Suchergebnisse

Abstract. Rice production in Ecuador is steadily affected by extreme climatic events
that make it difficult for farmers to cope with production risk, threatening rural livelihoods and food security in the country. Developing agricultural insurance is a policy option that has gained traction in the last decade. Index-based agricultural insurance has become a promising alternative that allows insurance companies to ascertain and quantify losses without verifying a catastrophic event in situ, lowering operative costs and easing implementation. But its development can be hindered by basis risk, which occurs when real losses in farms do not fit accurately with the selected index. Avoiding basis risk requires assessing the variability within the insurance application area and considering it for representative index selection. In this context, we have designed an index-based insurance (IBI) that uses a vegetation index (normalized difference vegetation index – NDVI) as an indicator of drought and flood impact on rice in the canton of Babahoyo (Ecuador). Babahoyo was divided in two agro-ecological homogeneous zones (AHZs) to account for variability, and two NDVI threshold values were defined to consider, first, the event impact on crops (physiological threshold) and, second, its impact on the gross margin (economic threshold). This design allows us to set up accurate insurance premiums and compensation that fit the particular conditions of each AHZ, reducing basis risk.

Increasing water scarcity is encouraging the use of unconventional water resources. In recent years, the European Union has launched numerous initiatives to promote and facilitate water reuse for agricultural irrigation. Today, the use of reclaimed water for agriculture has become an alternative, reliable and safe source of water supply and an indispensable water planning tool, especially in the area of southern Europe. However, water reuse for irrigation is currently far below its potential. Numerous barriers prevent its development and call for a detailed analysis of the different aspects affecting reclaimed water reuse, through an integrated and multidisciplinary approach.A multidisciplinary research team from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, consisting of agronomists, hydrologists, chemists and agricultural economists, will work on the RECLAMO Project (https://blogs.upm.es/reclamo/), with the aim of providing solutions and recommendations aimed at promoting the full development and use of reclaimed water for irrigation in areas of Spain with marked water stress.For this purpose, project activities will be developed in two selected case studies (the Segura Basin, leader in water reuse in Spain and the Guadiana Basin, with success stories, but low levels of water reuse) and organised according to five axes: 1) development of a comprehensive knowledge-base covering the regulatory, technical, socio-economic and environmental aspects of reclaimed water reuse in agriculture; 2) participatory development of future scenarios exploring possible strategies, barriers and opportunities, in relation to the expansion of the use of reclaimed water for irrigation; 3) impact analysis of the strategies identified at different scales (crop, farm, (sub-)basin), through the development of an integrated modelling platform (hydrologic-agronomic-economic models); 4) Development of a roadmap and policy recommendations to achieve the full development and use of reclaimed water reuse for irrigation; 5) Dissemination of knowledge and ...

The Mediterranean region is characterized by increasing pressures over its natural resources and significant disparities among countries (UNEP/MAP, 2016). The region is considered as one of the most water scarce regions in the World with an average water availability below 1000m3 per capita for most of the countries located in the Southern and Eastern rims of the Mediterranean, and even below 500m3 in many of them (e.g. Algeria, Libya, Tunisia or Jordan). Growing population, irrigation expansion and urbanization are increasing pressures on water resources quantity and quality that will be likely exacerbated by political instability and climate change, reducing available water resources per capita and affecting socio-economic and environmental conditions. In light of this, a number of international initiatives are being developed to ensure sustainable development in the region and contribute to a sustainable management and use of water resources. In this context, the MADFORWATER project tries to address different water resources management issues that include the low availability and use of locally-adapted technologies for wastewater treatment and reuse for irrigation; a lack or inefficiency of economic and regulatory instruments to foster water saving irrigation technologies and practices and water reuse in agriculture; limited capacity building and social acceptance of treated wastewater reuse in agriculture; and, in essence, insufficiently integrated water management strategies. To respond to these challenges, the MADFORWATER project general objective is "to develop an integrated set of technological and management instruments for the enhancement of wastewater treatment, treated wastewater reuse for irrigation and water efficiency in agriculture, with the final aim to reduce water vulnerability in selected basins in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia" (MADFORWATER Document of Action – part B – page 1).The selected basins, chosen due to their relevance and representativeness for the Mediterranean region in relation to population, GDP, wastewater, hydrology and geographical location, are all subjected to exacerbating water scarcity, and count on high potential to increase wastewater reuse (currently 7% used), (MADFORWATER Document of Action – part B – page 1). This Deliverable (D1.1) "Report on needs and priorities in the field of international cooperation agreements on water management in the target Mediterranean African Countries (MACs)" is part of Work Package 1 (WP1) "Water and water-related vulnerabilities in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia". The main objective of this work package is to analyze water stress and water vulnerability in the three MACs, paying special attention to wastewater treatment, water reuse and water efficiency in agriculture and the impacts on food security, socio-economic growth, sustainability of agriculture and environmental protection. For this, D1.1 aims to provide a revision of the water related goals within the international agreements joined by the three case study countries, while emphasizing the critical points that should be developed and reinforced in the near future through an integrated approach for water policies, initiatives and management. It also sets a reference framework and knowledge base for different activities in the MADFORWATER project.