The Security of Water, Food, Energy and Liveability of Cities

Rapidly increasing population and urban migration across different regions of the world are creating new and complex challenges. It is now increasingly realised that we need to restructure and rebalance the way that land use planning addresses these problems. Achieving and maintaining sustainability, liveability and productivity of these regions must address several key goals which include provision of adequate infrastructure, adaptation to new environments created by climate change, reduction energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, provision of adequate water supply and disposal of wastewater streams and maintaining biodiversity. This complex and ‘wicked’ problem manifests itself more dramatically in peri-urban areas, as these undergo faster land use changes. As such, this problem must be approached in a new integrated and interdisciplinary manner.

The world is undergoing an intensive process of urbanisation. In 2008, for the first time in history, over half of the world’s population was living in urban and peri-urban areas. It is estimated that this number will increase to 5 billion by 2030 with most of this growth occurring on the edges of mega-cities. Smaller cities are also undergoing large transformations. Urbanisation can bring opportunities for people to improve their standard of living and access to education and other services but it can also bring and concentrate poverty in developing countries where most of this urban growth is occurring. Increased urbanisation presents planners and policy makers with many challenges, foremost among them, competition for land and water resources with other sectors such as agriculture. Critical to our capacity to develop a sound urban transformation policy is our ability to integrate science to support the formulation of sustainable planning strategies. Increasing competition for water in many regions of the world provides an impetus for increasing use of water saving and replacement techniques, such as water reuse and recycling and urban runoff harvest. This new paradigm requires an improved capability for integrated modelling approaches to analyse the whole-of-water-cycle. Such an approach involves the integration of the various sub-systems—Catchment (surface-groundwater), water supply systems, wastewater, water allocation, internal recycling, decentralised treatment and storm water harvesting. Adding to this system complexity is the need to consider water quality as a constraining factor when using a fit-for-purpose approach to integrated urban water management (IUWM). This paper focuses on the challenges and opportunities involved in modelling the urban/peri-urban water cycle for planning of urban and peri-urban systems, including spatial and temporal scale and integration of hydrologic, water allocation with differential water quality across catchment and political divisions. Case studies are used to illustrate the use of integrated water modelling to inform a scenario planning approach to integrated water resource management in an urban/peri-urban context. In this analysis, two main constraints to effective modelling are identified—Lack of model integration and lack of data in the appropriate time and spatial scale often stemming from the lack of a robust data monitoring program of the entire water cycle. A framework for integration of water system modelling with economic modelling is presented.

The peripheral fringe area of cities comes under the peri-urban category, where rural areas are forced to assimilate with urban areas. Sustainable development of fast growing peri-urban regions is a big challenge for the various agencies and authorities concerned throughout the world. The geo-social dynamics of assimilation of the rural-urban spatial fringe are a new concept to understand; its significance in planning and management of the sustainability of environment, ecology of the area in particular the socio-economic facet of sanitation and health. The quantification of the sustainability of the development establishes by geo-social degradation. There are several geo-social buffer zones, which have been specified to understand the existing peri-urban regions state of development and evolve the strategies for betterment. Geo-social aspect of peri-urban regions development is an interdisciplinary approach.

Populations of cities are increasing rapidly and people from nearby rural areas have been migrating to cities at unprecedented rates during the last 15–20 years. Is it a problem? Why is there so much hue and cry regarding this issue? Are we really going to face the problem of water supplies, food shortages and liveability of cities in the future? To reflect on these issues we will have to think of the Liveability Index. Are our cities lagging behind on liveability standards? What is the understanding of policy makers? Do policy makers have a generic grasp into the state of cities? What roadmaps are being evolved to excel global standards? This paper addresses the issues of sustainable development in landscapes around our cities, particularly in light of utilizing present resources, while keeping in mind the future needs of society, so as not to exhaust resources. Further, it should not disturb the ecological cycle and hence preserve the environment and liveability of future cities. Using City of Lakes, Udaipur, as an example the paper will also discuss what options we have to meet the future demands of housing around our cities while meeting water needs and production of local fresh food and vegetables for the community.

