and water resources, including surface runoff, groundwater and water quality. The second half of the book focuses on water use, demand management and the infrastructure required to manage water. Consideration is also given to the tools needed for planning, including economics and computer modelling. This book is aimed at a postgraduate level, suitable for students in water engineering and science. It will also serve as a reference for practitioners concerned with water resources and water supply.

Having a robust drought monitoring system for Ethiopia is crucial to mitigate the adverse impacts of droughts. Yet, such monitoring system still lacks in Ethiopia, and in the Upper Blue Nile (UBN) basin in particular. Several drought indices exist to monitor drought, however, these indices are unable, individually, to provide concise information on the occurrence of meteorological, agricultural and hydrological droughts. A combined drought index (CDI) using several meteorological, agricultural and hydrological drought indices can indicate the occurrence of all drought types, and can provide information that facilitates the drought management decision-making process. This thesis proposes an impact-based combined drought index (CDI) and a regression prediction model of crop yield anomalies for the UBN basin. The impact-based CDI is defined as a drought index that optimally combines the information embedded in other drought indices for monitoring a certain impact of drought, i.e. crop yield for the UBN. The developed CDI and the regression model have shown to be effective in indicating historic drought events in UBN basin. The impact-based CDI could potentially be used in the future development of drought monitoring in the UBN basin and support decision making in order to mitigate adverse drought impacts.

Energy policy has always been an important part of China's national policy agenda. Although the overall Chinese economy has become largely market-driven, its energy sectors are still subject to varying degrees of government control. Authoritarian governance allows China to move very quickly in some areas, such as hydropower, nuclear power, wind power, and solar energy. However, conflicting interests have also led to infighting and impasses. With a specific focus on energy supply, Energy Policy in China provides a succinct account of China's energy policy over the last sixty years. Using separate chapters dedicated to each energy sub-sector, Chi-Jen Yang introduces and discusses both the achievements and failures of the Chinese energy systems, as well as the strengths and insufficiencies of energy governance in China. This book is an interdisciplinary study written for a broad audience, including those researching and working in the fields of energy policy, business strategy, and government administration, as well as Chinese and Asian Studies more broadly.

The use of GIS, and its application for solving environmental problems, is growing rapidly. This powerful set of tools can be used to great effect in hydrological modeling, environment and habitat assessments, ecosystem studies, monitoring of wetlands and forested watersheds, urban studies, agricultural impact assessment and much more.
GIS for Water Resources and Watershed Management explains the fundamentals, demonstrates new approaches, techniques and methods, and provides examples of real applications. It presents the basic concepts, and shows how to acquire the critical information needed to plan and implement GIS studies, and develop practical solutions for environmental management and problem solving.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203217918

Shadows of Power examines public policy and in particular, the communicative processes of policy and decision-making. It explore the important who, how and why issues of policy decisions. Who really takes the decisions? How are they arrived at and why were such processes used? What relations of power may be revealed between the various participants?

Using stories from planning practices, this book shows that local planning decisions, particularly those which involve consideration of issues of 'public space' cannot be understood separately from the socially constructed, subjective territorial identities, meanings and values of the local people and the planners concerned. Nor can it be fully represented as a linear planning process concentrating on traditional planning policy-making and decision-making ideas of survey analysis-plan or officer recommendation-council decision-implementation.

Such notions assume that policy-and decision-making proceed in a relatively technocratic and value neutral, unidirectional, step-wise process towards a finite end point. In this book Jean Hiller explores ways in which different values and mind-sets may affect planning outcomes and relate to systemic power structures. By unpacking these and bring them together as influences on participants' communication, she reveals influences at work in decision-making processes that were previously invisible.

If planning theory is to be of real use to practitioners, it needs to address practice as it is actually encountered in the worlds of planning officers and elected representatives. Hillier shed light on the shadows so that practitioners may be better able to understand the circumstances in which they find themselves and act more effectively in what is in reality a messy, highly politicised decision-making process.

Shadows of Power examines public policy and in particular, the communicative processes of policy and decision-making. It explore the important who, how and why issues of policy decisions. Who really takes the decisions? How are they arrived at and why were such processes used? What relations of power may be revealed between the various participants?

Using stories from planning practices, this book shows that local planning decisions, particularly those which involve consideration of issues of 'public space' cannot be understood separately from the socially constructed, subjective territorial identities, meanings and values of the local people and the planners concerned. Nor can it be fully represented as a linear planning process concentrating on traditional planning policy-making and decision-making ideas of survey analysis-plan or officer recommendation-council decision-implementation.

