Crise de abastecimento de água em São Paulo e falta de planejamento estratégico

Embora a crise no abastecimento de água na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP) tenha se manifestado de maneira mais intensa no verão de 2013-2014, ela revela um problema crônico que vem afetando toda a Região nos últimos dez anos. Esse problema foi gerado pela falta de um planejamento estratégico que considere questões climatológicas que podem indicar, com meses de antecedência, problemas de recomposição dos níveis dos mananciais, permitindo que ações sejam empreendidas com razoável antecedência, reduzindo os impactos para a população. Este estudo mostra como é possível utilizar informações climáticas na gestão estratégica do sistema de abastecimento da RMSP.Though the crisis in the water supplying system in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (RMSP) was more intensively felt in the 2013-2014 summer, it reveals a chronic problem that has been affecting the whole RMSP for the past ten years. This problem is originated from the lack of a strategic planning that takes into consideration climate issues that could, months before, foresee problems to restore the levels of water resources, allowing measures to be implemented within a reasonable anticipation, therefore reducing the impacts on the population. This study shows how it is possible to use climate information in the strategic management of the water supply in the RMSP

Adoption of irrigation water policies to guarantee water supply: A choice experiment

More efficient and sustainable use of water is increasingly becoming an urgency in drought prone parts of the world. In particular, in water scarce regions such as the Mediterranean, water supply is expected to become more uncertain because of climate change. Consequently, pro-active policy initiatives are proposed to increase supply reliability. Local context is important when the effectiveness of policies is assessed. The aim of this paper is to evaluate farmers' acceptance of policy strategies to increase water supply reliability in the Segura, a water scarce river basin in the south-east of Spain. Results from a choice experiment suggest that farmers are willing to pay twice as much as their current irrigation water price to ensure water supply reliability through government supply guaranteed programs. However, they are averse to any institutional changes that might assist the government to achieve increased water supply

Forecasting deficit irrigation adoption using a mixed stakeholder assessment methodology

Although Deficit Irrigation (DI) can help farmers achieve significant water savings, its adoption is still limited. This study aims to identify the factors that affect DI adoption decisions in a water-scarce area, namely, south-eastern Spain, and to evaluate the importance of these factors. The factors were derived from the literature and personal interviews with regional irrigation water managers and other stakeholders. First, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis was used as the overarching framework to evaluate the various technical, social-political and environmental factors influencing DI adoption in an integrative manner. Second, a two-round Delphi survey was used to validate the SWOT items. The results reveal that the strengths and opportunities of DI adoption are given more weight than its weakness and threats. The technique's capacity for water saving and the specific water scarcity context appear to be the most important reasons for DI implementation. However, knowledge and awareness levels are low across different stakeholder groups, implying a need for improved promotion of the adoption of DI through scientific knowledge transfer. Water policies that promote the adoption of DI are considered an important way forward to ensure the long-term availability and sustainable use of water in agriculture in extreme drought-prone areas. © 2013 Elsevier Inc

Influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on farmer decisions to adopt acacia best management practices in Gunungkidul, Indonesia

Acacia auriculiformis represents an opportunity for farmers in Gunungkidul, Java, Indonesia, to grow trees for high quality sawlog products on shorter (6–8 year) cycles than traditional solid wood species such as teak that traditionally take 20–30 years. Farmers in Gunungkidul have grown acacias for several decades, but traditional manage- ment practices are not conducive to achieving profitable returns because acacias are treated as low input crop. Introduction of improved acacias and adoption of best management practices (BMPs) will allow farmers to substantially increase their acacia productivity, and in turn increase their profitability and their resilience to life shocks. Adoption studies often tend to focus on socio-demographic variables (e.g. farm size, gender, age, educational attainment etc.) of new technology recipients and other variables that relevant to the new technology itself. In this study, these variables are named as extrinsic factors and we hypothesised that these factors exert their influence on adoption decisions through intrinsic factors. Personal values and livelihood aspirations constitute people’s intrinsic drivers to choose and behave in a certain manner. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine extrinsic and intrinsic factors that influenced adoption of acacia BMPs and; (2) to understand how the method of training (informal one-on-one or formal group training) influenced adoption. We found that either farmer training method was equally effective at promoting adoption of BMPs, especially for planting and seedling stock selection, spacing and disease control, suggesting that training in these areas filled important gaps in farmer knowledge. A model that accounted for intrinsic and extrinsic factors accounted for around 27% of the variation in adoption by farmers, with key intrinsic factors being continuing of family farming tradition and reducing their vulnerability to life shocks, while extrinsic factors included social capital, knowledge, experience with acacias and number of acacias planted. The proportion of variation explained increased to 35% once extension/training was accounted for. In summary, we found that farmers were highly responsive to training (any method), and that adoption was influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors

