Efforts to establish water as an agenda item in its own right in climate change negotiations are gaining momentum in Durban, South Africa. Water experts say doing this will lead to a greater focus [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 06 Dec 2011

Efforts to establish water as an agenda item in its own right in climate change negotiations are gaining momentum in Durban, South Africa. Water experts say doing this will lead to a greater focus on developing policy, and attract more resources into the water sector through adaptation programmes.

As rainfall patterns change, Africa is facing major crises

“For every one of us, the first thing you use when you wake up in the morning is water, and when we are going to bed, it is water. Yet, it’s taken for granted,” says Chris Moseki, research manager at the Water Research Commission (WRC) in South Africa. WRC is a member of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) – a global alliance of organisations working on water issues.

Access to water is an urgent issue here in the Southern Africa region, where nearly 100 million people lack adequate access to water. Modelling by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa shows the region will become hotter and drier over the next 50 to 100 years, putting farms, industry, domestic water supply and natural ecosystems at risk.

International water experts and policy makers are concerned that planning for changes to water availability is not getting the prominence it deserves. Bai-Mass Taal, the Executive Secretary of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), says they are working to raise the profile of water within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

“We are saying to the parties, look: we appreciate what you are doing in other sectors, but without addressing water directly, all of that will be in vain,” says Taal.

At this point, water issues are being discussed by treaty negotiators as part of wider planning, prioritising and implementing of adaptation to a changing climate.

Dr. Ania Grobicki, GWP Executive Secretary, says that with growing numbers of countries expected to experience water scarcity, the current position of water in climate talks is inadequate.

“The GDP of many countries in the least developed countries is dependent on water. More than 50 percent of food for the world will come from Africa in the future, and this is dependent on availability of water,” she says. “That is why this discussion should go beyond where it’s now.”

More than 70 percent of the Southern African Development Community’s population depends directly on farming, overwhelmingly on rain-fed agriculture. The CSIR’s projections are among many drawing attention to how predicted changes to rainfall, limited resources for adaptation and a lack of institutions and capacity to regulate river and stream flow will leave people in Southern Africa and across the continent extremely vulnerable.

Similar challenges are predicted not only for Africa, but across the world as weather patterns change, but Africa’s lack of irrigation and other infrastructure is a factor that magnifies the need for urgent intervention.

Africa’s response

As rainfall patterns change, Africa is facing major crises. Millions faced famine in Niger and Mali in 2010 after drought hit farmers and herders. This year, the Horn of Africa has been facing its worst drought in 50 years and millions are suffering from hunger. According to the U.N. World Food Programme, some 12.3 million people in the Horn are in need of emergency assistance.

Rhoda Peace, the African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, points out that when African leaders talk about climate change; they invariably talk about droughts and floods’, showing that water is already a high priority.

In 2008, African heads of state agreed to make water and sanitation a priority.

“Leaders agreed to allocate at least 0.5 percent of their national budget to water,” says Peace. “Now whether that is actually the case is another story, but some countries are doing very well and may reach their targets.”

Providing adequate access to water across Africa will cost billions of dollars. And for the many African governments which are failing to honour earlier commitments will not be able to raise the required amounts without support.

Simon Thuo, the Eastern Africa coordinator for GWP, says he is surprised that despite the clear need, even the African negotiating group’s proposals mention water only in passing. Along with other experts, he believes that if climate negotiations address management of this essential commodity specifically, it will not receive the necessary attention and funding.

By: Joshua Kyalimpa
Source: IPS

Residents of Polokwane Municipality, including the business sector, are being urged to drastically cut down on use of water with immediate effect as water reservoirs dry up.

The main culprit is the continuous [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 03 Oct 2011

Residents of Polokwane Municipality, including the business sector, are being urged to drastically cut down on use of water with immediate effect as water reservoirs dry up.

The main culprit is the continuous watering of gardens.

Municipal spokesperson Simon Mokoatedi said the reservoir levels were alarming.

He confirmed that the Potgieter reservoir was empty and the Krugersburg reservoirs were at 20%.

The reservoir supplying Seshego from the Olifants River is at 0.5%.

The municipality is regulating flow and diverting supply to areas in intervals, which is leading to low pressure and complete shortages in some areas. Seshego and Legae la Batho are without water. The city and Mankweng are experiencing low pressure.

According to the municipality, the main culprit is the continuous watering of gardens, despite it issuing several warnings.

