Free Flow

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ater

ooperation

, S

ustainability

and

overty

radication

The main challenge of using saline and brackish

water in agricultural production is to develop sustain-

able and economical production systems for marginal

areas through:

• selecting appropriate plant species

• identifying saline and brackish water resources

• identifying available land resources for the

application of biosaline agriculture

• developing appropriate soil salinity management

practices

• developing irrigation and leaching practices that can

maintain root-zone salinity at acceptable levels

• evaluating applicable production systems

• monitoring livestock production (in the case of

forage production systems).

Managing land and water resources effectively and

efficiently requires increasing the diversity of crops

produced. Many conventional crops are generally not

salt-tolerant compared with forages, and most forage

production systems consume large amounts of fresh

water per unit of dry matter produced. Moreover,

forage production is often insufficient to meet the

demands of an increasing livestock population, which

leads to increasing pressure on natural rangeland

resources and contributes to land degradation and

desertification. By using crops that not only tolerate

but thrive in saline conditions and produce economic

yields, the whole landscape can be changed for poor

farmers, leading to improved food security and poverty

alleviation. Therefore the development of production

systems that use saline water in salt-affected envi-

ronments addresses several important economic and

environmental constraints.

Cooperation at local, national, regional and interna-

tional levels is crucial in managing the often competing

interests between different users of water and land.

However, cooperation and integration between local

knowledge, advances in science (research) and policies

(laws and budgets) is still fragmented, especially in under-

developed countries. The linkages between the technical

experts, local stakeholders and decision makers are key

factors for successful decision-making related to water.

Increased levels of cooperation have led to increased

demands for information on which to make sound

decisions. It is important to generate data, model-

ling and tools, including geographic information

system technology and remote sensing, in order

to obtain sound characterization and for land and

water management planning. Unfortunately, most of

the international databases have been developed for

good quality water and arable lands, and hence no

comprehensive and reliable information is available

for marginal environments.

In developing countries many organizations have

water resources data, but it is often fragmented and

located in the files and on the shelves of separate

ministries, departments, institutions, libraries and

universities. The lack of centralized basic information

future changes in climate in the dry regions. Rainfall (greenwa-

ter) is scarce and surface water and groundwater (bluewater) are

already heavily exploited. Rivers are limited to a few countries

within the region and the downstream areas, such as the Nile

Delta in Egypt and the lower Tigris/Euphrates in Iraq, are suffer-

ing from increasing salinity and/or reduced flows. Much of the

groundwater in other countries has very limited natural recharge

and is being overused, resulting in declining levels (with increased

pumping energy required to use it) and increased salinity. Part of

the solution is to explore other water sources, crops with low water

requirement, higher water productivity and appropriate policies.

A total of 2.6 billion km

of usable (3,000-16,000 parts per

million) brackish water per year is available to potentially irrigate

about 332,000 ha of land in six of the MENA countries through

‘biosaline agriculture’.

Substituting saline or wastewater resources

for fresh water used in agriculture (for many agricultural commodi-

ties) can free the fresh water for other essential sectors to improve

health, sustainability and poverty reduction.

Case study: MAWRED

Groundwater resources are under increasing pressure in the MENA

region and declining levels in many aquifers highlight the need for careful

future management. Given the growing need for water in many economic

sectors, decision makers need to understand current resource limits

and the impacts of future conditions as they develop policies balancing

demands. The provision of timely data is an important input into this

process, but in many MENA countries such information is limited.

The MAWRED (Modeling and Monitoring Agriculture and Water Resources

Development) programme, through dynamic modelling and space-based

observations, is developing new country-level (Tunisia, Iraq and Yemen)

and regional data sets to support evidence-based policy development and

decision-making in the MENA region. This programme is funded by the

United States Agency for International Development and is in partnership

with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Data development

falls under four main groups:

• Climate variability – seasonal forecasting (3-6 months) and

dynamically downscaled long-term (20 year periods over 100 years)

climate change

• Water resources – current and future ground and soil water and

evapotranspiration balance

• Agriculture – current land cover, crop group and irrigation maps; key

crop yield estimates under current and future climatic conditions;

irrigation use water balances

• Drought monitoring – estimates of hydrological and agricultural drought.

The water storage variations, 2012-2013: timely data is needed to

understand resource limits and the impacts of future conditions

Image: ICBA