Search results for "Water resources"
showing 10 items of 152 documents
The Economic Impact of Restricted Water Supply: a Computable General Equilibrium Analysis
2007
Water problems are typically studied at the level of the river catchment. About 70% of all water is used for agriculture, and agricultural products are traded internationally. A full understanding of water use is impossible without understanding the international market for food and related products, such as textiles. The water embedded in commodities is called virtual water. Based on a general equilibrium model, we offer a method for investigating the role of water resources and water scarcity in the context of international trade. We run five alternative scenarios, analyzing the effects of water scarcity due to reduced availability of groundwater. This can be a consequence of physical con…
Climate mitigation and intensified forest management in Norway: To what extent are surface waters safeguarded?
2020
AbstractWhile the role of forestry in mitigating climate change is increasingly subject to political commitment, other areas, such as water protection, may be at risk. In this study, we ask whether surface waters are sufficiently safeguarded in relation to the 2015 launch of a series of measures to intensify forest management for mitigation of climate change in Norway. First, we assess how impacts on water are accounted for in existing regulations for sustainable forestry. Secondly, we provide an overview of the impacts of forestry on water quality relevant to three support schemes: afforestation on new areas, increased stocking density in existing forests, and forest fertilisation. Lastly,…
The social benefits of restoring water quality in the context of the Water Framework Directive: A comparison of willingness to pay and willingness to…
2009
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is by far the most important piece of water legislation in Europe for the coming decades. Its main aim is to achieve "good ecological status" for all water resources by 2015. The economic valuation of the non-market benefits derived from improving water quality is an important input in assisting the design and implementation of efficient and effective water management policies. In this study, the contingent valuation method has been applied with a double purpose. On the one hand, we have estimated the value of a hypothetical improvement in water quality of a river asking individuals about their willingness to pay, and on the other hand, the issue of exemp…
Estimating willingness to pay for desalinated seawater: the case of Djerba Island, Tunisia
2017
AbstractWater scarcity can be a growth-limiting factor. Non-conventional water resources, such as desalinated water, represent an alternative means of guaranteeing access to water while reducing water stress. In this study, a contingent valuation survey carried out in Djerba Island, Tunisia, allows the joint modelling of two decisions: societal support for the construction of a desalination plant and households’ willingness to pay for desalinated water. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study to date has addressed this relationship. We find that although a clear majority of households are in favour of using desalinated water, far fewer are willing to pay for it. The article conclude…
EVASPA (EVapotranspiration Assessment from SPAce) tool: an overview
2013
International audience; Evapotranspiration (ET) is a fundamental variable of the hydrological cycle and its estimation is required for irrigation management, water resources planning and environmental studies. Remote sensing provides spatially distributed cost-effective information for ET maps production at regional scale. We have developed EVASPA too for mapping ET from remote sensing data at spatial and temporal scales relevant to hydrological or agronomica studies. EVASPA includes several algorithms for estimating evapotranspiration and various equations for estimating the required input information (net radiation, ground heat flux, evaporative fraction…), which provides a way to assess …
Irrigation water intensity and climate variability: an agricultural crops analysis of Italian regions
2020
This paper examines the relationship between the requirement of water resources for irrigation and climate variability and analyses the ranking of the best and worst performance of irrigation water intensity for each Italian region. To measure water resources demanded by agriculture, the irrigation water intensity (IWI) indicator has been computed as the ratio between volumes of irrigation water and total crop harvested. By applying panel data methodologies to a regional dataset spanning from 2000 to 2009, we may address heterogeneity and omitted variable issues. By merging meteo-climatic with agricultural variables, we may confirm that water precipitations, maximum temperature, irrigation …
Rainwater harvesting in urban areas of developed countries. The state of the art (1980-2017)
2020
Many urban areas suffer from water scarcity although paradoxically, a local source such as rainwater is mostly treated as a risk rather than a valuable resource. This change of paradigm is included in the 'integrated water resources management' and 'demand management' approach. The aim of this research is to identify and analyse studies that explore subject matters concerning rainwater in the integrated management systems of water resources into developed countries. The research methodology consisted in a literature review (from the 1980s to 2017) of territorial studies that examine rainwater harvesting in urban areas of the developed countries. To this end, a bibliometric analysis has been…
River Contracts for Innovation in Territorial Governance
2016
Emerged in France in 1980s as agreements oriented to the requalification of rivers and lakes, river contracts represent an important outcome of the decentralization process, developed in Europe in reply to the growing institutional fragmentation. In this scenario, rivers have become a dialectic arena in which the exploitation and management of water resources came to terms with environmental instances, and offered the breeding ground for concerted efforts between policy makers, stakeholders and communities. In this chapter, the analysis is focused on the river contract model and the related set of instruments capable of supporting concerted and participatory management processes both with r…
Minería de oro: promesas, conflictos y desilusión en Cerro de San Pedro, México
2018
Este artículo analiza los conflictos por los recursos agua y tierra en Cerro de San Pedro, México, cuando una empresa minera canadiense inició una mina a cielo abierto en este municipio. Examinamos diferentes posiciones en el conflicto entre la mina de oro y los habitantes locales, y cómo ambivalentes regulaciones nacionales y organismos gubernamentales permitieron que una empresa extranjera operara sin los permisos requeridos. Para analizar el conflicto utilizamos el marco de Escalones de Análisis de Derechos, que distingue cuatro capas de disputa: sobre los recursos; el contenido de las normas; el poder de decisión; y los discursos. Discutimos cómo la auto-representación de la empresa ext…
Improving the resilience to drought of the Apulian water resources system – an hydroeconomic model
2015
The paper presents a hydro-economic model of the Apulian water resources system, in southern Italy, i.e. a mathematical programming model of the allocations explicitly accounting for the different values of water and for hydrological variability at the appropriate time scale. Traditionally a water-scarce region, Apulia is now supplied by extra-regional regulated surface resources as well as by a coastal aquifer; altogether, they constitute a multipurpose system with conflicting uses: municipal, irrigation and, to a lesser extent, industrial supply. The system is at present affected by high streamflow variability and by a high level of water losses along the urban distribution networks. In t…