Such notions assume that policy-and decision-making proceed in a relatively technocratic and value neutral, unidirectional, step-wise process towards a finite end point. In this book Jean Hiller explores ways in which different values and mind-sets may affect planning outcomes and relate to systemic power structures. By unpacking these and bring them together as influences on participants' communication, she reveals influences at work in decision-making processes that were previously invisible.

If planning theory is to be of real use to practitioners, it needs to address practice as it is actually encountered in the worlds of planning officers and elected representatives. Hillier shed light on the shadows so that practitioners may be better able to understand the circumstances in which they find themselves and act more effectively in what is in reality a messy, highly politicised decision-making process.

It is beyond doubt that the interconnectedness between food, energy, water security and environmental sustainability exists and is getting amplified with increased globalization. It has been recognized that efforts to address only one part of a systemic problem by neglecting other inherently interlinked aspects may not lead to desirable and sustainable outcomes. In this perspective, policy- and decision- making requires a nexus approach that reduces trade-offs and builds synergies across sectors, and helps to reduce costs and increase benefits for humans and nature compared to independent approaches to the management of water, energy, food and the environment. In the past, work related to the Nexus has looked at the interactions between water and food or water and energy, but there has been a reluctance to bring forward a broader systematic perspective that captures the multiple sectors and resource dependencies while understanding its cost to the environment if we neglect these linkages. This book is a compilation of thirteen papers published previously as a special issue of Water International, contains significant pieces of work on the W-E-F nexus focusing on relevant tools, solutions and governance at local and broader human scales.

The rapid loss of tropical forests, particularly in the developing world, has been a global concern since the late 1980s and has prompted a variety of international initiatives to save the forests. In 1991, the World Bank responded to global concerns and to criticism by nongovernmental organizations by forming a conservation-oriented forest strategy. "Managing a Global Resource" is an outgrowth of the independent evaluation conducted by the World Bank's Operations Evaluation Department and discusses how effectively that strategy was implemented. In this detailed investigation, Uma J. Lele explores why the loss of forests and biodiversity has been so rapid in some developing countries (Brazil, Indonesia, and Cameroon) and not in others (China, India, and Costa Rica). She assesses future prospects for conservation in these six countries by critically examining their policies, institutional arrangements, and emerging national and international instruments to conserve forests and biodiversity. Together these six countries account for 25 percent of the world's forest cover and 44 percent of the world's population. "Managing a Global Resource" presents case studies of the forest sectors of each country in the context of overall development policies, interest groups, and governance issues. Lele's investigation finds a fundamental divergence in forest-rich countries between the global objectives of conservation and the local objectives of development and private profit. In some forest-poor countries, in contrast, natural resource loss has led the countries on their own accord to adopt a variety of conservation-oriented policies and programs. Despite the greater congruence between the global and national objectives in these forest-poor countries, competing demands on their resources and the constraints on their policies, institutions, and human capital make it difficult for them to affect forest and biodiversity conservation. This volume makes it clear that without substantial international financial transfers and knowledge of appropriate, location-specific solutions, much of the world's tropical forests will be lost. Even with substantial financial resources the prospects for conservation depend on a complex and dynamic set of country-specific factors. "Managing a Global Resource" offers unusually rich insights into the global/national interactions and lessons for future strategies. It will be of interest to conservationists and environmentalists concerned with the future of conservation in a changing environment. Uma J. Lele is senior advisor in the World Bank's Operations Evaluation Department. She has written extensively on issues of agricultural and rural development and aid and capital flows, and is best known for her works on rural development and aid effectiveness in Africa.

The sharp rise in mineral use has revived concern about scarcity. Economist John Tilton responds by analyzing recent trends in the consumption and availability of minerals that are most integral to the needs of modern civilization. He reminds readers that, if the arguments about scarcity sound familiar, it is because the story of minerals scarcity is almost as old as human history -- and so too is substitution and technological innovation. The issue at hand is the unprecedented acceleration in exploitation and use. Given global population growth, rising living standards, and environmental concerns, how seriously should today's society take the threat of mineral exhaustion?

