According to FAO (1986) watershed management is the process of formulating and carrying out a course of action involving manipulation of natural, agricultural and human resources on a watershed to provide resources that are desired by and suitable to society, but under the condition that soil and water resources are not adversely affected. Watershed management must consider the social, economic and institutional factors operating inside and outside the watershed.
Ethiopian agriculture is characterized by low productivity and high sensitivity to climate variation. Over 90% of total agricultural output is produced by small-scale subsistence farmers, of which more than 50% operate on an area of one hectare or less. Production is largely rain-fed
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This is especially the case in the arid and semi-arid areas where water scarcity, frequent droughts, soil degradation and other biotic and abiotic constraints lower agricultural productivity and the resilience of the system. In this regard Watershed degradation in Ethiopia is one of the main constraints for agricultural productivity, resulting from the interaction of natural and anthropogenic factors, including erratic rainfall, rugged topography and unsustainable land management practices, both in areas of food crops and in grazing lands. Watershed degradation not only decreased land productivity but also increased social problems (Sertse, 2007;Darghouth et al., 2008). Agricultural production is constrained by high climate variability where rainfall distribution is extremely uneven both spatially and temporally, and this has negative implications for the livelihoods of people (Georgis et al., 2010). Drought frequently results in crop failure, while high rainfall intensities result in low infiltration and high runoff causing enhanced soil erosion and land degradation. Land degradation in the form of soil erosion and declining land fertility is a serious challenge to agricultural productivity and economic growth (Lemenih,
Burns Bog is a domed bog which is approximately 3000 hectares in size and is mostly covered by peat. Under this peat, is a layer of deltaic sand which was deposited from the creation of the Fraser River over 5000 years ago (Comprehensive Guide to Burns Bog). This was when the Fraser River was a low wetland and as flooding occurred, sediments were carried and accumulated. Over the past 150 years, dykes and draining changes have impacted the vegetation (more dryer plants). This is a reason why only two-thirds of the bog remains today.
So many lands, farms, fields of fruits and vegetables are gone because of the drought. All this happened because of a shortage of water from once green and healthy crops to dead dry brittle crops that are abandoned by a drought. For example, we had to cut back on watering my lawn and it went from a green lawn to a dead lawn, because of cut backs. Mat Wiser said that, “ Water will become one of the defining limits to human development and a compound factor in human misery,”(2009 Wiser). If we don’t have water we will die faster without water than food, we can’t be greedy on something that we thrive and survive
Case 2: Chesapeake Bay watershed System Complexity, Data, and Impairment Description The Chesapeake Bay watershed is an example of a complex modeling system that consists of a large watershed (165,759 km2) with flow-regulated rivers, large urban centers and expansive rural areas, and an estuary (US EPA, 2010). The Chesapeake Bay TMDL allocates total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and sediment loads to reduce the size of the oxygen-depleted zones in the bay to restore its living resources. As such, estimating nutrient loads from all sources (air and land) and assessing their effect on the bay’s aquatic life requires the use of an integrated modeling framework. Because of the areal extent and system complexity of the watershed and the estuary, the Chesapeake Bay TMDL is one of the most complex TMDLs conducted in the United States.
NTRODUCTION The water body ‘St.Croix’ is a river which covers an area of 4271km2, and it flows along New Brunswick and Maine and acts as a water boundary between Canada and United States. “Because of its strategic location, the river has played a unique role in the history of Maritime Canada and the U.S. and remains important for these reasons today” (CHRS. 2007). Picture 1 Source: http://www.ijc.org/rel/boards/saint/watershed_report_e.htm Picture 2 http://www.naturetrust.nb.ca/wp/blog/conservation-planning-st-croix-river/ The picture shows the geographic position of St.Croix river watershed and the watershed itself.