The resources of peripheral urban areas are under unprecedented threat because of the rapid conversion of rural land for urban purposes. Yet these resources offer significant long-term advantages to cities by increasing their resilience in times of rapid change. Cities which retain the values of their hinterlands may be those which survive best this century. The fate of the peri-urban area of Melbourne, Australia, and associated decision making processes, provide a case study of the pressures on peri-urban regions and the common inadequacy of government responses. Australian cities are characterised by two co-existing city types. Dense, nineteenth century mixed use inner urban areas characteristic of European cities are becoming denser. Yet new outer urban development continues the detached housing model and separated land uses typical of North America and adopted in Australia early in the twentieth century at some of the world’s lowest housing and population densities. Spatial difference is matched to social inequity. Higher income, tertiary educated, professionally employed households are concentrated in service rich inner and middle ring suburbs and selected outer urban areas, while lower income households without tertiary qualifications are concentrated primarily in service poor outer urban areas. Australian cities consume land at one of the world’s highest per capita rates, continually transforming nearby rural areas with high natural resource values to urban uses. These cities also affect broader non-urban areas. People are attracted to semi-rural lifestyles within commuting distance of metropolitan areas. Unless governments intervene, land is subdivided into rural-residential lots and agricultural pursuits relocate further from cities. Tourism and recreational developments are constructed on rural land and a range of other urban related land uses gradually emerge until the rural nature of these areas is irrevocably altered. Every Australian capital city adopted a metropolitan strategic spatial plan after 2000 which attempted to limit further outer growth into urban hinterlands through a range of urban containment policies. However, none of these plans succeeded in containing the urban sprawl or in radically changing the dominant model of outer urban development from detached housing with little variation in lot size or house types, large average lot sizes and separated land uses. Every State strategic plan has been substantially modified or abandoned. This chapter describes the impacts of metropolitan centres on peripheral urban areas, examines development pressures on these areas, why they are important to cities and why Australian cities continue to spread despite stated policies to the contrary. The city of Melbourne, Australia, is used as a case study, but broader conclusions are drawn for other cities.

Like many other countries, India has experienced rapid urban growth in recent decades. This paper focuses on the changes taking place in the peri-urban area of India where urban development is occurring both within and around the indigenous villages. In India, most people move to the urban areas due to factors such as poverty, environmental degradation, food insecurity and lack of basic infrastructure and services in the rural areas. The number of towns has increased by 2,774 since the last census in 2001 and the level of urbanisation has increased from 28 % in the 2001 census to 31 % in the 2011 census while the proportion of rural population declined from 72 to 69 %. The urban–rural ratio for India in 2011 is around 45 meaning that for every 100 ruralites there are 45 urbanites in India. This increased level of urbanisation has changed the environment of the peri-urban areas of India. Urbanisation poses challenges in relation to the water, agriculture and energy in peri–urban areas of the cities of India. In the post-liberalisation period a process of change has been induced by the growth of the information technology (IT) sector leading to tremendous expansion of cities. With the expansion of these cities, changes have occurred that the surrounding villages witnessed; massive real estate development, a decrease in agricultural land and a year round shortage of water. Villages being absorbed into the cities has led to increasing competition over scarce water through industry, domestic use, farm houses and recreation parks. Urbanisation brings major changes in demand for agricultural products both from increases in urban populations and from changes in their diets and demands.

Urbanisation involves growth and transformation of settlements into increasingly large spatially sprawling cities. By encroaching upon agricultural land, taxing water resources and enticing rural people away from farming, urbanisation poses a threat to agriculture within both the built-up and peri-urban areas. Growing climate variability, an apparent sign of climate change, exacerbates the threat. At the same time, through an increased demand for food, the potential for affordable organic manure from urban waste and a need for efficient intensive land use urbanisation may encourage agricultural production and, thereby, enhance urban food security. Preliminary findings of an on-going inter-institutional, inter-disciplinary assessment focused on Tamale, a rapidly growing city in Ghana, show that farmers seek to manage the agricultural threats and opportunities by various ingenuous survival strategies, notably livelihoods diversification, new cultivars, and land use intensification. This paper highlights the strategies and argues that if they are nurtured and integrated into policy they would positively inform sustainable urban development planning.