“All sources are pumping water into the city at full capacity and these sources have exceeded the quota for extracting water. Unfortunately, there is no other source to augment the supply. The municipality is warning the public if the high usage of water continues at this rate, the entire municipality will experience serious water shortage,” said Mokoatedi.

“This is largely attributable to an increasing trend in a number of factors such as the watering of gardens, leaking pipes, washing of cars and using hoses.”

Meanwhile, the municipality is importing 93% of its water, supplied from outside the borders of the municipal area – 56% is imported from the Letaba water scheme and 37% from the Olifants scheme. The balance of 7% is supplied from sources within Polokwane.

On average, the municipality supplies 64.95 megalitres (ML) per day but the supply has increased to more than 72ML per day over the past four weeks.

“This usage is not sustainable and we have to cut back drastically to avoid shortages,” said Mokoatedi.

By: Mpho Dube
Source: New Age

Cape Town may be subjected to water restrictions this summer because August and September are likely to be drier than usual, a climate researcher has warned.

Predicted below average rainfall will bring water [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 17 Aug 2011

Cape Town may be subjected to water restrictions this summer because August and September are likely to be drier than usual, a climate researcher has warned.

Predicted below average rainfall will bring water restrictions

Peter Johnston, of UCT’s Climate Systems Analysis Group, said there was no need for desperate concern just yet – but this could change if no more winter rain fell.

Traditionally, the province’s dams are full in August and September. However, Johnston said, after the driest July in years, and with below average rainfall predicted for this and next month, water restrictions could become necessary.

The provincial government has urged farmers to store water for the summer months.

Johnston’s colleague, Mark Tadross, said a high pressure system over the Atlantic Ocean was keeping storms away from the Western Cape. “We don’t know why (this is happening),” said Tadross. “Of concern is that the dams are well below what they should be (at) this time of the year.”

The regional manager for weather services in the Western and Northern Cape, Antarctica and islands, Johan Stander, said the forecast was dry for the next couple of months. “Because of climate change, adverse conditions will happen more frequently and storms will be more severe.”

Wouter Kriel, the spokesman for Agriculture, and Rural Development MEC Gerrit van Rensburg said:

“We are monitoring the rainfall, but there are no red flags yet. We are advising farmers to fill up their water storage facilities.”

Source: IOL

The right to food, health and shelter is threatened due to global warming, International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said on Monday.

In drought prone areas it is women who have to [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 08 Aug 2011

The right to food, health and shelter is threatened due to global warming, International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said on Monday.

In drought prone areas it is women who have to fend for their families

“Climate change affects the economic and social rights of countless individuals. This includes their rights to food, health and shelter,” she said.

The minister was speaking at a consultative dialogue on Women and Climate Change in Limpopo. She said that as climate change will continue to affect humanity, it was key to safeguard the lives of the people that are adversely affected, which are women.

“As incoming president [of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change], I will strive to ensure the centrality of women in all global fora to advance the multilateral efforts to address climate change, which impacts in a very pernicious manner on women, especially in developing countries,” said Nkoana-Mashabane.

Women, she said, are the propellers and carriers of development.

“In flood prone regions, it is women who have to deal with the impact. In drought prone areas, it is women who have to fend for their families ensuring that the children are fed, and that the sick and the indigent are taken care of.

“What we are actually seeing in Somalia are the prolonged consequences of climate change playing themselves out in a context of a country that is torn by civil strife.”

Nkoana-Mashabane said women in the developing world were responsible for the bulk of the food production.

“Women will have to labour harder and longer to ensure their families have food, fuel, and water. It is known that in Africa, women do 90% of the work of gathering water and food, and children, in particular girls, often share these responsibilities.”

The minister said climate challenges cannot be solved without empowering and educating women.

Meaningful interventions to address climate change were now required and Africa needed to adapt in a way which was conducive to the advancement of the emancipation of its women.

“Adaptation must therefore be central to the Durban outcome, with an urgent need for immediate and adequate support for the implementation of adaptation measures and actions, including through the provision of substantial new and additional public financial resources, environmentally sound technologies and capacity building in a predictable and prompt manner,” she explained.

She also added that financing mechanisms must also be flexible enough to reflect women’s priorities and needs.

South Africa will host the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference in Durban in November.

Nkoana-Mashabane also stated that the participation of women in climate change initiatives must be ensured and the role of women’s groups and networks strengthened, as women are currently under-represented in the decision making process of environmental governance.

“What are the most pressing issues for Durban? Most important is the issue of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which is the only multilaterally agreed legal regime that sets concrete emission reduction commitments to mitigate climate change for developed countries.”