The Shawsheen river state is affected heavily by humans. There is trash located all along the trail going into the river and floating in the water. One of the main reasons for the large amounts of trash at the site is that since it is right next to a busy road, so many people throw their trash out of their car windows and it lands in or around the river. Because the dam causes the river to be slow moving and the bodys of water in the wetlands sit in the same place for long periods of time, trash is built up and causes the aesthetic value of the site to be diminished greatly. Removing the dam would allow the water to speed up and trash to be moved from its build up near Stevens street downstream.
The Nile River allows great farming activity. The overflow of the Nile brings in several activities for farmers. Since, the Nile floods around a third of the year that serves good for the farmers, because this allows the soil to become very fertile.
First, farmers do their best to use the water they have. Even though farmers do not have as much water as they used to they still take advantage of every last drop. Farmers together with groundwater banking operations helped supply, groundwater to two-million acre-feet of land (Source four). This is important because this happened
In the year of 1890 many historical events happened. Which is why 1890 is called a watershed year. In the year of 1890 United States faced many changes with trying to expand their nation and created an empire Three of the many historical events that happen in 1890 was the Oklahoma Land Rush, The Wounded Knee Massacre, and Imperialism. Now to explain, the Oklahoma Land Rush. In the 1880’s Oklahoma was Indian territory, but in the year of 1889, the federal government opened this land for settlers.
Flood hazards are present in all types of environments ranging from deserts to tropical rainforests and even developed cities, however what distinguishes the three are their individual ability of naturally preventing floods and mudslides from occurring. In deserts, most of the ground absorbs the rain and in the forests tree roots keep the ground from turning into mudslides but cities have to route the rain into reservoirs, basins and drains because impermeable pavement denies the soil access to soak up the rain. Location is important when choosing where to buy a home and it is useful to know the flood prevention systems your watershed uses to protect homes. The Los Angeles watershed is eight-hundred and thirty-four square miles and makes use of the Los Angeles River as a storm drain that leads to the Pacific Ocean.
Desertification, Deforestation, soil depletion, and water contamination are among some of the consequences of agriculture. An agricultural boom often means that an over farming and an overproduction stage occurs. This result can be worse than the pre-food famine, because now no food is being produced. Water contamination from pesticides and
Water contamination and pollution has been a major problem throughout the nation due to the fact that it’s being done all over. Especially of the most recent contamination in Colorado all in the Animas River from the EPA spilling. Within the last couple of month there has been a mere excessive amount of water being polluted and having toxic waste carelessly dumped. The Animas River of Colorado and flowing through Utah, New Mexico, and high Northern Part of Arizona.
Food Insecurity The continuous increasing demand for the food requires the rapid improvement in food production technology. In a country like Ethiopia, the economy is mainly based on agriculture and the climate conditions are isotropic, still we are not able to make full usage of agricultural resources. The main reason is the lack of rains and scarcity of the land reservoir water in some areas of the country.
(Batino and Waswa, 2011) assert that over 90% of sub-Saharan African agriculture is rain-fed, and mainly under smallholder management. In Ghana, agriculture has been the backbone of the economy since independence (McKay and Aryeetey, 2004) and account for about 73.5 percent of the rural households (Ghana Statistical Service, 2010).
Introduction: “Sustainable agriculture is the efficient production of safe high quality agricultural products, in a way that protects and improves the natural environment the social and economic conditions of farmers their employees and local communities and safe guard the health and welfare of all farmed species“ There are three main principles of sustainable agriculture, the three principles are: 1. Economic sustainability 2. Environmental sustainability 3. Social sustainability With the human population continuing to rise, it is vital that the agricultural industry becomes more sustainable to meet the needs of the growing population. One of the impacts of this growing population is an increase in land usage for settlement purposes.
Introduction By the year 2025, the Philippines is believed to be brought to a water crisis if no new sources of water are developed or found to meet the growing demand of the citizens. (Sapnu, R., Balabo, D., & Cervantes, D., 2007) "There is a Japan International Cooperation Agency study that says that if we will not conserve water, there may be some problems. But of course we can always start conserving now and look for other sources," Lopez (2013) said. Studies have shown how water conservation and appropriate water utilization are significant as early as today.