Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience (CCAR)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/110267

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Earth observation-based rice mapping studies in Vietnamese Mekong Delta compared to global context: a bibliometric analysis
(Journal Article, 2024-01-01) Chowdhury, A.; Ghosh, Surajit; Holmatov, Bunyod
A bibliometric study on mapping the rice cropping systems in VMD is crucial for understanding the trend of EO-based rice mapping and how remote sensing technologies are essential to address the food security issue in the region. This article presents an overview of Earth observation (EO)-based rice mapping strategies since 1979, prioritizing the scope of data, approaches, and techniques derived from 3700 research articles worldwide and contrasting them with the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD). Various quantitative analyses were conducted through bibliometric analysis using the VOS viewer and Scopus database. Optical images, particularly the Landsat (~16%) and MODIS (~12%) time series datasets, were the most commonly utilized globally. MODIS data (~31%) had the highest share in the VMD context, followed by Landsat data (~19%), while Sentinel series (~13% for global and ~16% for VMD) data became more popular in recent years. Research on rice mapping using UAVs has been gradually creeping into rice mapping research globally, but a gap is yet to be filled in the VMD. The most widely used approaches for rice mapping globally were Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and Principal Component Analysis. Spectral indices like EVI, NDVI, and RVI were commonly used for rice mapping and monitoring. The findings underscore the critical role of EO-based rice mapping studies in the VMD in addressing sustainability and food security challenges.
Mapping Decision Support Tools (DSTs) on agricultural water productivity: a global systematic scoping review
(Journal Article, 2023-12-01) Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe; Dirwai, Tinashe Lindel; Taguta, C.; Sikka, Alok; Lautze, Jonathan F.
While there is a proliferation of Decision Support Tools (DSTs) to enhance agricultural water productivity (AWP) and related objectives such as food security, an assessment of their adoption and performance is not known to be undertaken. To develop new or improved DSTs for bespoke applications in optimizing AWP, there needs to be a stock-take of the existing tools, their functionality, user-friendliness and uptake. We compiled and assessed existing DSTs for AWP as a starting point for present and future developers who intend to improve existing or develop new DSTs for optimizing AWP. Secondarily, this review identifies DSTs' key characteristics, availability, and applicability for different typologies and spatio-temporal scales. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach was applied to search for literature from Scopus and WoS databases. The study revealed the existence of 81 documented AWP DSTs whose development started from around the 1970 s, peaked in the 1990 s, and declined after that although the improvement and upgrading of existing DSTs continued. Over half (51%) of the DSTs are not readily available in the public domain. The prevalent spatial and temporal application scales are field and day, respectively. There is limited reporting on the application at scale, partly due to the wide unavailability of DSTs. A gap exists in AWP DSTs with geospatial capabilities (one in 10 or 10% had geographic information systems (GIS) integration capabilities). Most DSTs focus on water and food (yield) components but omit energy and other dimensions of AWP. Regarding format, most tools were available as desktop (35%) and web-based (48%) applications, and codes (27%). Developers should strive to deliver AWP tools in convenient, compatible, and user-friendly for a wide range of users, from novices to experts.
One hundred priority questions for the development of sustainable food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Journal Article, 2023-10-07) Devenish, Adam J.M.; Schmitter, Petra; Jellason, N. P.; Esmail, N.; Abdi, N. M.; Adanu, S. K.; Adolph, B.; Al-Zu’bi, Maha; Amali, A. A.; Barron, Jennie; Chapman, A. S. A.; Chausson, A. M.; Chibesa, M.; Davies, J.; Dugan, E.; Edwards, G. I.; Egeru, A.; Gebrehiwot, T.; Griffiths, G.H.; Haile, A.; Hunga, H. G.; Igbine, L.; Jarju, O. M.; Keya, F.; Khalifa, M.; Ledoux, W. A.; Lejissa, L. T.; Loupa, P.; Lwanga, J.; Mapedza, Everisto D.; Marchant, R.; McLoud, T.; Mukuyu, Patience; Musah, L. M.; Mwanza, M.; Mwitwa, J.; Neina, D.; Newbold, T.; Njogo, S.; Robinson, E. J. Z.; Singini, W.; Umar, B. B.; Wesonga, F.; Willcock, S.; Yang, J.; Tobias, J. A.