Source: BuaNews

Butchered sheep and goats are strung up in a thorn tree ready for cooking in this remote north Kenyan village, as though the people are preparing a giant celebration feast.

“This is the [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 27 July 2011

Butchered sheep and goats are strung up in a thorn tree ready for cooking in this remote north Kenyan village, as though the people are preparing a giant celebration feast.

“This is the worst drought we have had, and we have lost hope of seeing rain”

But there is no party here and the mood is grim: in desperation, the villagers are killing the animals upon which their lives depend, rather than see them die in the extreme drought sweeping the region.

“We are not happy to have to kill our animals,” said Elema Warrio, an elderly herder, looking on sadly at the 25 carcasses, the latest to be killed in a weekly cull.

“We would be happy if there was grazing and water for them, but since we don’t have a choice, we can only kill them,” he added.

Some 12 million people across the Horn of Africa are struggling from the worst drought in decades, with two regions in southern Somalia in famine.

Tens of thousands of people have died, as the international community scramble to provide emergency relief.

“This is the worst drought we have had, and we have lost hope of seeing rain,” said Galgalo Wato, a herder and father of seven, waving at the vast and dusty scrubland surrounding the village of 700 people.

The land here is too dry for crop farming, and the community depends entirely on animals for their livelihoods.

“In previous droughts we would lose 20 or 30 animals, but then the rains would come and the calves would be born,” Wato added. “It was never as long as this.”

From a herd of 120 cows, 80 goats and seven donkeys once used to carry water, Wato has just three calves left.

“They are the only hope I have,” he said sadly, stroking the flank of one of the precious animals, which stay in the front half of the family’s grass thatch hut.

His family now survive off monthly handouts from the World Food Programme; some grain, cooking oil, beans and other basic goods.

“It is not enough at all,” he added. “That is only for survival.”

But there is little alternative. With so many people desperate to cash in their livestock – which for the pastoralist life, is all the community’s wealth – the market has collapsed.

Here in the Sololo district of northern Kenya, prices have slumped by two-thirds, but several herders say they often cannot even sell their thin and sickly animals at all.

“They are not interested in the market in the animals,” Warrio said.

The few animals still left in the village’s thorn-walled cattle enclosure show their ribs and bones sharp through their skin.

So aid agencies support the slaughtering of animals, providing cash payments closer to earlier market rates for those who volunteer to cull their herd, and then handing the meat out to the most needy in the community.

“The animals would probably die soon with the drought anyway,” said Ibrahim Adan, who heads a local aid agency running the slaughter scheme in the region for the past five months, a programme funded by the European Union.

“So de-stocking has two benefits; injecting cash into the economy so that the people can buy goods in the market, and providing food for the vulnerable households.”

Once the animals are butchered, lines of mothers dressed in colourful wraps and carrying young children line up.

Fifty families each get half a sheep or goat, much of which will be dried in the baking sun to store it, so it can be rationed for the coming days.

But few are hopeful of relief from the drought any time soon, the animals here are running out, and the community is eating the livestock it needs for long-term survival.

Without outside help, the community would collapse. Aid agencies now also supply water tankers to truck in water for the community.

Before, women and children had to trek 22 kilometres (14 miles) with the community’s remaining donkeys through the baking heat to reach the nearest water point still running.

Giant plastic water tanks are also being set up to store rainwater – when it comes.

But the next rains are not due for another three or four months, and the peope are not optimistic for the future.

“Things are not well here,” said Warrio. “If the next rains do not come, what will we do then?”

- AFP

Famine in Somalia has killed tens of thousands of people in recent months and could grow even worse unless urgent action is taken, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Wednesday. FAO [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 22 July 2011

Famine in Somalia has killed tens of thousands of people in recent months and could grow even worse unless urgent action is taken, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Wednesday. FAO has appealed for $120 million for response to the drought in the Horn of Africa to provide agricultural emergency assistance.

Around 12 million people in the Horn of Africa are currently in need of emergency assistance

Hundreds of people are dying every day and if we do not act now many more will perish,” said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.

“We must avert a human tragedy of vast proportions. And much as food assistance is needed now, we also have to scale up investments in sustainable immediate and medium-term interventions that help farmers and their families to protect their assets and continue to produce food.

Special report

In a special report published today [20 July 2011] the FAO-managed Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network officially declared a state of famine in two regions of southern Somalia, Bakool and Lower Shabelle.

