Research to support sustainable groundwater development and governance in Laos

Lao PDR (Laos) is a landlocked country of around seven million people situated in the heart of the Mekong region (Fig. 1). Listed amongst the 47 UN-designated Least Developed Countries, its level of socioeconomic development is comparable to that of neighboring Myanmar and Cambodia but significantly lower than China, Thailand and Vietnam. Subsistence farming is the primary means of food security and income for nearly 80% of all households. Poorly developed, water-rich countries such as Laos have historically paid most attention to surface water resources, with limited consideration to groundwater. The attention to groundwater in Laos received a much-needed boost through a four year research project (2012-2016) funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). The project, ‘Enhancing the Resilience and Productivity of Rainfed Dominated Systems in Lao PDR through Sustainable Groundwater Use’, was the first multi-disciplinary research effort focused on groundwater issues in the country. With the project completed (ACIAR 2016), this article examines its contributions in the areas of science, policy and capacity development and highlights the main lessons learnt during its implementation. These learnings may resonate with those actors already involved in, or considering involvement in applied groundwater research under similar conditions

Regional assessment of groundwater recharge in the lower Mekong Basin

Groundwater recharge remains almost totally unknown across the Mekong River Basin, hindering the evaluation of groundwater potential for irrigation. A regional regression model was developed to map groundwater recharge across the Lower Mekong Basin where agricultural water demand is increasing, especially during the dry season. The model was calibrated with baseflow computed with the local-minimum flow separation method applied to streamflow recorded in 65 unregulated sub-catchments since 1951. Our results, in agreement with previous local studies, indicate that spatial variations in groundwater recharge are predominantly controlled by the climate (rainfall and evapotranspiration) while aquifer characteristics seem to play a secondary role at this regional scale. While this analysis suggests large scope for expanding agricultural groundwater use, the map derived from this study provides a simple way to assess the limits of groundwater-fed irrigation development. Further data measurements to capture local variations in hydrogeology will be required to refine the evaluation of recharge rates to support practical implementations

Актуальные задачи совершенствования государственного менеджмента в развитии Украины

У статті визначено недоліки використання в Україні доктрини дерегулювання. Обґрунтовано важливість державного регулювання крупного виробництва. Визначено головні завдання влади у розвитку економіки держави.In the article lacks of the use in Ukraine of doctrine of deregulation are considered. Importance of government control of large production is grounded. Main tasks of power in development of economy of the state are determined

Climate change, water and agriculture in the Greater Mekong subregion

Climate change / Adaptation / Indicators / Water resource management / River basins / Water availability / Water quality / Groundwater / Fisheries / Ecosystems / Water power / Population growth / Land use / Biofuels / Sea level / South East Asia / Cambodia / Laos / Myanmar / Thailand / Vietnam / China / Greater Mekong Subregion / Yunnan Province

Management of Ground Water in Africa Including Transboundary Aquifers: Implications for Food Security, Livelihood and Climate Change Adaptation

Groundwater is one of the most important sources for drinking water, livestock water, and irrigation in Africa. It is of vital importance in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of accessing clean water, as most of rural Africa and a considerable part of urban Africa are supplied by groundwater. Groundwater also has a major role to play in improving food security through expansion of irrigation supplied by shallow and deep wells. As such, groundwater has high relevance to the development and wellbeing of Africa, if adequately assessed and sustainably exploited. However, impacts of rapid development and climate change on water resources, including groundwater, are expected to be very severe unless major actions are taken to address the limited human and institutional capacity and hydrogeological knowledge base needed to devise sustainable adaptive water management strategies. Whilst the potential for groundwater resources development and the extent of their vulnerability due to climate change in the African context continue to be reported in the literature, a quantitative understanding of these issues remains poor. Although groundwater systems respond to human and climatic changes slowly (relative to surface water systems), climate change still could affect groundwater significantly through changes in groundwater recharge as well as groundwater storage and utilization. These changes result from changes in temperature and precipitation or from change in land use/land cover, and increased demand. There is therefore a need for ensuring sustainability and proper management of groundwater resources through instituting proper aquifer management practices such as the establishment of groundwater monitoring systems, better understanding of the role of groundwater storage and groundwater discharges in sustaining aquatic ecosystems, understanding the interactions between various aquifers (including transboundary aquifers) and assessing the impact of increased pumping from various aquifer systems on the sustainability of groundwater abstraction. This paper provides an overview of the regional hydrogeological framework, the current state of knowledge of aquifer systems, their development potential and climate change impacts on groundwater, research gaps, and policy implications for meeting the MDGs of accessing clean water and livelihood goals in Africa

Integrated Modelling for Understanding Watershed Development Impacts on Social and Biophysical Systems

The intention of watershed development (WD) programs in India is to improve the livelihoods of people and preserve the natural resource base, particularly in areas where water scarcity limits the development potential of rural communities. In practice, there are many complications to implementing WD programs in an effective and equitable way for all people within and between villages in a catchment. Our understanding of the potential implications of a program is often limited by the way in which we investigate the biophysical-social-economic system. Two common failings are (a) not properly considering the importance of the place, scope and scale of a problem and (b) using a disciplinary approach to make conclusions about the system as a whole. This paper discusses how we are addressing these issues as part of an integrated assessment project looking at WD in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. The multi-disciplinary project team includes agronomists, economists, environmental modellers, groundwater and surface water hydrologists, and social scientists who together are aiming to develop a holistic understanding of the impacts of WD on biophysical, social and economic systems. Key to the project philosophy is the inclusion of government representatives, communities, and non-government organisations (NGOs) in developing the researchers\u27 understanding of the issues and complexities associated with WD and the critical questions that need addressing by the project. An integrated model is being developed that will incorporate crop production water use and hydrological (surface water and groundwater) models in addition to knowledge gained from extensive household surveys in villages in two case study catchments. The household surveys were developed based on discussions with NGOs working with the rural communities in Andhra Pradesh and are being used to examine economic and social outcomes (positive and negative) of WD for households. Measures of equity and resilience are being developed to measure differences in outcomes between villages (e.g. upstream, downstream) and within villages (e.g. income groups, gender, land ownership, etc)