On Borrowed Time? provides general interest and student readers with an accessible framework for understanding scarcity. Tilton defines important concepts and explores the methods used to study mineral scarcity, including physical measures of known reserves and the total resource base, and economic measures, such as extraction and end-user costs. He notes the increasing emphasis on the social and environmental costs of mineral production and use, placing the scarcity debate in context of broader concerns about sustainability and equity. He adds a history of thought about scarcity, from Malthus and Ricardo to Harold Hotelling, Donella Meadows, and present-day writers.

The risks posed by forest destruction throughout the world are highly significant for all. Not only are forests a critical source of timber and non-timber forest products, but they provide environmental services that are the basis of life on Earth. However, only rarely do beneficiaries pay for the goods and services they experience, and there are severe consequences as a result for the poor and for the forests themselves. It has proved difficult to translate the theory of market-based approaches into practice. Based on extensive research and case studies of biodiversity conservation, watershed protected and carbon sequestration, this book demonstrates how payment systems can be established in practice, their effectiveness and their implications for the poor.

In 1989, the International Labor Organization stated that all indigenous peoples living in the postcolonial world were entitled to the right to prior consultation, over activities that could potentially impact their territories and traditional livelihoods. However, in many cases the economic importance of industries such as mining and oil condition the way that governments implement the right to prior consultation. This book explores extractive conflicts between indigenous populations, the government and oil and mining companies in Latin America, namely Mexico, Peru and Bolivia. Building on two years of research and drawing on the state-corporate and environmental crime literatures, this book examines the legal, extralegal, illegal as well as political strategies used by the state and extractive companies to avoid undesired results produced by the legalization of the right to prior consultation. It examines the ways in which prior consultation is utilized by powerful indigenous actors to negotiate economic resources with the state and extractive companies, while also showing the ways in which weaker indigenous groups are incapable of engaging in prior consultations in a meaningful way and are therefore left at the mercy of negative ecological impacts. It demonstrates how social mobilization-not prior consultation-is the most effective strategy in preventing extraction from moving forward within ecologically fragile indigenous territories.

The rate of global increase in water abstraction for irrigation has been declining since the 1970's due to declining potentials for large and medium-scale irrigation developments, and is expected to further decline in the next decades. As such the significant proportion of the expected increase in production would have to be supplied from existing irrigated and /or cultivated lands. This in turn could be achieved by enhancing land and water productivity through improved performance and optimal operation and maintenance. With less than 15% of over 5 million ha irrigation potential harnessed, irrigation devolvement in Ethiopia remained low. Over 70% of the developed irrigation in the country belongs to small-scale irrigation serving smallholder farmers. While accelerated development of new irrigation, particularly of large and medium-scale schemes is relevant in Ethiopia, ensuring the performance and sustainability of existing schemes is also equally important. The existing irrigation schemes in Ethiopia are generally characterized by an overall performance and technical sustainability levels of below expectation. This thesis evaluates the performance of two large-scale (Wonji-Shoa and Metahara) and two community-managed (Golgota and Wedecha) irrigation schemes located in the Awash River Basin of Ethiopia. The study focussed on hydraulic/water delivery performance in the large-scale schemes, and on comparative and internal irrigation service (utility) evaluation in the community-managed schemes. Water delivery performance was evaluated using routine data and hydrodynamic modelling. Farmers' utility was evaluated using qualitative responses of water users. Major performance challenges in each category of schemes were addressed and operational/water management options for improvement were identified.

To properly conserve, restore and manage riverine ecosystems and the services they provide, it is pertinent to understand their functional dynamics. Growing human populations and high dependency on natural resources in developing countries have exerted pressure on land and water resources. However, there is a major knowledge gap concerning the influence of human activities on the functioning of tropical rivers in terms of organic matter processing and energy sources supporting riverine consumers. This thesis explores the functioning of tropical upland streams and savanna rivers by assessing the spatial and temporal dynamics in organic processing under different land-use and discharge conditions and the resultant influence on energy sources for riverine consumers. This thesis contributes to the theories of river functioning and has improved understanding of the functioning of African tropical streams by identifying a diverse macroinvertebrate shredder guild and determining its role in organic matter processing. This thesis also shows that large mammalian herbivores enhance terrestrial-aquatic food web linkages in African savanna rivers via the transfer of organic matter. The findings of this researcht are useful for defining future research needs and actions for sustainable management of agriculturally influenced streams and savanna rivers in landscapes witnessing declining wildlife populations and changing land uses.

