Water resources management in the lower Asi-Orontes River basin: issues and opportunities

This book is a product of the International Workshop, “Water Resources Management in the Asi-Orontes River Basin: Issues and Opportunities,” whichwas convened at MEF University in Istanbul in November 2014. The workshopwas attended by a group of distinguished academics, experts, policy-makers, andpractitioners. It was organized as part of a research program on the Orontes Riverbasin led by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies withthe support of the Global Program Water Initiatives of the Swiss Development andCooperation Agency. The program aims to analyze water management challengesand perspectives in the Asi-Orontes River basin and to establish a multidisciplinary scientific and technical network on water management including Lebanese,Syrian and Turkish organizations. The first phase of the program initiated in 2012focused on upper and the middle reaches of the Asi-Orontes River basin. The second phase includes the lower reach of the basin largely located in the Hatay province in Turkey

The use of household budget surveys to estimate the availability of fruits and vegetables for consumption in Swiss households after deduction of food waste

Background The consumption of 400-600 grams per day of fruits and vegetables has been linked to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, and lower incidence of cancers and chronic diseases. This study explores the alignment of household purchases of fruits and vegetables with nutritional recommendations in Switzerland. Methods The Swiss Household Budget Surveys for 2006-2008 are analyzed to estimate the availability of fruits and vegetables at household level after accounting for food waste. A household is defined as meeting the recommendation when the monthly purchases by weight are equal or superior to the amount required to provide three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruits per person per day. Results The descriptive statistics demonstrate that close to 90% of households fail to meet the vegetable recommendation, and 76% fail to meet the fruit recommendation when unavoidable waste is deducted. These percentages increase further when total waste (unavoidable, possibly avoidable, and avoidable waste) is deducted from household purchases. Moreover, a significant association is observed between the structure of the households and the availability of fruits and vegetables. Families with children are less likely to meet the recommendations than other types of households. Conclusions This paper reveals a need to improve the availability and accessibility to fruits and vegetables, particularly in households with children. It also highlights the importance of limiting avoidable food waste at household level. Interventions such as introducing price subsidies on fruits and vegetables, and educating the public on the importance of limiting household food waste, are recommended

L'inégalité des chances d'installation à la terre

Diffusion du document : Station d’Économie et Sociologie rurales 65 rue de Saint-Brieuc 35042 RENNES CEDEX (FRA)En 1970 et 1971, des enquêtes ont été effectuées en Bretagne sur le devenir des fils et filles d'agriculteurs exploitants. L'un des objectifs était de déterminer à la fois combien quittaient la terre et qui le faisaient. Nous avons appris en même temps combien et qui restaient dans l'agriculture. Il apparaissait que dans la nouvelle agriculture à faible coefficient de main-d’œuvre, qui était issue de la "modernisation", une forte sélection s'exerçait à l'entrée et au maintien. Ne restait pas qui le souhaitait ; parmi ceux qui partaient, certains déclaraient qu'ils auraient préféré se maintenir ; quelques-uns d'entre eux avaient d'ailleurs commencé leur vie professionnelle comme actifs agricoles. Il en était ainsi tout au moins chez les garçons car les filles s'en allaient davantage, sauf en Haute-Bretagne

Vegetable gardening in Burkina Faso: Drip irrigation, agroecological farming and the diversity of smallholders

Small-scale irrigated vegetable production has expanded dramatically in Burkina Faso. Its development can be divided into four periods: the colonial period with the construction of small dams; the boom in reservoir development as a response to drought and famine; the period during which private irrigation was supported; and the current period of new irrigation technologies such as drip irrigation and, to a lesser extent, agroecological vegetable gardening. Since the 1990s, vegetable gardening projects have had a limited impact and irrigation development has been led and financed mainly by farmers. This situation still prevails with current projects, which throws into question their capacity to respond to the needs of family farms. This issue is addressed in the Réo area, where an in-depth survey of family farms revealed a large diversity of situations and livelihood strategies. It became evident from the study that drip irrigation or agroecological gardening can only be adopted by a very small number of family farms. In addressing the problems of smallholders in this regard, development organisations and public policies need to consider their diversity, and adapt accordingly to farming families’ needs and capacities

Groundwater balance politics: Aquifer overexploitation in the Orontes River Basin

Aquifer overexploitation is widely used to describe negative effects on groundwater resources but has no agreed scientific definition. Usually viewed as a situation where average aquifer abstraction exceeds average recharge, a diagnosis of groundwater overdraft calls upon specific hydrogeological instruments, based on the groundwater balance approach. An analytical method for assessing changes in water flows and stocks through time and space, groundwater balance is also a tool for the investigation of knowledge construction and its embeddedness within power relations. We propose to discuss the politics of groundwater overexploitation diagnoses in Syria and more specifically the Orontes River Basin prior to the 2011 uprising and subsequent conflict. Groundwater overdraft at the national level became a matter of concern in official discourse in the late 1990s as diagnoses of groundwater overexploitation became commonplace in international reports. The steady increase in groundwater abstraction in relation to Syria’s centralised agricultural planning from the 1960s onward had undeniable consequences on the hydro-social system. However, the way diagnoses of groundwater overexploitation – in particular groundwater balances – were constructed and used to support water policies implemented from the mid-1990s onwards question the rationalities and interests lying behind technical arguments and actions

Développement durable et recherche appliquée

Une démographique galopante, un déficit agricole croissant, des problèmes techniques et politiques posés par la maîtrise de l’eau replacent les zones sèches au premier rang des priorités en ce qui concerne les stratégies de développement. Après avoir concentré leurs efforts sur les périmètres irrigués, les politiques agricoles ont depuis quelques années favorisé l’exploitation intensive des zones sèches. L’analyse de l’évolution récente met clairement en évidence le poids des contraintes macr..

La désertification : slogan et impasse

La dégradation, réelle ou supposée, des régions arides est une question récurrente depuis les années 1920. Elle fut à l’origine du premier programme « environnemental » des Nations Unies : le programme « Zones arides » de l’UNESCO, lancé en 1951. Ce n’est cependant qu’à la suite de la Conférence des Nations Unies sur la désertification (CNUD), qui s’est tenue à Nairobi en 1977, que le terme de « désertification » devient un slogan de mobilisation internationale. Le plan international d’action..