Sub-Saharan Africa is facing an expected doubling of human population and tripling of food demand over the next quarter century, posing a range of severe environmental, political, and socio-economic challenges. In some cases, key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are in direct conflict, raising difficult policy and funding decisions, particularly in relation to trade-offs between food production, social inequality, and ecosystem health. In this study, we used a horizon-scanning approach to identify 100 practical or research-focused questions that, if answered, would have the greatest positive impact on addressing these trade-offs and ensuring future productivity and resilience of food-production systems across sub-Saharan Africa. Through direct canvassing of opinions, we obtained 1339 questions from 331 experts based in 55 countries. We then used online voting and participatory workshops to produce a final list of 100 questions divided into 12 thematic sections spanning topics from gender inequality to technological adoption and climate change. Using data on the background of respondents, we show that perspectives and priorities can vary, but they are largely consistent across different professional and geographical contexts. We hope these questions provide a template for establishing new research directions and prioritising funding decisions in sub-Saharan Africa.
Effective demand for climate-smart adaptation: a case of solar technologies for cocoa irrigation in Ghana
(Journal Article, 2023-12-31) Gbodji, Kekeli Kofi; Quarmine, William; Thai Thi Minh
Given the generally low adoption of early climate change response technologies among tree crop producers in sub-Saharan Africa, stakeholders interested in the commercialization or scaling of such technologies will require empirical evidence of their market prospects. Using a double-bounded contingent valuation approach, the study evaluated the willingness and ability of 523 Ghanaian producers to invest in solar-powered irrigation pumps (SPIPs) for cocoa irrigation. The sample was split into three segments based on farm size: resource-poor, resource-limited, and resource-rich. Our results show that effective demand increased across the resource segments, with resource-endowed farmers more likely to demand SPIPs than resource-limited or resource-poor farmers. Also, while willingness to invest (WTI) depended on resourcefulness (land), farmers’ ability to invest was directly related to their resource (income class) endowment. We found that WTI across the resource segments was positively influenced by income, education, livestock ownership, credit, and extension services and negatively affected by household size and age of cocoa trees. Among others, we propose that promotional strategies for SPIPs should incorporate well-planned initiatives for income diversification and microcredit services to improve the financial position of the resource-poor and limited segment to encourage the adoption of these technologies.
Assessing the biophysical factors affecting irrigation performance in rice cultivation using remote sensing derived information
(Journal Article, 2023-03) Sawadogo, A.; Dossou-Yovo, Elliott Ronald; Kouadio, L.; Zwart, Sander J.; Traoré, F.; Gundogdu, K. S.
Identifying the biophysical factors that affect the performance of irrigated crops in semi-arid conditions is pivotal to the success of profitable and sustainable agriculture under variable climate conditions. In this study, soil physical and chemical variables and plots characteristics were used through linear mixed and random forestbased modeling to evaluate the determinants of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and crop water productivity (CWP) in rice in the Kou Valley irrigated scheme in Burkina Faso. Multi-temporal Landsat images were used within the Python module for the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land model to calculate rice ETa and CWP during the dry seasons of 2013 and 2014. Results showed noticeable spatial variations in PySEBAL-derived ETa and CWP in farmers’ fields during the study period. The distance between plot and irrigation scheme inlet (DPSI), plot elevation, sand and silt contents, soil total nitrogen, soil extractable potassium and zinc were the main factors affecting variabilities in ETa and CWP in the farmers’ fields, with DPSI being the top explanatory variable. There was generally a positive association, up to a given threshold, between ETa and DPSI, sand and silt contents and soil extractable zinc. For CWP the association patterns for the top six predictors were all non-monotonic; that is a mix of increasing and decreasing associations of a given predictor to either an increase or a decrease in CWP. Our results indicate that improving irrigated rice performance in the Kou Valley irrigation scheme would require growing more rice at lower altitudes (e.g. < 300 m above sea level) and closer to the scheme inlet, in conjunction with a good management of nutrients such as nitrogen and potassium through fertilization.
Crisis resilience: Humanitarian response and anticipatory action
(Book Chapter, 2023-04-13) Kurdi, Sikandra; Ruckstuhl, Sandra
In human, economic, and environmental terms, the total cost of disaster and crisis response is extremely high, and the disastrous combination of the food price crises coming on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic and natural calamities is straining public budgets and squeezing financial options. In 2020, private and public losses from weather-related disasters alone exceeded a total of US$258 billion globally — 29 percent above the 2001–2020 average — making it the fifth costliest year on record, and rising temperatures are expected to bring even more frequent and severe extreme weather events. At the same time, conflict has become a leading contributor to humanitarian crisis situations — as seen most recently with the food and energy crises precipitated by the Russia-Ukraine war and refugee flows driven by the Syrian civil war.
