Exploring the foundations: the principles of prevention, mitigation, and preparedness in international law, role of international law in disaster risk reduction

The chapter examines the international legal foundations of DRR through the principles of prevention, mitigation, and preparedness. It is argued that the meaning of, as well as the relationship between, the principles are more complex than is often described within legal scholarship. In particular, the positioning of legal obligations within these ‘phases’ as situated on a linear timeline of the ‘disaster management cycle’ is rejected, in favour of a more functional approach focusing on the extent to which international law provides obligations relating to the prevention and minimisation of disaster losses. It is argued that this approach opens up conceptual spaces to account for measures not accurately fitting into the specific principles or phases (such as early warning systems) EWSs) and that the approach provides a clearer analysis of existing obligations, as well as identifies gaps to be addressed in the future

Human rights law and Disaster risk reduction

The purpose of the article is to highlight the scope of the overlap between existing commitments in the area of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and legal obligations prevailing under International Human Rights Law. It initially describes the emergence of DRR as a discrete area of disaster management and brings to the fore some of the commitments that States have undertaken by negotiating and adhering to the DRR framework. These commitments are then compared to the practice and case law of universal and regional human rights treaty monitoring bodies that have addressed alleged violations of human rights connected to natural or human-made disasters.The concluding paragraph briefly reviews the similarities between the political obligations contained in the most recent DRR instruments and the legal obligations imposed on States by the human rights instruments they have signed and ratified

Aptitud for underground irrigation based on salinity and sodicity in drillings made between 2004 and 2010 in the North and Central Oasis, Mendoza

En Mendoza la actividad agrícola se concentra en oasis productivos que dependen exclusivamente del riego, donde aproximadamente un 70% de las propiedades utilizan agua subterránea. El objetivo fue analizar la calidad del agua que extraen las perforaciones realizadas durante el periodo 2004/2010, en los oasis Norte y Centro de Mendoza. De los aproximadamente 1000 registros de nuevos pozos se han tomado muestras de 409 perforaciones, en las que se realizaron análisis físicoquímicos: conductividad eléctrica actual (CEA) y efectiva (CEE), residuo salino, sales totales, pH, cationes y aniones, se obtuvo el coeficiente de álcali, relación de absorción de sodio y las durezas. Se clasificó según Riverside modificación Thorne-Peterson y siguiendo la clasificación regional de Wainstein. Las perforaciones del Oasis Centro son en general de menor profundidad, extrayendo agua de menor CEA y mayor calidad. En el Oasis Norte las mejores aguas están en la zona irrigada por el Río Mendoza, encontrando hacia el este (Río Tunuyán) aguas de peores características, a pesar de que en dicha zona es donde se ubican las más importantes profundidades de exploración. Las mayores diferencias entre CEA y CEE están en la cuenca del Tunuyán inferior, donde las aguas poseen más cantidad de sales de mediana solubilidad.Mendoza's agricultural activity is concentrated in productive areas which depend almost exclusively on irrigation. Around 70 percent of these estates rely on underground water basins. The goal of this project has been to analyze the water quality of wells drilled within the 2004-2010 period in the North and Central Oasis of Mendoza. Of the nearly 1000 new wells on record, 409 were sampled. Physical-chemical analyses were carried out to determine current and effective electrical conductivity, salt residue, total salts, ph, cations and anions. Coefficient of alkali, sodium absorption relation and hardness were also calculated. Wells in the Central Oasis are less deep, producing water of lower current electrical conductivity and of higher quality. In the North Oasis the best quality water is found in the area irrigated by the Mendoza river. In the east (Tunuyán river basin) waters are of inferior quality, despite greater depths of exploration. The greatest differences between current electrical conductivity and effective electrical conductivity occur in the lower Tunuyán river basin, where water contains larger amounts of medium soluble salts.Fil: Bermejillo, Adriana. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Departamento de Ingeniería AgrícolaFil: Martí, Luis. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Departamento de Ingeniería AgrícolaFil: Cónsoli, Daniela. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Departamento de Ingeniería AgrícolaFil: Salcedo, Carlos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Departamento de Producción AgropecuariaFil: Llera, Joaquín. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Departamento de Biomatemática y FisicoquímicaFil: Valdés, Analía. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Departamento de Ingeniería AgrícolaFil: Venier, Matías. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Departamento de Ingeniería AgrícolaFil: Troilo, Silvia. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Departamento de Ingeniería Agrícol