A linked modelling framework to explore interactions among climate, soil water, and land use decisions in the Argentine Pampas

In flat environments, groundwater is relatively shallow, tightly associated with surface water and climate, and can have either positive and negative impacts on natural and human systems depending on its depth. A linked modelling and analysis framework that seeks to capture linkages across multiple scales at the climate/water/ crop nexus in the Argentine Pampas is presented. This region shows a strong coupling between climate, soil water, and land use due to its extremely flat topography and poorly developed drainage networks. The work describes the components of the framework and, subsequently, presents results from simulations performed with the twin goals of (i) validating the framework as a whole and (ii) demonstrating its usefulness to explore interesting contexts such as unexperienced climate scenarios (wet/dry periods), hypothetical policies (e.g., differential grains export taxes), and adoption of non-structural technologies (e.g., cover crops) to manage wáter table depth.Fil: García, Guillermo A.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico, Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi"; ArgentinaFil: García, Pablo Enrique. Ministerio del Interior, Obras Públicas y Vivienda. Secretaría de Obras Públicas. Subsecretaría de Recursos Hídricos. Instituto Nacional del Agua y del Ambiente (Ezeiza); ArgentinaFil: Rovere, Santiago Luis. No especifíca;Fil: Bert, Federico Esteban. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Vegetal. Cátedra de Cerealicultura; ArgentinaFil: Schmidt, Federico Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Menendez, Angel Nicolas. Ministerio del Interior, Obras Públicas y Vivienda. Secretaría de Obras Públicas. Subsecretaría de Recursos Hídricos. Instituto Nacional del Agua y del Ambiente (Ezeiza); ArgentinaFil: Nosetto, Marcelo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico, Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis "Prof. Ezio Marchi"; ArgentinaFil: Verdin, Andrew. State University of Colorado at Boulder; Estados UnidosFil: Rajagopalan, Balaji. State University of Colorado at Boulder; Estados UnidosFil: Arora, Poonam. Manhattan College; Estados UnidosFil: Podestá, Guillermo P.. University Of Miami. Rosenstiel School Of Marine Atmospheric Science; Estados Unido

The Climate, Land, Energy, and Water systems (CLEWs) framework: a retrospective of activities and advances to 2019

Population growth, urbanization and economic development drive the use of resources. Securing access to essential services such as energy, water, and food, while achieving sustainable development, require that policy and planning processes follow an integrated approach. The 'Climate-, Land-, Energy- and Water-systems' (CLEWs) framework assists the exploration of interactions between (and within) CLEW systems via quantitative means. The approach was first introduced by the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct an integrated systems analysis of a biofuel chain. The framework assists the exploration of interactions between (and within) CLEW systems via quantitative means. Its multi-institutional application to the case of Mauritius in 2012 initiated the deployment of the framework. A vast number of completed and ongoing applications of CLEWs span different spatial and temporal scales, discussing two or more resource interactions under different political contexts. Also, the studies vary in purpose. This shapes the methods that support CLEWs-type analyses. In this paper, we detail the main steps of the CLEWs framework in perspective to its application over the years. We summarise and compare key applications, both published in the scientific literature, as working papers and reports by international organizations. We discuss differences in terms of geographic scope, purpose, interactions represented, analytical approach and stakeholder involvement. In addition, we review other assessments, which contributed to the advancement of the CLEWs framework. The paper delivers recommendations for the future development of the framework, as well as keys to success in this type of evaluations

Impacto del manejo y ambiente sobre el rendimiento de maíces de diferente fecha de siembra

