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Book (series)Negotiated territorial development in a multi-stakeholders participatory Resource Planning approach: an initial sustainable framework for the Near east Region 2016
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No results found.Throughout the Near East, land and water shortages, land degradation, out of date land tenure systems and food insecurity are compounded by asymmetries in gender roles and power, by severe imbalances in the political-military structures within and between countries, by flagrant deficiencies in land and water management and control systems, and by the incessant increases in demand driven by high rates of population growth and urbanization. This interplay of forces and dynamics form a complex hydr o socio-political web that governs the allocation land and water and who benefits from their availability and their ultimate sustainability. The current allocation arrangements of the region's three major river basins - the Nile, the Euphrates-Tigris and the Jordan - are nascent sources of tension, and potential sources of conflict and violence. Political instability that characterizes the Near East continues to intensify scarcity, suppresses growth and engenders poverty and is being increasingl y exacerbated by the impending consequences of climate change. The Middle East is one of the most water poor and water stressed regions of the globe. While the region is home to 5.1% of the people of the world, it has about only 1% of the world renewable fresh water. Today's annual per capita availability of fresh water in the region is only one seventh of its 1960 level, falling from 3,300 cubic metres per person in 1960 to less than 500 cubic metres in 2015. This is the lowest per capita wat er availability in the world. The current land tenure systems are failing to address long-standing problems that include smallholder farmers, landless households and most marginalized groups such as women continue to compete for shrinking natural recourses, while pastoralists are losing control of their traditional grazing areas. Use, management and access to land and water are becoming extremely sensitive matters as the number of users grows. Governments and local actors have often perceived these major issues differently. This requires effort to be made to ensure a participatory approach to decision-making that effectively involves all the local actors concerned in an equitable and balanced manner. About 90% of the land area in this Region is subject to land degradation in different forms and over 45% of land suitable to farming is exposed to various types of land degradation which include soil nutrient depletion, salinity and wind and water erosion. Per capita arable land availa bility in the region is among the lowest in the world where many countries in the region show levels that are exceptionally low (on average less than 0.123 hectares per person) and the range varies between 0.01 hectares per person (Oman, Qatar, Palestine, Kuwait and Bahrain) to 0.34 hectares in the Sudan in 2015. Arable land as a percentage of land area in the region is very low ranging between 0.1% in Oman to 18.4% in Tunisia in 2013. Most of the countries in the region show shares below 10%. O nly Morocco, Tunisia, and Iraq sow percentages above 10%. Irrigated land areas in the region also represent a small share of total arable land areas. In many of the countries in the region these shares are way below the world average. Only Iran (17.4%) and the UAE (12.5%) show high relative shares in the period 2011-2015. The Region’s critical shortage of water and cultivable land, including the increasing pressure on these resources and their degradation makes their efficient management a pa ramount task. It will be necessary in this regard to promote the engagement of all concerned stakeholders in planning and managing land, water and agrobiodiversity. Actual physical scarcity of land and water, even in the Middle East region, is not the only key issue. Conditions of economic scarcity seem to be equally pressing; there is perhaps enough land and water to meet society's need, but there are few incentives for wise, efficient and egalitarian use of these critical resources. Climate change will impinge on this region’s fragile water balances, suitable land for cultivation, grazing land and food production capacities and will exacerbate the problems and issues of food security. Measures, policies, strategies and institutional capacities to mitigate the impending catastrophic consequences of climate change and to improve the societies’ resilience and adaptation to its consequences are needed now. The sooner the regulatory and institutional setups are put in place the easier the task to deal with climate and other risks. It is necessary and vital to rise up to this challenge by enlisting the stakeholders in the initiatives to promote sustainability and efficiency of land and water use and the management of food security issues. An active engagement of concerned stakeholders in planning and managing water, land and agrobiodiversity necessitates first and foremost the engagement of and participation of particularly women and girls and marginalized groups in all wate r and food aspects as they constitute the main agricultural labour force and the most deprived segments of society. Gender and the water and land nexus in the Arab region is an area where there is still relative little information. There is little systematic knowledge about the many means by which