Urbanisation is threatening the sustainability of water, food and energy security in Iran. The primary reason for urbanisation is the migration of people from rural areas to cities. The city of Shiraz is located in the Shiraz Plain (380 Km

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) in southern Iran. Its population in 1956 was 170,659 and grew to 1,351,181 in 2006. The population of Shiraz grew about 8 fold during this period while that of Iran during the same period only grew about 4 fold, indicating that the rate of migration was very high and urbanisation around Shiraz happened very fast in the same period. In 1956, Shiraz had a beautiful landscape, its size was 894 ha and it was surrounded by 1,565 ha of beautiful gardens and 35,714 ha of good agricultural land, fertile arable land and rangeland. In 1989, Shiraz had 5,962 ha of gardens. In 2006, Shiraz’s size grew to 19,074 ha (21 fold growth) and this rapid urbanisation has replaced not only 2,987 ha of valuable gardens but also caused the disappearance of some 18,000 ha of agricultural land, fertile arable land, and rangeland. Changes in land use in the Shiraz Plain, because of rapid urbanisation, were very high and have seriously reduced agricultural and horticultural production and also created significant problems for the people in the city. Due to rapid urbanisation, the demand for water has increased 15 times in the city during the period of 1956–2006. The consumption of energy in the Iranian residential sector is high and it was 2.5 fold of the world’s average consumption. According to the power consumption records from the Shiraz electricity company between 1968 and 2006 consumption grew 70 fold. The preliminary analysis in this study through the case study of Shiraz suggests that we need an in-depth study to understand how urbanisation has impacted on the availability of water supplies, the security of food production around our cities and the energy needs at the national level and what policy and planning changes are required to achieve sustainable and liveable cities in the future.

Urbanisation is increasingly affecting inter-sectoral water allocations. This paper looks beyond physical water transfers at the larger urban water footprint and how much it is affecting the urban periphery in the case of four cities in West Africa (Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and Ouagadougou). The results showed a water footprint variation between 892 and 1,280 m

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/capita/year for these four cities based on actual and virtual water flows. The virtual flow through the food chain is outscoring actual domestic water consumption by a factor of 40–60 and using water resources far beyond the peri-urban interphase. However, the picture is changing with consideration of the grey water footprint. Due to limited wastewater treatment, peri-urban areas are the hot spots of water pollution diminishing their fresh water resources. The fresh water affected by the urban return flow easily doubles the overall urban water footprint. Improved on-site sanitation, especially with water saving and urine and excreta separating toilets would have a significant positive impact on the quality and quantity of the urban water footprint given that actual water availability is limiting large scale sewer connections for final wastewater treatment.

Increasing urbanisation and climate change uncertainties are putting pressure on regional authorities to revisit water management strategies in Western Sydney (Australia). This chapter examines water use patterns, demand and supply options in the South Creek catchment—a typical peri-urban catchment in Western Sydney. If present water management practices are continued, the water demand in the catchment is estimated to be more than double, growing from 53 GL/yr under the ‘current’ scenario, to 107 GL/yr under the ‘future’ scenario representing the expected conditions around the year 2025. Most of this increase will be due to residential and non-residential water use, followed by increases in irrigation requirements for recreational space (parks and golf courses). The macro water use, demand and availability analysis suggests that nearly 50 % of the ‘current’ and 47 % of the ‘future’ potable water demand could be replaced with non-potable water. The potential availability of non-potable water resources is estimated to be more than double of the potential demand for non-potable water in the catchment. This provides an opportunity to meet the region’s domestic, industrial, agricultural and environmental water demands provided all water resources are integrated, used and reused in a harmonised fashion. The stormwater and wastewater is to be seen as a ‘resource’, rather than a ‘waste’ in this new paradigm of integrated water supply management.

Australia has a high level of urbanisation by world standards and the state of South Australia has one of the most concentrated settlement patterns in Australia. Rapid population growth and a drought ending in 2010 have placed increased pressure on urban water resources. Addressing this issue requires that we consider a diverse portfolio of water supply options for non-potable uses. South Australia actually leads the nation in alternative non-potable water sources, with stormwater capture and reuse, wastewater recycling and rainwater tank ownership. However, past studies have identified public health concerns and a lack of public acceptance as major challenges in implementing water reuse strategies. This paper is based on an internet survey of the communities residing in the periphery of the city of Adelaide in South Australia and about their attitudes and intentions to use treated stormwater for various non-potable uses. We found that respondents’ emotions and perceptions of health risks regarding the use of treated stormwater were closely related to the proximity of the end use to human contact. In terms of the quality attributes, colour, odour and salt levels were all considered important, but odour was the most important for all potential uses, except washing cars. The quality preferences were also closely related to the proximity of the end use to human contact.