Supporting smallholder acacia farmers in Viet Nam to transition to sawlog production: Opportunities and challenges

Acacia plantations are a significant forestry resource in Viet Nam, with the majority of the area under smallholder ownership, typically with 1–5 ha per household. Currently most acacias are grown in short rotations and sold for export as woodchips. Short rotation plantations suit smallholder farmers as they can receive a return relatively quickly (within 4–5 years).  However the country has a high reliance on imports of sawlogs, some of which could be substituted by growing acacias to sawlog size on longer (5–10 year) rotations. Thus the Vietnamese government has developed a strategy to encourage smallholder acacia farmers to convert to sawlog production from their acacia estate.  Sawlog production could potentially give greater returns to growers but also requires enhanced silvicultural management, greater tolerance of risk and longer times for return on investment. We explored smallholder farmers' preferences for support programs if they are to adopt longer rotation plantations in two contrasting provinces: Thua Thien Hue in Central Viet Nam and Hoa Binh in North Viet Nam.  We found that farmers are happy to embrace longer rotations if they could source finance, are able to handle larger sized logs and if they could see others also growing longer rotations. We also explored the effects of contrasting training styles on adoption of best management practices (BMPs) – either standard top-down extension training, or a more collaborative active-learning extension training approach.  We found that a collaborative, active-learning approach led to greater adoption of BMPs, but also that the traditional approach to extension was almost as effective. There is significant demand amongst the growers to improve their silvicultural management, and they are very responsive to training and knowledge circulation amongst the community.  Factors influencing farmers' adoption of acacia BMPs were also identified and they included intrinsic factors (such as farmers' goals and inspirations), extrinsic factors (such as farm location and satisfaction with acacias) as well as extension.  Extrinsic factors (21.5%), intrinsic factors (7.0%) and extension (5.5%) explained a total of 34% of the variation in adoption behaviour at 9 months following training. Farmers in the study demonstrated that they had the capacity, ability and willingness to uptake BMPs but to encourage greater adoption, extension training should be complemented with other support incentives such as seedlings or fertiliser subsidies to bridge the financial gap that some poorer farmers face. Extending acacia rotations to 7 years carries additional risks to farmers and many farmers would require financial assistance to facilitate acceptance of these risks

Area-wide management guidelines for Sterile Insect Technique developed through interdisciplinary modelling research

New technologies for insect pest management, such as Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), present an opportunity to reduce chemical use in agricultural landscapes. However, they require socio-economic and ecological evaluation to ensure they are effective. We present a decision-making framework for sterile Queensland fruit fly 'Qfly' (Bactrocera tryoni) release informed by both economic and biophysical models as part of an area-wide management (AWM) program with SIT. The conceptual framework presented here guided the development of economic and biophysical models to meet the objective of informing management strategies. Our economic modelling has provided an important assessment of the feasibility and opportunities for AWM and SIT at the scale of three case study regions in southern Australia (Sunraysia, Murray/Goulburn valley (MGV) and Riverland). We found that there are three potential economically-viable implementation strategies for AWM of Qfly including SIT: Outbreak eradication (and potentially maintenance of area freedom, should legislation allow); direct substitution for existing management techniques in spatially-isolated contexts (including in support of industry-specific market access); and more effective management in an urban context than existing ad hoc approaches. In terms of releases of sterile males, our biophysical research has generated valuable risk maps for three case study regions. An understanding of the spatial and temporal risk of Qfly occurrence for a given target region is essential to the development of a future tool or system for planning sterile fly releases, as well as for ongoing management and monitoring programs. As a minimum, knowledge of the land use, climatic suitability and host phenology in a region is required. Ideally, this should incorporate the construction of risk maps that can inform decision-making for releases. The spatial simulation modelling showed that complex landscapes, containing a higher diversity of fruiting hosts across different seasons, will pose greater challenges in achieving population suppression and adoption of AWM strategies in readiness for SIT. Urban areas pose a significant challenge, as these areas provide a reservoir of flies throughout the year with potential to move into nearby crops. Therefore, it is important that they are managed as part of an AWM approach (potentially employing SIT) in order to effectively suppress flies across a landscape. The model identifies potential hotspots and bottlenecks in space and time which can be used to develop more targeted and effective SIT release strategies. We show that an urban treatment is most effective when reducing populations in late winter/early spring before they can move into the agricultural area. Our work highlights the importance of a conceptual framework that provides a broad consideration of the economic, social, and biological feasibility of a SIT program prior to the release of sterile flies using modelling approaches, as well as an ongoing need to consider the socioeconomic and biophysical components of the system for sterile Qfly releases to be successful. This work led to the development of online guidelines for area-wide management (AWM) of Qfly incorporating Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) in Australia www.area-wide-management.com.au.</p