Water stresses and responses in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone
(Book Chapter, 2023) Drury, L.; Johnston, R.; Schmitter, Petra
The Central Dry Zone (CDZ) of Myanmar is the heartland of the Burmese culture, and in many ways, it is socially and culturally coherent with the other rice-centred cultures of mainland Southeast Asia. In climatic terms, it is a semi-arid outlier in a mostly wet-tropical region. Climate change is exacerbating weather variability and water insecurity, and the CDZ thus epitomises the challenges posed by climate change for much of the region. This chapter describes two examples of interventions aimed at addressing water insecurity in the CDZ: pumped irrigation at Pyawt Ywar; and artesian groundwater in the Pale Subbasin. Both address the interconnections between social and physical drivers of vulnerability. They demonstrate the challenges and importance of working across institutional scales. These examples demonstrate that progress is possible at local levels despite a lack of (or inappropriate) national policy and regulations, which limit the scale, and possibly the long-term sustainability of such gains.
Water security and spring conservation in the Himalaya
(Book Chapter, 2023) Kumar, Manish; Rathod, R.; Mukherji, Aditi
Springs are the most important source of water for the people in the mid-hills of the Himalaya. Emerging evidence shows that they are increasingly drying up, causing numerous hardships for people, with those impacts being felt more acutely by women and members of vulnerable communities like lower castes (Dalits). Climate change, land-use and land cover changes, including haphazard infrastructure (hydropower, road construction), and other socio-economic changes such as urbanization and tourism are the leading causes of the drying up of springs. In the region in general, and India in particular, the last decade and a half have seen increased initiatives for spring revival. In this chapter, we document the genesis of some of these spring revival initiatives in India and note how all stakeholders—communities, civil societies and governments have come to support spring revival initiatives. We also note that the scientific community has not yet caught up with the action on the ground, and we still lack rigorous documentation of the short and long-term effectiveness of spring revival initiatives. We recommend integrating scientific knowledge with social analysis on the governance aspects for improving spring recharge, better management and postulating potential responses of natural and human systems against future climate change impacts in the Himalaya.
Mekong River Delta crop mapping using a machine learning approach
(Report, 2022-12-30) Ghosh, Surajit; Wellington, Michael; Holmatov, Bunyod
Agricultural land use and practices have important implications for climate change mitigation and adaptation. It is, therefore, important to develop methods of monitoring and quantifying the extent of crop types and cropping practices. A machine learning approach using random forest classification was applied to Sentinel-1 and 2 satellite imagery and satellite-derived phenological statistics to map crop types in the Mekong River Delta, enabling levels of rice intensification to be identified. This initial classification differentiated between broad and prevalent crop types, including perennial tree crops, rice, other vegetation, oil palm and other crops. A two-step classification was used to classify rice seasonality, whereby the areas identified as rice in the initial classification were further classified into single, double, or triple-cropped rice in a subsequent classification with the same input data but different training polygons. Both classifications had an overall accuracy of approximately 96% when cross-validated on test data. Radar bands from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 reflectance bands were important predictors of crop type, perhaps due to their capacity to differentiate between periodically flooded rice fields and perennial tree cover, which were the predominant classes in the Delta. On the other hand, the Start of Season (SoS) and End of Season (EoS) dates were the most important predictors of single, double, or triple-cropped rice, demonstrating the efficacy of the phenological predictors. The accuracy and detail are limited by the availability of reliable training data, especially for tree crops in small-scale orchards. A preliminary result is presented here, and, in the future, efficient collection of ground images may enable cost-effective training data collection for similar mapping exercises.
Knowledge priorities on climate change and water in the Upper Indus Basin: a horizon scanning exercise to identify the top 100 research questions in social and natural sciences
(Journal Article, 2022-04) Orr, A.; Ahmad, B.; Alam, U.; Appadurai, A. N.; Bharucha, Z.P.; Biemans, H.; Bolch, T.; Chaulagain, N. P.; Dhaubanjar, S.; Dimri, A. P.; Dixon, H.; Fowler, H. J.; Gioli, G.; Halvorson, S. J.; Hussain, A.; Jeelani, G.; Kamal, S.; Khalid, I. S.; Liu, S.; Lutz, A.; Mehra, M. K.; Miles, E.; Momblanch, A.; Muccione, V.; Mukherji, Aditi; Mustafa, D.; Najmuddin, O.; Nasimi, M. N.; Nusser, M.; Pandey, V. P.; Parveen, S.; Pellicciotti, F.; Pollino, C.; Potter, E.; Qazizada, M. R.; Ray, S.; Romshoo, S.; Sarkar, S. K.; Sawas, A.; Sen, S.; Shah, A.; Ali Shah, M. Azeem; Shea, J. M.; Sheikh, A. T.; Shrestha, A. B.; Tayal, S.; Tigala, S.; Virk, Z. T.; Wester, P.; Wescoat, J. L. Jr.