women and men manage water and land in the region. Evidence shows that while women in Egypt have a significant role to play in water use in the process of food production by controlling and managi ng water flows in the fields and supervising workers during irrigation, they rarely own the land they cultivate. Rural women in Yemen spend huge amounts of time collecting and transporting water, often up and down steep slopes and coordinate water allocation and distribution for the various needs of the family and the household but they are rarely involved in decision making and management councils that govern land and water uses. Women everywhere in the Middle East evaluate water quantity and q uality and prioritize water for drinking and health and sanitation purposes but they rarely share equally in the benefits of their labor or in the ownership of the land and water resources. This is why an integrated water and land management system anchored on a genuine participation of stakeholders will be crucial in determining whether the Arab world achieves the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and aspirations for reducing poverty and enhancing shared prosperity. Water and land are the c ommon currency which links nearly every SDG, and it will be a critical determinant of success. Abundant water supplies and cultivable land are vital for the production of food and will be essential to attaining SDG 2 on food security; clean and safe drinking water and sanitation systems are necessary for health as called for in SDGs 3 and 6; and water is needed for powering industries and creating the new jobs identified in SDGs 7 and 8. None of this is achievable without adequate and safe water and sufficient suitable land to nourish the planet’s life-sustaining ecosystem services identified in SDGs 13, 14 and 15. -
Book (stand-alone)Progress on level of water stress - Global baseline for SDG 6 Indicator 6.4.2 2018
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No results found.Access to safe water and sanitation and sound management of freshwater ecosystems are at the core of sustainable development. This is the aim of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), which includes approaches to water management such as environmental flow requirements, international cooperation, capacity building and stakeholder participation. Indicator 6.4.2 is useful for policymaking as it highlights those regions under high water stress, thereby informing countries on where they need to make efforts to improve water resource usage and promote water saving. Agriculture is by far the largest user of water worldwide, so reducing water use in this sector is particularly important. Agricultural water-savings can take many forms, including more sustainable and efficient food production through sustainable water management practices and technologies, and reducing freshwater withdrawals by growing a smaller amount of water-intensive crops in water-scarce regions. Reducing losses in municipal distribution networks, industrial and energy cooling processes is also important for reducing water stress, as well as using treated wastewater and desalinated water. This report describes the methodology for the assessment of SDG indicator 6.4.2 on the level of water stress, illustrating its development in the pilot phase of the GEMI project, and describing the technical steps needed to apply it. It passes to present the data collection process, and the role of the various national and international stakeholders in the monitoring process. Finally, the report shows the results of the first implementation of the indicator, defining its baseline and proposing key messages for the interpretation of the results. -
ProjectEstablishing a Portal for Water Accounting Information - MTF/GLO/231/ASB 2021
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No results found.Seventy percent of water withdrawals are made for agricultural purposes, making it the sector that consumes the most water globally. Demands for water are expected to grow further in the near future, as it is estimated that agricultural production needs will rise by nearly 50 percent by 2050. At the same time, the issue of water scarcity is estimated to affect nearly half of the global population for at least one month per year. This situation is also expected to worsen, with a possible 4.8–5.7 billion people periodically not having access to water by 2050. For these reasons, sustainable water management is of crucial importance to the sector. A way to mitigate both issues is through water accounting. Water accounting is defined as the systematic study of the status of and trends in water supply, demand, accessibility and use in targeted areas. The information gathered through water accounting supports effective decision-making with regards to water management and leads to increased water productivity, which is critical to achieving food and water security as global needs grow. This project was formulated to develop a Portal for Water Accounting within FAO’s Global Information System on Water and Agriculture (AQUASTAT). The Portal was designed to be fully compatible with both AQUASTAT and the Water Productivity Open-access Portal (WaPOR), as well as FAO’s corporate Geospatial Information System that was developed through the Hand-in-Hand Initiative. These tools can assist stakeholders in making evidence-based decisions with regards to water management as a means of increasing water productivity worldwide.
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