The report warns that in the next one or two months famine will become widespread throughout southern Somalia.

Together with ongoing crises in the rest of the country, the number of Somalis in need of humanitarian assistance has increased from 2.4 million to 3.7 million in the last 6 months.  Altogether, around 12 million people in the Horn of Africa are currently in need of emergency assistance.

International meeting

An international emergency meeting will be held in Rome on Monday, 25 July, to address the escalating crisis in the Horn of Africa and mobilize international support. The French government, holding the G20 presidency, requested FAO to organize the High-Level Ministerial Meeting, to which FAO’s 191 member countries, UN agencies, international organizations, development banks and non-governmental organizations have been invited.

Right before the meeting, from 22 to 24 July, the Director-General of FAO will travel to Nairobi with the French Minister for Agriculture and the Executive Director of the World Food Programme.

Famine is classified using a tool called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification with three main criteria: severe lack of food access for large populations, acute malnutrition rates exceeding 30 percent of the population and Crude Death Rate exceeding 2 people per 10,000 population per day.

Acute malnutrition

Currently in some parts of Bakool and Lower Shabelle acute malnutrition tops 50 percent and death rates exceed six per 10,000 population per day.

In order to address the current crisis in Somalia, FAO is appealing for $70 million for the country to provide interventions including cash-for-work activities, provision of farm inputs and livestock emergency health services.

A rare combination of conflict and insecurity, limited access for humanitarian organizations, successive harvest failures and a lack of food assistance has jeopardized an entire population in southern Somalia. The country has suffered war on and off since 1991.

Farm inputs

FAO has been helping Somali farmers and herders with farm inputs and livestock health services.  But drought due to successive poor rain seasons has curtailed food production and wiped out livestock assets.

“We need to immediately support farmers with seeds, tools and access to water and herders with fodder and emergency treatment to avoid further displacement and starvation,” said Luca Alinovi FAO’s Officer in Charge for Somalia.

The current crisis affects the whole Horn of Africa region including the northern part of Kenya and southern parts of Ethiopia, Djibouti and the Karamoja Region of Uganda where large areas are classified as in a state of humanitarian emergency.

Regional crisis

To address the regional crisis FAO is calling for an additional $120 million for the Horn of Africa including $70 million for Somalia and $50 million for Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Uganda. In this scenario it is important not to forget the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan for which FAO appealed for $37 million.

“We need to not lose sight that there is a tiny window of opportunity to prevent massive deaths and destitution,” said Rod Charters, FAO Regional Emergency Coordinator for Eastern Africa.

“Currently in the neighboring countries of Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, 7.9 million people are in need of urgent emergency assistance. Support through agriculture and livestock not only provides essential food but an income for families and we need to give people affected by the drought the chance to rebuild their lives,” he added.

Source: FAO

In the Horn of Africa, increasingly frequent drought episodes punctuated by ever shorter recovery periods have exhausted the coping capacity of communities in a region where resources and services are already scarce. The resulting [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 15 July 2011

In the Horn of Africa, increasingly frequent drought episodes punctuated by ever shorter recovery periods have exhausted the coping capacity of communities in a region where resources and services are already scarce. The resulting depletion of household resources is having a serious impact on the general health and nutritional status of the population.

The vicious cycle of hunger- ill-health- poverty means that fewer resources are dedicated to health care just as health needs increase as a result of poor diet. Lack of water and population displacements, which result in precarious sanitation, further increase the risk of communicable diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections and measles. Outbreaks of acute watery diarrhoea and measles have already been reported in Djibouti and Ethiopia. The effects of the drought are also aggravated by weak health care systems, with limited human resources and medical supplies and low immunization coverage.

The areas most severely affected are also those suffering from some of the highest disease burdens in the region. For example, in Somalia, child health is among the worst in the world. Infant mortality is estimated at 88 per 1000 live births and under-five mortality at 142 per 1000. In the first half of 2011, at least three Somali children died of malnutrition every day. In parts of Southern Somalia, one in three children is malnourished.

Main objectives of partners

In the current crisis, the main objective for health partners is to avoid excess mortality and morbidity from malnutrition and communicable diseases among the most severely affected communities in countries affected by the drought.

From 25 to 29 July, the UNICEF and WHO Offices in Kenya and Somalia, with support from the Ministry of Health of Kenya, will begin vaccination campaigns along the Kenya-Somali border and in the Dadaab refugee camps. The vaccination package will cover polio and measles and include vitamin A supplements and deworming tablets. A total of 215 000 children under five are targeted in the Dadaab refugee camps, Fafi and Lagdera districts and the refugees’ migration corridors such as Garissa municipality. Vaccination campaigns are also planned in and around Mogadishu as IDPs are coming in.