Solar energy utilisation is the most important energy resource for bridging the gap between demand and supply of various energy needs in urban and peri-urban areas. The energy consumption is basically in terms of electricity for many appliances and equipment in homes, thermal energy for heating and cooling in homes and passive solar architecture for energy efficient buildings. On the other hand, the conventional energy consumption also induces the ecological imbalance such as the generation of greenhouse gases. Therefore solar energy may be considered an environmentally friendly alternative energy source for sustainable development. In this chapter, different active and passive solar energy harnessing techniques have been discussed, analysed and recommended leading to zero energy buildings (ZEBs) in urban and peri-urban areas. Here the study of solar energy applications for all types of energy needs in a residential building for advanced, ecological and smart liveability is presented. In this Chapter, we suggest some effective ways to harvest solar energy in urban and peri-urban areas using active and passive solar techniques.

The need for urban development patterns that are more ecologically sustainable becomes obvious in present context. Therefore, renewable energy is gaining importance day by day, particularly in the era of rapid urbanisation. As such, renewable energy could help in an organisation’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). As part of a CSR initiative, a business can set up renewable energy systems in urban and peri-urban areas that will be maintained by local residents who have undergone training. Installing a mix of solar panels, wind mills and biogas plants can make urban and peri-urban areas energy self-sufficient. By adding renewable energy projects to their CSR activities, businesses will make a very positive intervention that will go a long way in improving the socio-economic lot of the disempowered. Increased use of renewable energy sources and thus energy conversation is the main pillar of a sustainable energy supply. This paper deals with the importance of Renewable Energy Sources in this context and strategies to be adopted for integrating these sources as a means of a sustainable development mechanism for procuring carbon credits and meeting different energy tasks in urban and peri-urban areas.

Urbanisation and associated peri-urbanisation is widespread in India, however, the underlying processes and resulting impacts at its peri-urban interface needs better understanding. Peri-urbanisation, a dynamic process that changes the land use in the margins of growing urban centres (large and small), often displaying a form, structure and interaction that is unique and geared to support the urban centre, across many sectors. Urban sanitation is one of the sectors that face the greatest challenge, where the services are concentrated within municipal limits and disposal activities extend into peri-urban areas. The peri-urban area, due to its dynamic nature, has often fallen between the cracks of “rural” and “urban” development planning. In light of the emerging complexities of increased urbanisation in India, many are of the opinion, that the peri-urbanisation needs a critical review and new perspectives of understanding. This chapter looks at the evolving morphology of the urbanisation in India, the status and trajectory of urban sanitation initiatives and its impact on the liveability of cities and peri-urban areas and highlights the importance of looking at an urban-rural continuum for urban planning and governance.

The most challenging characteristics that set peri-urban areas apart from the urban and rural sectors are poor site conditions, unreliable water availability, high population density, the heterogeneous nature of the population and the lack of legal land tenure. One of the major problems that dwellers in the peri-urban regions have to face every day are sanitation problems. In these peri-urban areas, there are inadequate facilities for waste water disposal and there is a need to improve the water quality through wastewater treatment processes. In this study, it is observed that conventional centralised approaches to wastewater management have generally failed to address the needs of communities for the collection and disposal of domestic wastewater and faecal sludge from on-site sanitation. There are opportunities for implementing wastewater management systems based on a decentralised approach that may offer opportunities for wastewater re-use and resource recovery as well as improvements in local environmental health conditions. A number of decentralised wastewater options are discussed in this paper which can be effectively implemented in peri-urban areas. Further, anaerobic treatment of wastewater is advocated for it generates biogas (mainly methane) which can be used in generators for electricity production and/or in boilers for heating purposes. Also, waste stabilisation ponds can be used for fish culture. The study emphasises the importance of building the capacity of local organisations in all aspects of decentralised wastewater management. A number of aspects related to the operational sustainability of decentralised technologies for wastewater management in peri-urban areas and their associated management requirements. In general, the choice of technology is limited by the need to ensure that the operation and maintenance requirements of the chosen technology are compatible with the levels of knowledge and skills available at the local level.