River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB region will be affected by considerable (yet poorly quantified) changes to the seasonality and composition of runoff in the future, which are likely to have considerable impacts on these supplies. Given how directly and indirectly communities and ecosystems are dependent on these resources and the growing pressure on them due to ever-increasing demands, the impacts of climate change pose considerable adaptation challenges. The strong linkages between hydroclimate, cryosphere, water resources, and human activities within the UIB suggest that a multi- and inter-disciplinary research approach integrating the social and natural/environmental sciences is critical for successful adaptation to ongoing and future hydrological and climate change. Here we use a horizon scanning technique to identify the Top 100 questions related to the most pressing knowledge gaps and research priorities in social and natural sciences on climate change and water in the UIB. These questions are on the margins of current thinking and investigation and are clustered into 14 themes, covering three overarching topics of “governance, policy, and sustainable solutions”, “socioeconomic processes and livelihoods”, and “integrated Earth System processes”. Raising awareness of these cutting-edge knowledge gaps and opportunities will hopefully encourage researchers, funding bodies, practitioners, and policy makers to address them.
The “water machine” of Bengal: a data-driven and policy-supported strategic use of aquifers for irrigation is needed to maximize their benefits
(Journal Article, 2022-09-16) Mukherji, Aditi
For decades, millions of farmers in Bangladesh have been capturing more water than even the world’s largest dams. They did so simply by irrigating intensively in the summer dry season using water from shallow wells. The ability to use groundwater to irrigate rice paddies during the dry seasons (January to May) helped Bangladesh become food self-sufficient by the 1990s, which was no small feat for one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Researchers proposed that lowering of the groundwater table as a result of intensive irrigation practices in the dry season created conditions for recharge from monsoon rains (June to September), which then replenishes the groundwater (1). On page 1315 of this issue, Shamsudduha et al. (2) present a quantitative analysis of this depletion-replenish process and show that this recharge has indeed been happening at a large scale, in a process they call the Bengal Water Machine (BWM).
Are climate finance subsidies equitably distributed among farmers? Assessing socio-demographics of solar irrigation in Nepal
(Journal Article, 2022-09) Kafle, K.; Uprety, Labisha; Shrestha, Gitta; Pandey, V.; Mukherji, Aditi
Solar-powered irrigation pumps are a vital tool for both climate change adaptation and mitigation. Since most developing countries cannot fully utilize large-scale global funds for climate finance due to limited institutional capacities, small-scale solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) can provide a climate-resilient technological solution. We study the case of a subsidized SIP program in Nepal to understand who likely benefits from a small-scale climate finance program in a developing country setting. We analyze government data on profiles of farmers applying for SIPs and in-depth interviews with different actors along the SIP service chain. We find that vulnerable farmers (women, ethnic minorities, and poor farmers) were less likely than wealthier and non-minority farmers to have access to climate finance subsidies. Even though the government agency gave preference to women and ethnic minority farmers during beneficiary selection, an unrepresentative pool of applicants resulting from social and institutional barriers that prevented them from applying to the program led to an inequitable distribution of subsidized SIPs. The lack of a clear policy framework for allocating climate finance subsidies was a significant constraint. Lack of periodic updating of SIP prices and poor provision of after-sale services were also responsible for the inequitable distribution of subsidized SIPs. We recommend the involvement of local governments in soliciting applications from a wider pool of farmers, periodic revision of SIP prices to reflect market price, replacement of the current fixed subsidy scheme with a variable subsidy scheme, and mandatory provisions of after-sales services.
Achieving climate resilience through improved irrigation water management from farm to basin scale. Editorial
(Journal Item, 2022-10) Hafeez, Mohsin; Uhlenbrook, Stefan; Schmitter, Petra
Thirty years of water management research for rice in Sub-Saharan Africa: achievement and perspectives
(Journal Article, 2022-07) Dossou-Yovo, Elliott Ronald; Devkota, Krishna Prasad; Akpoti, Komlavi; Danvi, A.; Duku, C.; Zwart, Sander J.