WHO and health partners are preparing funding proposals for donors focusing on health assessments, disease surveillance, coordination, logistic support, gap filling, heath systems strengthening and capacity building.

WHO’s emergency health response is severely underfunded. The Organization has received 22% of the funds needed for Somalia, 5% of the funds needed for Djibouti and less than 2% of the funds needed for Kenya. The health sector as a whole is also under-funded, with 25%, 9% and 5% of funds received for Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti respectively.

Source: WHO

An FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations] pilot project that has proved a great success in combating desertification is to be rolled out more widely in an attempt to turn African [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 11 June 2011

An FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations] pilot project that has proved a great success in combating desertification is to be rolled out more widely in an attempt to turn African drylands back into fertile land.

The Acacia offers many benefits.

With two thirds of the African continent now classified as desert or drylands and desertification affecting a quarter of the world’s population, the breakthrough has the potential to transform the lives of vulnerable populations.  In operation since 2004, the Acacia project has involved the planting and managing of Acacia forests in arid lands helping combat desertification while providing socio-economic benefits to local communities.

Fatou Seye, her husband and their six children live in the village of Thiékene Ndiaye in Senegal’s drylands. Now 50 years old, Fatou remembers how different the land looked during her own childhood. “When I was young, the land was so much greener with a much greater diversity of plant species,” she recalls.

Here, as in much of the Sahel – the 5000-kilometre belt of land that divides the Sahara desert from the rest of Africa – vegetation has been disappearing.

The Acacia project

Climate change has led to prolonged periods of drought, over-intensive farming and over-grazing have caused land degradation and deforestation has turned the once fertile land into desert. In an attempt to reverse that process of desertification, FAO has stepped in with the Acacia project. Fatou Seye and her family are among the beneficiaries. “Before the project we had no trees, we were cultivating degraded, infertile lands, but with the project that has changed, ” she says.

Fatou Seye is one of 150 women in the village benefiting from the project.  From 2004 to 2007, FAO, in partnership with the Senegalese forestry service, provided seeds and seedlings and taught the women in the village how to sow and plant the Acacia trees as well as how to extract and market the gum they produce.

In the last year, the trees have finally reached maturity and gum extraction has become possible. But even before the local community benefited.

According to Nora Berrahmouni, FAO Forestry officer, “Acacia offers many benefits. They feed the soil by capturing nitrogen that restores fertility. It is a shelter for crops. It also provides gum Arabic, which has an international market, and so it is good for the economy.  Not only that but it is also a source of  fodder for livestock and food for local communities.”

Great potential

Fatou confirms that the Acacia have already dramatically improved living conditions “because now we’re producing hibiscus juice and millet, peanuts and beans, which we can eat. Production of fodder for livestock has increased and we sell the fodder at market. With the money, we are planning to build a mill so can make flour and bread.”

Harvesting of the gum itself has only just begun as, at 7 years if age, the plants are only just mature enough. In the coming years the plants will provide further income for these women.

The gum is sold via intermediaries to the Valdafrique processing plant close to Senegal’s capital, Dakar. From there it will be sold on international markets.

The Chief pharmacist at Valdafrique, Dr. Madiagne Sakho, says “the Arabic gum industry is great business because the gum is in demand from many industries, including the pharmaceutical and food industries where it’s used in a wide variety of products ranging from bakery and dairy products to soft drinks.”

According to Thiam Sakhoudia of the Network for Gum Arabic and Resin Associations (NGARA), “great potential exists to provide income for these communities and also to help diversify the economy because these days the peanut market is in crisis so the gum Arabic sector can help make up for losses there.”

A total of 44 villages have benefited from the Acacia project in Senegal so far and the project is also in operation in five more countries across the region. Based on its success, FAO is now in search of funding to roll the Acacia project out on a wider scale to re-green more of the land bordering the Sahara desert. If successful, the initiative will keep the desert sands at bay and help provide protection for the millions of vulnerable people living within Africa’s drylands.

Source: FAO

Climate change will have major impacts on the availability of water for growing food and on crop productivity in the decades to come, warns a new FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 09 June 2011

Climate change will have major impacts on the availability of water for growing food and on crop productivity in the decades to come, warns a new FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations] report.