Coastal zones are critical multiple-use resources, under pressure from constant demands from different sources - conservation, economic growth and social welfare. This book identifies the dilemmas of managing conservation and development in coastal areas. It offers important information on the management, conservation and social implications of coastal resources. The authors present a variety of participatory methods and techniques that can be used to show the success or otherwise of the different uses and how they affect the users. Their interdisciplinary analysis draws upon scientific knowledge as well as the latest social science insights on property rights and governance. The book is intended for researchers and students in geography, development studies and environmental planning, and also for practitioners in natural resource management and coastal zone management.

Coastal zones are critical multiple-use resources, under pressure from constant demands from different sources - conservation, economic growth and social welfare. This book identifies the dilemmas of managing conservation and development in coastal areas. It offers important information on the management, conservation and social implications of coastal resources. The authors present a variety of participatory methods and techniques that can be used to show the success or otherwise of the different uses and how they affect the users. Their interdisciplinary analysis draws upon scientific knowledge as well as the latest social science insights on property rights and governance. The book is intended for researchers and students in geography, development studies and environmental planning, and also for practitioners in natural resource management and coastal zone management.

With the general reader in mind, Clean Energy, Climate and Carbon outlines the global challenge of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. It covers the changing concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide through time and its causes, before considering the promise and the limitations of a wide range of energy technologies for decreasing carbon dioxide emissions. Despite the need to decrease carbon dioxide, the global use of fossil fuels is increasing and is likely to continue to do so for some decades to come. With this in mind, the book looks at the range of clean energy technologies and considers in detail, what for many people is the unfamiliar clean energy technology of carbon capture and storage (CCS). How can we capture carbon dioxide from flue gases? How do we transport it? How do we store it in suitable rocks? What are suitable rocks and where do we find them? How do we know the carbon dioxide will remain trapped once it is injected underground? What does CCS cost and how do those costs compare with other technology options? The book also explores the political environment in which the discussion on clean energy technology options is occurring. What will a price on carbon do for technology uptake and what are the prospects of cutting our emissions by 2020 and of making even deeper cuts by 2050? What will the technology mix look like by that time? For people who are concerned about climate change, or who want to learn more about clean energy technologies, including CCS, this is the definitive view of the opportunities and the challenges we face in decreasing emissions despite a seemingly inexorable global increase in energy demand.

Since the 1980s a major change took place in public policies for water resources management. The role of governments shifted under this reform process from an emphasis on investment in the development, operation and maintenance of water infrastructure to a focus on managing water resources systems by stipulating general frameworks and defining key principles for water allocation. This interdisciplinary research examines how this water reform process unfolds within four African waterscapes that are historically constituted by natural and social processes. The study analyzes the interplay between public policies designed and implemented by government agencies and the institutions that govern access to and control over water resources among groups of agricultural water users. The findings of this research show that the water reform policies have led to similar outcomes in dissimilar contexts and that water policy only to a limited extent leads to progressive institutional change concerning agricultural water use, especially in this neoliberal era. Moreover, this research shows that excluding targeted investments in the development of hydraulic infrastructure for historically disadvantaged groups has narrowed the options of the governments to redress the colonial legacy and the capacity of small-scale farmers to move their livelihood beyond subsistence.

For integrated water resources management both blue and green water resources in a river basin and their spatial and temporal distribution have to be considered. This is because green and blue water uses are interdependent. In sub-Saharan Africa, the upper landscapes are often dominated by rainfed and supplementary irrigated agriculture that rely on green water resources. Downstream, most blue water uses are confined to the river channels, mainly for hydropower and the environment. Over time and due to population growth and increased demands for food and energy, water use of both green and blue water has increased. This book provides a quantitative assessment of green-blue water use and their interactions. The book makes a novel contribution by developing a hydrological model that can quantify not only green but also blue water use by many smallholder farmers scattered throughout the landscape. The book provides an innovative framework for mapping ecological productivity where gross returns from water consumed in agricultural and natural vegetation are quantified. The book provides a multi-objective optimization analysis involving green and blue water users, including the environment. The book also assesses the uncertainty levels of using remote sensing data in water resource management at river basin scale.

