The degradation of land and water resources as a result of agricultural activity has had an enormous impact on human societies and economies. It is predicted that, by 2025, most developing countries will face physical or economic water scarcity, compounded by land degradation. In order to alleviate this problem, an advanced understanding of the state of our water resources and the relationships between land use, water management and social systems is needed. Conserving Land, Protecting Water includes an overview of global patterns of land and water degradation and discusses new insights drawn from successful case studies on reversing soil and water degradation and their impact on food and environmental security.
The degradation of land and water resources resulting primarily from agricultural activities has had enormous impact on human society. In order to alleviate this problem an advanced understanding of the state of our resources and the process of degradation is needed. Conserving Land, Protecting Water includes an overview of existing literature focusing on global patterns of land and water degradation and discussions of new insights drawn from successful case studies on reversing soil and water degradation and their impact on food and environmental security.
"This multi-author volume explores large-landscape conservation projects catalyzed by colleges, universities, independent field stations, and research organizations around the world. These initiatives are grand-scale, cross-boundary, cross-sectoral, and cross-disciplinary efforts to protect working and wild landscapes and waterscapes in Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Kenya, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, and the United States"--
How can the United States meet demands for agricultural production while solving the broader range of environmental problems attributed to farming practices? National policymakers who try to answer this question confront difficult trade-offs. This book offers four specific strategies that can serve as the basis for a national policy to protect soil and water quality while maintaining U.S. agricultural productivity and competitiveness. Timely and comprehensive, the volume has important implications for the Clean Air Act and the 1995 farm bill. Advocating a systems approach, the committee recommends specific farm practices and new approaches to prevention of soil degradation and water pollution for environmental agencies. The volume details methods of evaluating soil management systems and offers a wealth of information on improved management of nitrogen, phosphorus, manure, pesticides, sediments, salt, and trace elements. Landscape analysis of nonpoint source pollution is also detailed. Drawing together research findings, survey results, and case examples, the volume will be of interest to federal, state, and local policymakers; state and local environmental and agricultural officials and other environmental and agricultural specialists; scientists involved in soil and water issues; researchers; and agricultural producers.
"In this turbulent time for American's natural and cultural heritage, we need a clear and compelling guide for the future of conservation in America: a declaration to inspire the next generation of conservation leaders. This is that guide- what the authors describe as "a chart for rough water." Written by the first scientist appointed as science advisor to the director of the National Park Service, this is a candid, passionate, and ultimately hopeful book. The authors describe a unified vision of conservation that binds nature protection, historical preservation, sustainability, public health, civil rights and social justice, and science into a common cause- and offer real-world strategies for progress."--Book cover.
In recent years, considerable progress has been made in the area of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) that improve ecosystem functions of environments and landscapes affected by agricultural practices and land degradation, while enhancing livelihoods and other social and cultural functions. This has opened up a portfolio of NbS options that offer a pragmatic way forward for simultaneously addressing conservation, climate and socioeconomic objectives while maintaining healthy and productive agricultural systems. NbS can mimic natural processes and build on land restoration and operational water-land management concepts that aim to simultaneously improve vegetation and water availability and quality, and raise agricultural productivity. NbS can involve conserving or rehabilitating natural ecosystems and/or the enhancement or the creation of natural processes in modified or artificial ecosystems. In agricultural landscapes, NbS can be applied for soil health, soil moisture, carbon mitigation (through soil and forestry), downstream water quality protections, biodiversity benefits as well as agricultural production and supply chains to achieve net-zero environmental impacts while achieving food and water security, and meet climate goals.
Healthy Soils for Healthy Vines provides a clear understanding of vineyard soils and how to manage and improve soil health for best vineyard performance. It covers the inherent and dynamic properties of soil health, how to choose which soil properties to monitor, how to monitor soil and vine performance, and how vineyard management practices affect soil health, fruit composition and wine sensory characters. It also covers the basic tenets of sustainable winegrowing and their significance for business resilience in the face of a changing climate. This book will be of practical value to anyone growing grapevines, managing a vineyard or making wine, from the small individual grower to the large wine company employee. It will be of special interest to winegrowers employing organic, natural or biodynamic methods of production, where the primary focus is on the biological health of the soil.
"Meagre water supply causes severe problems in the growth of plants, which rely on sufficient water transmitted by the soil to meet their needs. This new edition of Water Dynamics in Plant Production describes the basic scientific principles of water transport in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum, explains the linkage between transpirational water use and dry matter production paying particular attention to the various agronomic strategies for adaptation to climate-driven limitations of water resources"--Publisher's website.
In December 2002, a group of specialists on water resources from the United States and Iran met in Tunis, Tunisia, for an interacademy workshop on water resources management, conservation, and recycling. This was the fourth interacademy workshop on a variety of topics held in 2002, the first year of such workshops. Tunis was selected as the location for the workshop because the Tunisian experience in addressing water conservation issues was of interest to the participants from both the United States and Iran. This report includes the agenda for the workshop, all of the papers that were presented, and the list of site visits.
This book is about water - in Britain, and in the world. It is about water resources, their conservation, protection of water quality for human consumption and aquatic ecosystems. Since the publication of the first edition in 1998, major political and regulatory changes have taken place; this book provides a clear and comprehensive update of conservation and water resource management issues in the UK over the past two decades, and – in an expansion of its original UK perspective – now includes examples of global best practice. The UK’s 2003 adoption of the EU Water Framework Directive has had enormous implications for the conservation and management of our water resources. In 2016, with the UK’s decision to leave the EU, the governance scene is entering upon an unpredictable future regarding its major water resource policies. The Protection and Conservation of Water Resources, Second edition provides a clear and comprehensive update of conservation and water resource management issues. Chapter 1 deals with sustainability and water policy, outlines the issues and challenges, and asks: what is integrated water management? Chapter 2 reviews water availability and sufficiency in Britain, while Chapter 3 explores the dynamic between institutions and legislative framework. Chapter 4 introduces the catchment approach, and chapters 5 and 6 explore the issues of sustaining bulk supply and the imperatives of climate change. Chapter 7 looks at the contemporary background to water quality issues, and Chapter 8 provides case studies of catchment problems, both urban and rural. Chapter 9 describes solutions in land use change, including technical fixes and their sustainability. Chapter 10 is concerned with emerging governance arrangements, and Chapter 11 takes a global view, looking at successful examples around the world to find positive lessons from Europe, north America and Australia.