Loss of glaciers will eventually impact the amount of surface water available for agriculture

‘Climate Change, Water, and Food Security’ is a comprehensive survey of existing scientific knowledge on the anticipated consequences of climate change for water use in agriculture.

These include reductions in river runoff and aquifer recharges in the Mediterranean and the semi-arid areas of the Americas, Australia and southern Africa — regions that are already water-stressed. In Asia, large areas of irrigated land that rely on snowmelt and mountain glaciers for water will also be affected, while heavily populated river deltas are at risk from a combination of reduced water flows, increased salinity, and rising sea levels.

Additional impacts described in the report:

An acceleration of the world’s hydrological cycle is anticipated as rising temperatures increase the rate of evaporation from land and sea. Rainfall will increase in the tropics and higher latitudes, but decrease in already dry semi-arid to mid-arid latitudes and in the interior of large continents. A greater frequency in droughts and floods will need to be planned for but already, water scarce areas of the world are expected to become drier and hotter.

Even though estimates of groundwater recharge under climate change cannot be made with any certainty, the increasing frequency of drought can be expected to encourage further development of available groundwater to buffer the production risk for farmers.

And the loss of glaciers – which support around 40 percent of the world’s irrigation — will eventually impact the amount of surface water available for agriculture in key producing basins

Increased temperatures will lengthen the growing season in northern temperate zones but will reduce the length almost everywhere else. Coupled with increased rates of evapotranspiration this will cause the yield potential and water productivity of crops to decline.

“Both the livelihoods of rural communities as well as the food security of city populations are at risk,” said FAO Assistant Director General for Natural Resources, Alexander Mueller. “But the rural poor, who are the most vulnerable, are likely to be disproportionately affected.”

Responding to the challenge

FAO’s report also looks at actions that can be taken by national policymakers, regional and local watershed authorities, and individual farmers to respond to these new challenges.

One key area requiring attention is improving the ability of countries to implement effective systems for ‘water accounting’ – the thorough measurement of water supplies, transfers, and transactions in order to inform decisions about how water resources  can be managed and used under increasing variability.

“Water accounting in most developing countries is very limited, and allocation procedures are non existent, ad hoc, or poorly developed,” the report says. “Helping developing countries acquire good water accounting practices and developing robust and flexible water allocations systems will be a first priority.”

At the farm level, growers can change their cropping patterns to allow earlier or later planting, reducing their water use and optimizing irrigation. Yields and productivity can be improved by shifting to soil moisture conservation practices, including zero- and minimum tillage. Planting deep-rooted crops would allow farmers to better exploit available soil moisture.

Mixed agroforestry systems also hold promise. These systems both sequester carbon and also offer additional benefits such as shade that reduces ground temperatures and evaporation, added wind protection, and improved soil conservation and water retention.

However, FAO’s report also stresses that small-scale producers in developing countries will face an uphill struggle in adopting such strategies.

“Farm size and access to capital set the limits for the scope and extent of adaptation and change at farm level,” it warns, noting that already today many developing world farms produce yields far below their agro-climatic potential.

Zooming in on hotspots

FAO also warns that far too little is known about how climate change impacts on water for agriculture will play out at the regional and sub-regional level, and where farmers will be most at risk.

“Greater precision and focus is needed to understand the nature, scope and location of climate change impacts on developing country water resources for agriculture,” the report says, adding: “Mapping vulnerability is a key task at national and regional levels.”

Source: FAO

China warned several central and southern provinces hit by a months-long dry spell on Saturday to prepare for heavy rain and even floods, which would help to ease a drought which has damaged crops [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 04 June 2011

China warned several central and southern provinces hit by a months-long dry spell on Saturday to prepare for heavy rain and even floods, which would help to ease a drought which has damaged crops and cut power from hydroelectric dams.

Provinces in China are on alert for heavy rains and other natural disasters

State television and the official Xinhua news agency said that the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang would experience rain, thunderstorms and strong winds.

“Rain in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River will be beneficial to replenishing water in reservoirs and lakes and to ameliorating the drought,” Xinhua citied the China Meteorological Administration as saying.

Provinces must be on alert heavy rains and for possible landslides and other natural disasters, it said.

In some drought-affected provinces it has already begun to rain quite hard, state television added, showing pictures of drenched streets and fields.

Officials have said parts of China are enduring their worst drought in 50 years, with rainfall 40 to 60 percent less than normal.

China has just six percent of the globe’s fresh water resources but a fifth of its population.

- Reuters