After World War II, international development became the world leading development model, but its effectiveness is much debated. Nowadays, it is acknowledged that international development can effectively support development through knowledge and capacity development (KCD). Nonetheless, understanding what capacity really consists of in operational terms and what its development entails remains a challenge. This book investigates KCD processes in water utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa. The three cases analysed reveal that the learning impact of KCD on utilities depends on whether they are able to close their learning cycle, i.e., to ensure that improved capacity is also translated into mainstream behaviour. This finding challenges conventional wisdom for which KCD translates "automatically" into improved performance. Hence the need to focus KCD evaluation on both capacity improvement and capacity application. The proposed learning-based framework for KCD identifies two distinct but interrelated stages in KCD, namely knowledge transfer and knowledge absorption. Knowledge absorption usually takes time due to slow organisational processes that govern it. However, in practice it is often taken for granted. The framework also identifies the key factors that shape learning processes in water utilities. The book argues that water utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa can reinvent themselves by embracing change management approaches and striving to become learning organisations.

Dr. Hossen carried out an exceptional program of research in Bangladesh which focused on water governance in relation to human rights, international water law and environmental sustainability. His major argument is that eco-agricultural system encounters major disruptions due to a number of factors including regional hydropolitics and neoliberal and highly centralized approaches to water resource management that follow the principles of "ecocracy." In this context, Dr. Hossen explores three major questions: (i) How can local ecological knowledge be incorporated into national water policy? (ii) What strategies and reforms are required at the international watershed governance level? and (iii) How can human rights principles, including the principle of water as a human right, be used to formulate more effective water policy and governance principles? To answer these questions, Dr. Hossen explores the effects of regional hydropolitics on water management, focusing on three large engineering projects, the Farakka Barrage built by India on the Ganges River, and the Ganges-Kobodak (GK) and Gorai River Restoration (GRR) Projects in Bangladesh. This analysis is based on his research into local knowledge and farming practices during a year of fieldwork in 2011-12, focus group discussions, in-depth case studies and social survey methods. In addition to this primary data, he looks at extensive secondary documents from the government of Bangladesh pertaining to water management, agricultural modernization and institutional structures. The arguments herein are applicable particularly to the Ganges-Brahmaputra Basin countries in South Asia but also to the river basins of other parts of the world.

Water resources in tourist islands have been severely threatened, especially in the Galapagos Islands, where the increased local population has generated attractive income from the tourist services. In addition, the data regarding water supply and demand are scarce. This study investigates water supply and demand in Santa Cruz, the most populated island of Galapagos. The research encompasses a thorough assessment of the water supply crisis, as well as the quantification of water demand from different categories (domestic, tourist, restaurants and laundries) through surveys, in the absence of water metering. Also, specific water demand was assessed by installing 18 water meters. The results yield a wide range of water consumption, questioning the current assumption of water scarcity. Furthermore, a prognosis of water supply and demand was carried out, and also several intervention strategies were proposed such as rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling, leakage reduction, water meter installation, water demand reduction, as well as seawater desalination to cope with the future population growth. Due to the fragility of the ecosystem, these strategies were assessed through a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, considering environmental, technical, economic and social aspects, as well as relevant stakeholders' perspectives. finally, the water supply network of Puerto Ayora was evaluated in order to understand the need of the current intermittent supply regime. A methodology was developed to estimate the overflow of the domestic roof tanks (a common incidence amongst local population). The results question the practicality of individual household storage. The final results show that the current situation in terms of the lack of water quantity may not be real, as it has been thought for the last decades. The water issues refer more importantly to the water quality, as well as to the lack of proper water management practices.

Africa has been severely affected by droughts in the past, contributing to food insecure conditions in several African countries. In view of the (even more) severe drought conditions and water shortage that may be expected in sub-Saharan Africa in the coming years, efforts should focus on improving drought management by ameliorating resilience and preparedness to drought. This study contributes to the development of a modelling framework for hydrological drought forecasting in sub-Saharan Africa as a step towards an effective early warning system. The proposed hydrological drought forecasting system makes use of a hydrological model that was found to be suitable for drought forecasting in Africa and could represent the most severe past droughts in the Limpopo Basin. The modelling results showed that there is an added value in computing indicators based on the hydrological model for the identification of droughts and their severity. The proposed seasonal forecasting system for the Limpopo Basin was found to be skilful in predicting hydrological droughts during the summer rainy season. The findings showed that the persistence of the initial hydrological conditions contribute to the predictability up to 2 to 4 months, while for longer lead times the predictability of the system is dominated by the meteorological forcing. An effective drought forecasting and warning system will hopefully contribute to important aspects in the region such as water security, food security, hazard management, and risk reduction.