El maíz es el segundo cultivo con mayor superficie y producción en la República Argentina, donde actualmente los productores están sembrando en fechas de siembras contrastantes (temprana y tardía) y exponiendo a los cultivos a diferentes condiciones ambientales. En la presente tesis se estudió el efecto de las decisiones de manejo y las variables ambientales sobre el rendimiento de cultivos sembrados en fechas de siembra temprana y tardía. Además, se evaluó el incremento del rendimiento gracias a la optimización del manejo. Se utilizaron ensayos comparativos de rendimiento en lotes de producción. Se concluyó que las decisiones de manejo y el efecto de las variables ambientales más importantes difieren con la fecha de siembra. Las decisiones de manejo más importantes para fechas de siembras tempranas son la densidad, la disponibilidad de nitrógeno, la disponibilidad de azufre y el fósforo aplicado. En contraste, para fechas de siembras tardías fueron el uso de fungicidas foliares, el fósforo del suelo y la disponibilidad de nitrógeno. La elección del genotipo presentó similar importancia y efecto para ambas fechas de siembra. Las variables ambientales más importantes para ambas fechas de siembra fueron la presencia de una napa cercana y las precipitaciones durante el ciclo. El efecto en el rendimiento de una napa cercana fue positivo para fechas de siembra tempranas, mientras que el efecto fue negativo en fechas de siembra tardías. La presencia de una napa cercana en un lote condiciona la fecha de siembra, ubicando a la fecha de siembra temprana como la mejor opción ante lotes con presencia de napa. A partir de estos resultados, se logró optimizar en el manejo para aumentar el rendimiento en ambas fechas de siembra. La presente tesis demuestra que los productores deben ajustar el genotipo, la densidad, el nitrógeno y el azufre en fechas tempranas, mientras que en fechas tardías deben mejorar el manejo del genotipo, el fungicida, el fósforo del suelo y el nitrógeno. De esta manera, se lograrían aumentos del rendimiento de 3.053 kg ha-1 para fechas tempranas, y de 1.459 kg ha-1 para fechas tardías. En cambio, las variables ambientales más importantes son las relacionadas al agua disponible sin distinción de la fecha de siembra.Maize is the second crop with the largest sown area and production in the Argentina, where farmers are currently sowing at contrasting sowing dates (early and late) and exposing the crops to different growing conditions. In the present thesis, the effect on yield of management decisions and environmental variables was studied at early and late sowing dates. In addition, the increase on yield by optimizing management decisions at each sowing date was evaluated. Genotype yield comparison trials were used throughout the thesis. It was concluded that the most relevant management decisions and environmental variables differed with sowing date. Stand density, nitrogen availability, sulphur availability and phosphorus applied were the most important management decisions at early sowing date. In contrast, for late sowing dates, fungicide use, soil phosphorus, and nitrogen availability were the most important management decisions. Genotype selection showed similar importance and effect for both sowing dates. The most important environmental variables for both sowing dates were the presence of a closed water table and rainfall during the cycle. The effect of a closed water table was positive for early sowing date, while, on late sowing date the effect was negative. The presence of a closed water table conditions the sowing date, making early sowing date as the best option for fields with a closer water table. Based on these results, optimizing through management decisions could increase yield on both sowing dates. In summary, the present thesis shows that farmers should adjust stand density, nitrogen and sulfur availability at early sowing dates, while at late sowing dates they should improve the management of fungicide, soil phosphorus and nitrogen availability. This would result, on yield increases of 3.053 kg ha 1 for early sowing dates and 1.459 kg ha-1 for late sowing dates would be achieved. Instead, the most important environmental variables are those related to available water at both sowing dates.Fil: Apellido, Nombre. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; ArgentinaFil: Vitantonio Mazzini, Lucas Nicolás. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentin

AN INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK FOR ROBUST DECISION-MAKING IN A TRANSBOUNDARY RIVER BASIN: AN INTER-REGIONAL HYDRO-ECONOMIC APPROACH

Allocating limited amounts of freshwater among competing uses is challenging, particularly in transboundary river basins and under the impact of climate change and increasing demand for water associated with population growth and economic development. This calls for decision support tools that inform decision-makers about the consequences of their water management strategies and the impacts of changes in water availability due to climate change and socio-economic development. Hydro-economic models have proven to be promising for helping understand these impacts from an economic perspective. These models need to be integrated and capture both features of the water system and the economic interdependencies to be effective in multi-sectoral and multi-regional river basin contexts. Many of the hydro-economic models, however, adhere to either hydrological or administrative boundaries due to the limited availability of hydrological and economic data at relevant temporal and spatial scales. These models usually consist of a detailed representation of either the water or the economic system and a simplified representation of the other system. This is mainly because an integrated model including a detailed representation of both water and economic systems is extremely data-demanding and challenging to develop due to the different resolutions of datasets associated with these models. This dissertation attempts to address this gap by developing an integrated hydro-economic model that encompasses an entire transboundary river basin and consists of detailed water and economic components to inform decision-making about sustainable and robust water allocation. This is accomplished through these main steps: (1) developing an Inter-regional Supply-side Input-Output (ISIO) model incorporating water supply data for the transboundary Saskatchewan River Basin; (2) testing the temporal transferability of the ISIO model for different years in predicting the economic response of the river basin to changes in water availability under different climatic conditions; (3) coupling the ISIO model with a node-link water resources system model (MODSIM) to create an integrated hydro-economic model; (4) applying this integrated hydro-economic model to identify the sectoral and regional vulnerabilities of the river basin to changes in water supply; and (5) comparing the economic outcomes of the integrated hydro-economic model with those coming from an engineering model (the MODSIM model linked to a crop yield function) and the ISIO model. The contribution of this dissertation is developing an integrated hydro-economic model that couples detailed water resources system and inter-regional supply-side input-output models to identify sectoral and regional vulnerabilities of transboundary river basins to changes in water availability. The findings of this research have advanced our understanding of the cross-sectoral and inter-regional distribution of economic impacts of water allocation strategies and other drivers, including climate change and socio-economic development. This research also investigates, for the first time, the performance of supply-side input-output models that include water under different climatic conditions and over several years. This dissertation serves as an example for future integrated hydro-economic modelling attempts, particularly for informing decision-making about sustainable and robust water allocation in multi-sectoral and multi-regional river basins