The Impact of El Niño/Southern Oscillation on Hydrology and Rice Productivity in the Cauvery Basin, India: Application of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool

AbstractThis study was performed to further understanding of the variations in hydrology and rice crop productivity during different El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events in the Cauvery River Basin of Tamil Nadu, India using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The entire Cauvery Basin was divided into 301 sub-basins and further subdivided into 3,601 Hydrological Response Units (HRU). Based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) official website, information on El Niño (1972, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1997, 2002 and 2004) and La Niña (1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1988, 1998, 1999 and 2000) years were obtained. The SWAT model was continuously run from 1970 to 2008, and a composite for El Niño, La Niña and normal years was constructed to understand their influence on hydrology and rice crop productivity in the study area. From the analysis, it was clear that an El Niño episode is correlated with rainfall, hydrology and rice productivity in the Cauvery river basin. The validation of the SWAT model indicated the capability of SWAT to accurately predict stream flow and rice productivity. It was evident from the investigation that the quantum of rainfall was more during El Niño years with high inter-annual rainfall variability (809.3mm to 2,366mm) compared with La Niña and normal years. As a result, the soil water recharge, including percolation and soil water availability in the surface layers, was increased in the El Niño years. Simulated rice productivity over 39 years in the Cauvery Basin ranged between 1,137 and 7,865kgha−1 with a mean productivity of 3,955kgha−1. The coefficient of variation in rice productivity was higher during La Niña (21.4%) years compared with El Niño (14.7%) and normal years (14.6%). The mean rice productivity was increased in both El Niño and normal years, indicating the possibility of higher yields than those in La Niña years. An analysis of the hydrological data and rice productivity showed that the risk of failure was low during El Niño years compared with normal or La Niña years. This behavior could be utilized for forecasting rice crop productivity under different ENSO conditions and can provide information for policy makers when deciding on water allocation and import / export policies

The Science-Policy-Stakeholder interface in land- and water-use interactions

Peer Reviewe

Integrated Water Resources Management: STRIVER Efforts to Assess the Current Status and Future Possibilities in Four River Basins

The contemporary concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) was primarily conceived for the purpose of promoting sustainable water management. There are many elements included in modern IWRM perceptions, e.g., natural resource utilization planning combined with at strategy to balance between social, economic and environmental objectives based on an overall sustainability concept. However, the concept behind IWRM is not new. The historical development of the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) can be found in Rahaman and Varis (2005).Peer Reviewe

Social Forestry in South Asia : Myths and Realities

This study focuses on some of the major issues in relation to popular thinking about the theory of social forestry development in South Asia, including deforestation, community participation and appropriate forest policy. The mainstream view has been that deforestation is a process driven by community-based factors. Such views have had implications for formulation and implementation of social forestry projects in developing countries. This paper discusses three case studies from South Asia (India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) on social forestry. It attempts to critically examine the concept as such and analyse the mainstream views that justified the intervention of such afforestation programmes. The successes and failures in addressing the biomass needs through social forestry are discussed in the paper. Lack of good governance and policy support are assumed to be some of the reasons for poor success. National social forestry projects cannot be treated in isolation from the related issues of poverty, local diversities, gender and local cultural values. Success has been limited in terms of reaching the poorest segments of the population – some of whom have actually lost access to common pool resources as a result of social forestry intervention. There is some attitudinal change within the forest department, but it is rarely accompanied with intervention in the underlying power relations, reflecting a continued difficulty in viewing the forest department sociologically. This lack of sociological perspective is also seen in the tendency to focus on just adding resources perceived to be in short supply, but not attempting to remove institutional obstacles

Social Forestry in South Asia : Myths and Realities

This study focuses on some of the major issues in relation to popular thinking about the theory of social forestry development in South Asia, including deforestation, community participation and appropriate forest policy. The mainstream view has been that deforestation is a process driven by community-based factors. Such views have had implications for formulation and implementation of social forestry projects in developing countries. This paper discusses three case studies from South Asia (India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) on social forestry. It attempts to critically examine the concept as such and analyse the mainstream views that justified the intervention of such afforestation programmes. The successes and failures in addressing the biomass needs through social forestry are discussed in the paper. Lack of good governance and policy support are assumed to be some of the reasons for poor success. National social forestry projects cannot be treated in isolation from the related issues of poverty, local diversities, gender and local cultural values. Success has been limited in terms of reaching the poorest segments of the population – some of whom have actually lost access to common pool resources as a result of social forestry intervention. There is some attitudinal change within the forest department, but it is rarely accompanied with intervention in the underlying power relations, reflecting a continued difficulty in viewing the forest department sociologically. This lack of sociological perspective is also seen in the tendency to focus on just adding resources perceived to be in short supply, but not attempting to remove institutional obstacles

Fuelwood Consumption and Forest Degradation: A Household Model for Domestic Energy Substitution in Rural India

This paper disusses domestic energy supply and demand in rural India. Links between forest scarcity and household fuel collection are analyzed in a non-separable household model, focusing on substitution of non-commercial fuels from the commons and the private domain. Based on data from villages bordering a protected area, a novel maximum entropy approach is used for estimation. It is found that households respond to forest scarcity and increased fuelwood collection time by substituting fuels from private sources for forest fuelwood. However, the magnitude of the response appears insufficient to prevent current fuelwood collection practices from causing serious forest degradation

Institutional and policy framework: environmental regulations applicable to coastal zones at EU and national levels

The deterioration of coastal waters, mainly due to the excessive inputs of nutrients from river basins, was the issue of concern in the AWARE project. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the policy framework regulating the quality of coastal waters in the EU including international regional sea conventions. It also illustrates the current status of implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the Integrated Coastal Zone Management recommendation in the Member States, as well as the institutional framework in the three AWARE case studies. Then, it analyses the state of compliance and the results of the present policy framework identifying the main gaps in the legislation. Finally, it includes some insights and perceptions on this topic from the AWARE experience.JRC.H.1-Water Resource