Growing cities and their demand for water challenges the management of water resources and provides opportunities for wastewater use in irrigated agriculture. In the cases studied, large volumes of fresh water are extracted from sources often located increasingly further away from the city, while investments in wastewater disposal often lag behind. The resulting environmental impact in peri-urban areas can have multiple consequences for public health, in particular through the use of untreated or poorly treated wastewater in irrigated agriculture. Despite significant efforts to increase wastewater treatment, substantial volumes of untreated wastewater are applied in irrigated agriculture in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Accra (Ghana) and Hyderabad (India). Additional options for safeguarding public health are required to allow the cities to maintain the benefits from already existing, but largely informal, wastewater reuse.

Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, has experienced increases in the prices of basic food commodities since 2002, with the sharpest increase noticed over the period 2007–2011. Major factors contributing to this trend include rapid growth in the demand for food due to the increase in population, urbanisation, drought (climate changes) impacts in the agricultural areas of Uganda and a sharp increase in the cost of living driven by inflation. The increase in food prices has made it difficult for many low income earners in Kampala to meet their daily food requirements. In response, urban and peri-urban agriculture is making a very important contribution to the general food supply of the city. Besides making a significant contribution to the food basket of Kampala city, urban and peri-urban agriculture represents an important economic activity within the city. Emerging policy and planning frameworks support the continued positive contribution of urban and peri-urban agriculture. To that effect Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) now recognizes urban agriculture as a land use system and a vital policy issue. However, more is still needed from the public, urban authorities, urban planners and policy makers to strengthen this vital sector. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development of urban and peri-urban agriculture and its contribution to the food supply crisis in Kampala city, as well as the process of developing policies to enable urban agriculture in Kampala city.

Peri-urban agriculture is common to cities worldwide. Large cities depend on the availability of fresh foodstuffs and traditionally these have been supplied competitively by small scale farmers located on the fringes of cities. A peri-urban location gives access to urban markets as well as the opportunity to tap into urban water infrastructure and temporarily idle land. These opportunities mean, however, that peri-urban farmers are displaced by urban expansion. This chapter examines these dynamics through a case study of peri-urban agriculture in Sydney, Australia. The chapter combines four recent studies by the authors to give an appraisal of the relative importance of Sydney basin farmers to the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables to Sydney’s 4.3 million residents. The study finds there is much uncertainty over the future of these farmers.

The present study quantified for the two major cities of Ghana, Accra and Kumasi, the contribution of peri-urban agriculture, rural agriculture and urban agriculture to urban food supply, and analysed how much of the nutrients needed in peri-urban areas could be recovered from urban waste recycling. While the majority of calorie rich food derives from rural areas, urban and peri-urban farms cover significant shares of certain, usually more perishable but vitamin rich commodities. With every harvest, the soils in the production areas export parts of their nutrients or soil fertility. Thus the “urban nutrient footprint” is significant and calls for options to close the rural-urban nutrient loop. Currently, between 70 and 80 % of the nitrogen and phosphorous consumed in Kumasi pollutes the urban environment, especially ground and surface water. Based on the available waste transport capacity in Kumasi, the entire nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) demand of urban farming could be covered, and 18 % of the N and 25 % of the P needs of peri-urban agriculture in a 40 km radius around Kumasi, if the already collected organic municipal waste and fecal sludge would be co-composted.

In the peri-urban regions that surround cities traditional industries, such as agriculture, tend to suffer as the process of urbanisation occurs. These industries tended to survive because their proximity to urban centres provided them with all the advantages of a natural monopoly in selected products. However, this natural protection is eroded by improvements in transport systems, amongst other factors, and in the end the traditional industries succumb to development pressures. In the past this process of change has not been managed well, with many instances of peri-urban regions and industries being swallowed up by new urban developments. The purpose in this paper is to outline an example of a program that is designed to manage the interests of those in the traditional industries in peri-urban regions as the process of development occurs. The program is known as the Hawkesbury Harvest and it is applied to the peri-urban region to the west of Sydney, Australia. In this paper, the history of agriculture in the region is initially presented in order to provide a context of how Hawkesbury Harvest operates. The region itself had a number of natural assets that protected it from competition, but these ceased with the development of improved transport networks. Hawkesbury Harvest operates within a competitive environment promoting the products and ecosystem services of traditional activities in a region that is subject to severe urban development pressures. It serves to manage the process of change in an ever changing environment and acts as a template for other regions suffering from similar pressures.