Summary of Baseline Household Survey Results: Phonghong district Vientiane province Lao PDR

This report summarizes the results of the household baseline survey conducted in Ekxang Climate-Smart Village and six surrounding villages in Phonghong district, Vientiane province, Lao PDR. The survey was implemented with participation of 140 randomly selected households using pre-prepared tablet-based questionnaires. The majority of the households were male-headed. On average, each household had six members and most of the members were between 5 and 60 years old. The household size and labor force in the target region are similar to national average. The main source of food and income of the households were from on-farm agriculture production, which was mostly contributed by cultivation and livestock. Agriculture production was mainly for self-sufficient purpose as most of products were consumed within the household. Farm size mostly ranged between 1 and 5 hectares and households still can expand land for crops from existing pasture or fallow land. Besides their own land, households were also allowed access to communal land for food crops, vegetables, and other products. With the availability of arable land, food production was enough for the household demand throughout the year. Considering a “typical food year”, food shortage was only experienced by 3% of the households in June, July and October. Few households experienced food crisis in last five years. Although climate change is widely mentioned by the community, it was not perceived as a main factor that led to changes in farming practices. About 80% of the households changed their crops following market price and preference of consumer and availability of labor over the last 10 years. Rain water was often available for farming during rainy season. During the dry season, due to limited capacity of irrigation system, farmers often use water from ponds and boreholes for surrounding crop fields. Regarding information sources, households received climate and weather information from television and individuals, such as friends, relatives or neighbors. Most of the households owned television (97.9%) and mobile phone (95.7%). Information about extreme events and short term (2-3 days) weather forecast were available, but not the long term weather forecast or early warning of pest and disease outbreak. It seems that government organizations did not pay much attention to providing climate information to farmers as only one out of 129 households reported that they receive the information from government staffs

Pumping behavior of solar irrigation farmers for assessing the sustainability of groundwater in Bangladesh and India

The increasing use of Solar Irrigation Pumps (SIPs) has raised concerns about the overexploitation of groundwater. So, this study aims to evaluate the impact of SIPs on pumping behaviour of farmers and its subsequent effect on overall groundwater resources in Bangladesh and India. In Bangladesh, the study is being carried out in the intensively irrigated North-West region, where the government is promoting the feefor- service model for solar irrigation. This model creates a solar irrigation command area by setting up centralized sponsored SIPs. In India, the study is being conducted in the state of Gujarat, where the grid-connected solar irrigation pump model has been implemented under the Suryashakti Kisan Yojana (SKY) scheme

Village Baseline Study: Site Analysis Report for Ekxang village Phonghong district, Vientiane province, Lao PDR

Data collection for the Village Baseline Study for the Ekxang Climate-Smart Village located in Phonhong District, Vientiane Province, Lao PDR, took place on November 19th - 21st, 2014. Three days of focus group discussions were conducted separately for men and women. Participatory methods were used to gather information on community resources, organizational landscapes, information networks, and the community’s vision for the future. Men and women in Ekxang village had different point of views on their community’s resources. Women were focused more on the conservation and increased forest land as they are responsible for collecting the Non-Timber Forest Product. Men were more interested in the development of agro-forestry. Regarding agriculture, men were focused on rice paddies while the women were more focused on the smaller household vegetable gardens. There were several changes in community resources. Forest and pasture areas were significantly degraded due to urban development, increasing people demands, and expansion of agricultural lands since 1980s. Infrastructures for irrigation were improved 30 years ago to expand the irrigated area but only few households in Ekxang could benefit from it. Villagers experience that soil fertility has declined compared to 25 years ago. There were a number of organizations operating at the village, half of them related to food security, food crisis and natural resource management. However, linkages is not strong the organizations. Farmer-to-farmer, mobile phone and television are main sources of information that support farmers in their decision making. There is a high potential to develop ICT-based technologies in order to support climate-smart farming practices to farmers. From the farmers’ perspective, their Climate-Smart Village should be an agroforestry landscape with smart groundwater use, smart pest management and crop diversification, and smart information services

Analyzing farm household strategies for food security and climate resilience: The case of Climate-Smart Villages of Southeast Asia

This paper develops a conceptual framework with an indicator-based approach to assess Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) and applies it to case study sites in Lao PDR (Ekxang CSV), Cambodia (Rohal Suong CSV), and Vietnam (Tra Hat CSV) in Southeast Asia. The intensification, extensification, diversification, commercialization, alteration of practices, use of common lands, migration strategies that can augment climate resilience, farm income, assets, and food security are assessed based on a composite index of the strategies and key outcome variables. The study demonstrates a method that can be applied widely for assessing climate-smart agriculture strategies and finding possible entry points for climate-smart interventions. The influence of gender in resource control and livelihood strategies is also discussed. It is also evident that the climate-smart interventions can augment different livelihood strategies of farmers and enhance the developmental and climate resilience outcomes. There is a need to prioritize the possible interventions in each case and implement them with the help of donor agencies, local institutions, and government offices