Rice is one of the major staple foods in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and is mainly grown in three environments: rainfed upland and rainfed and irrigated lowlands. In all rice-growing environments, the yield gap (the difference between the potential yield in irrigated lowland or water-limited yield in rainfed lowland and upland and the actual yield obtained by farmers) is largely due to a wide range of constraints including water-related issues. This paper aims to review water management research for rice cultivation in SSA. Major water-related constraints to rice production include drought, flooding, iron toxicity, and soil salinity. A wide range of technologies has been tested by Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) and its partners for their potential to address some of the water-related challenges across SSA. In the irrigated lowlands, the system of rice intensification and alternate wetting and drying significantly reduced water use, while the pre-conditions to maintain grain yield and quality compared to continuous flooding were identified. Salinity problems caused by the standing water layer could be addressed by flushing and leaching. In the rainfed lowlands, water control structures, Sawah rice production system, and the Smart-Valleys approach for land and water development improved water availability and grain yield compared to traditional water management practices. In the rainfed uplands, supplemental irrigation, mulching, and conservation agriculture mitigated the effects of drought on rice yield. The Participatory Learning and Action Research (PLAR) approach was developed to work with and educate communities to help them implement improved water management technologies. Most of the research assessed a few indicators such as rice yield, water use, water productivity at the field level. There has been limited research on the cost-benefit of water management technologies, enabling conditions and business models for their large-scale adoption, as well as their impact on farmers’ livelihoods, particularly on women and youth. Besides, limited research has been conducted on water management design for crop diversification, landscape-level water management, and iron toxicity mitigation, particularly in lowlands. Filling these research gaps could contribute to sustainable water resources management and sustainable intensification of rice-based systems in SSA.
Transformation of water systems for climate change adaptation and resilience
(Brief, 2021-10-28) International Water Management Institute
A new conceptual framework for integrating earth observation in large-scale wetland management in East Africa
(Journal Article, 2021-10) Steinbach, S.; Cornish, N.; Franke, J.; Hentze, K.; Strauch, A.; Thonfeld, F.; Zwart, Sander J.; Nelson, A.
Wetlands are abundant across the African continent and provide a range of ecosystem services on different scales but are threatened by overuse and degradation. It is essential that national governments enable and ensure the sustainable use of wetland resources to maintain these services in the long run. As informed management decisions require reliable, up-to-date, and large coverage spatial data, we propose a modular Earth observation-based framework for the geo-localisation and characterization of wetlands in East Africa. In this study, we identify four major challenges in spatial data supported wetland management and present a framework to address them. We then apply the framework comprising Wetland Delineation, Surface Water Occurrence, Land Use/Land Cover classification and Wetland Use Intensity for the whole of Rwanda and evaluate the ability of these layers to meet the identified challenges. The layers’ spatial and temporal characteristics make them combinable and the information content, of each layer alone as well as in combination, renders them useful for different wetland management contexts.
Sustainable groundwater management in India needs a water-energy-food nexus approach
(Journal Article, 2022-03) Mukherji, Aditi
Groundwater depletion in India is a result of water, energy, and food policies that have given rise to a nexus where growth in agriculture has been supported by unsustainable trends in water and energy use. This nexus emanates from India’s policy of providing affordable calories to its large population. This requires that input prices are kept low, leading to perverse incentives that encourage groundwater overexploitation. The paper argues that solutions to India’s groundwater problems need to be embedded within the current context of its water-energy-food nexus. Examples are provided of changes underway in some water-energy-food policies that may halt further groundwater depletion.
Multivariate and spatially calibrated hydrological model for assessing climate change impacts on hydrological processes in West Africa
(Conference Paper, 2020-05-08) Dembélé, M.; Zwart, Sander J.; Ceperley, N.; Mariethoz, G.; Schaefli, B.
Robust hydrological models are critical for the assessment of climate change impacts on hydrological processes. This study analysis the future evolution of the spatiotemporal dynamics of multiple hydrological processes (i.e. streamflow, soil moisture, evaporation and terrestrial water storage) with the fully distributed mesoscale hydrologic Model (mHM), which is constrained with a novel multivariate calibration approach based on the spatial patterns of satellite remote sensing data (Dembélé et al., 2020). The experiment is done in the large and transboundary Volta River Basin (VRB) in West Africa, which is a hotspot of climate vulnerability. Climate change and land use changes lead to recurrent floods and drought that impact agriculture and affect the lives of the inhabitants.
Based on data availability on the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) platform, nine Global Circulation Models (i.e. CanESM2, CNRM-CM5, CSIRO-Mk3-6-0, GFDL-ESM2M, HadGEM2-ES, IPSL-CM5A-MR, MIROC5, MPI-ESM-LR and NorESM1-M) available from the CORDEX-Africa initiative and dynamically downscaled with the latest version of the Rossby Centre's regional atmospheric model (RCA4) are selected for this study. Daily datasets of meteorological variables (i.e. precipitation and air temperature) for the medium and high emission scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) are bias-corrected and used to force the mHM model for the reference period 1991-2020, and the near- and long-term future periods 2021-2050 and 2051-2080.
The results show contrasting trends among the hydrological processes as well as among the GCMs. The findings reveal uncertainties in the spatial patterns of hydrological processes (e.g. soil moisture and evaporation), which ultimately have implications for flood and drought predictions. This study highlights the importance of plausible spatial patterns for the assessment of climate change impacts on hydrological processes, and thereby provide valuable information with the potential to reduce the climate vulnerability of the local population.

Reference
Dembélé, M., Hrachowitz, M., Savenije, H., Mariéthoz, G., & Schaefli, B. (2020). Improving the predictive skill of a distributed hydrological model by calibration on spatial patterns with multiple satellite datasets. Water Resources Research.
Spatiotemporal assessment of irrigation performance of the Kou Valley Irrigation Scheme in Burkina Faso using satellite remote sensing-derived indicators
(Journal Article, 2020-08-11) Sawadogo, A.; Kouadio, L.; Traoré, F.; Zwart, Sander J.; Hessels, T.; Gundogdu, K. S.
Traditional methods based on field campaigns are generally used to assess the performance of irrigation schemes in Burkina Faso, resulting in labor-intensive, time-consuming, and costly processes. Despite their extensive application for such performance assessment, remote sensing (RS)-based approaches remain very much underutilized in Burkina Faso. Using multi-temporal Landsat images within the Python module for the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land model, we investigated the spatiotemporal performance patterns of the Kou Valley irrigation scheme (KVIS) during two consecutive cropping seasons. Four performance indicators (depleted fraction, relative evapotranspiration, uniformity of water consumption, and crop water productivity) for rice, maize, and sweet potato were calculated and compared against standard values. Overall, the performance of the KVIS varied depending on year, crop, and the crop’s geographical position in the irrigation scheme. A gradient of spatially varied relative evapotranspiration was observed across the scheme, with the uniformity of water consumption being fair to good. Although rice was the most cultivated, a shift to more sweet potato farming could be adopted to benefit more from irrigation, given the relatively good performance achieved by this crop. Our findings ascertain the potential of such RS-based cost-effective methodologies to serve as basis for improved irrigation water management in decision support tools.
Hydro-energy cooperation in South Asia: prospects for transboundary energy and water security
(Journal Article, 2020-12) Saklani, U.; Shrestha, P. P.; Mukherji, Aditi; Scott, Christopher A.
The last decade has witnessed rapid progress in energy cooperation between the countries of the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) sub-region. Cooperation has been bilateral, with each of the countries entering into separate energy development and trade agreement with India, broadly similar to the water sector where national governments engage bilaterally on transboundary cooperation and dispute resolution. A more recent wave of electrical grid interconnections and hydro-energy cooperation has emerged with governments increasingly shifting from bilateral to multilateral energy-sharing agreements. This trend holds considerable potential for regional transboundary water governance. Based on documentary and media analysis along with interviews of key BBIN policy-makers, we identify and examine in this paper four factors for future progress: 1) technical cooperation can be extended to information-sharing for policies and institutions to regulate and manage water resources; 2) India must seize the opportunities and benefits of enhanced regional leadership in the region; 3) simultaneous informal discussion and diplomatic negotiation of water, energy and their nexus can provide BBIN countries the opportunity to highlight potential gains of cooperation and interstate interdependencies; and 4) regional cooperation can give a strong impetus to nations for advancing structural reforms, building institutions and capacity, developing a shared knowledge base, bridging infrastructural gaps, attracting private sector participation, and addressing poverty alleviation goals including job creation.

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