Rapid urbanisation in India faces several challenges and among them food and nutritional security appear to be the most important to feed the millions in these new urban hubs. As the majority of the population is vegetarian India needs fresh fruit and vegetables to meet their dietary needs. Under these circumstances we need quality horticultural produce along with higher production levels. On average an Indian household spends about 50 % of its expenditure on food items. Growing fruit and vegetables in and around cities increases the supply of fresh, nutritious produce and improves the urban poor’s economic access to food. Cultivation of vegetables offers distinct advantages in quality, productivity and a favourable market price to growers. Vegetable growers can substantially increase their income by protected cultivation of vegetables in the off-season as the vegetables produced during their normal season generally do not fetch good returns due to large supplies in the market. Growing urban middle class requires a regular supply of quality and high value vegetables to fulfil their demand. MPUAT in Udaipur, Rajasthan (India) has carried out research work on this aspect which is reported in this paper to give an idea about the cultivation, economy and marketing of some high value horticultural crops in different types of greenhouses under Udaipur conditions. Technology has been found very effective in producing horticultural crops out of season and economically viable crops that can be successfully utilized to combat some of the future challenges of urbanisation.

The purpose of this study was to explore the constraints and opportunities of dairy production in the urban and peri-urban areas of central Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. A total of 160 dairy holding households were selected for the study by a systematic random sampling technique. Feed shortage and inadequate land were ranked as the first and second order constraints in urban and peri-urban areas respectively. Diseases followed by waste disposal were rated as the third and fourth order constraints in urban areas whereas a lack of exotic breeds ranked third in the peri-urban areas. Increased demands of dairy products, increased farmers’ awareness about dairying and access to credit services were some of the opportunities to increase dairy production in the area. The problem of availability of feed and land were significant both in urban and peri-urban areas and it has to be addressed both in terms of utilisation and management.

As urbanisation increases, so does the challenge of meeting water, sanitation and food requirements in urban areas. In particular, the management of human excreta from on-site sanitation facilities remains a challenge and continues to endanger public health and degrades the environment through soil and water pollution. Yet much of the excreta consist of organic matter and nutrients that are valuable inputs for agriculture. Recycling in agriculture has often neglected the recovery of nutrients and organic matter in faecal sludge collected from on-site sanitation facilities in developing countries. Exploring the high proportion of resources in excreta can provide a win–win strategy by reducing the environmental pollution, enhancing soil fertility and therefore improving livelihoods. Challenges to maximising these benefits include: type of sanitation facility used in developing countries, nature of faecal materials, prevailing treatment technologies which are usually designed for waste disposal not for reuse, institutional and market factors as well as negative perceptions regarding excreta use in agriculture. Nevertheless, urban and peri-urban agriculture presents a good opportunity for nutrient recycling, provided that technological and socio-economic strategies for optimum recovery are taken into account. The paper concludes with a description of successful recycling options that can contribute to improving farm productivity, using evidence from Ghana.

A major challenge of urbanisation, for relevant decision makers, is the provision of sufficient food and water for the emerging mega-cities and appropriate peri-urban sanitation management. This paper focuses on the results of a project carried out by International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in three major cities in Ghana. The project was designed to provide decision support for nutrient recycling from organic waste in peri-urban areas, through waste composting or co-composting with nightsoil. Experiences of existing compost stations from Nigeria, Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso and Togo were taken into consideration to formulate the research framework. Apart from the technical aspect, the study looked at actual waste supply and its quality, a quantification of the compost demand as well as economic viability of different scenarios and legal implications. The analysis showed that from the city perspective cost savings are only possible if large volumes of waste can be composted to reduce waste transport costs while compost sale (and agricultural use) is not a necessity from the perspective of cost savings. In fact, despite much interest the farmers’ willingness to pay remained limited at the reservation price of US$5 per 50 kg bag. As this includes transport costs peri-urban areas will be those benefiting most from composting projects. Closing the

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-urban nutrient cycle appears unrealistic given the increasing transport distance; at least as long as smallholder farmers are targeted. However, the consideration of alternative customer segments and implementation of innovative business models could help in reaching different scales.

This study examines the situation of land utilization and migration of population from farming sector to marble sector of the district, and identifies the causes of reduction of crop productivity. To achieve these objectives the peri-urban area of Amet tehsil of Rajsamand district is the most affecting tehsil where marble industry has flourished strongly and substituting the agriculture industry causing reduction of crop and livestock production drastically over the period. Thus, Amet tehsil of Rajsamand district has been selected purposively for the study. For in- depth study, a case study of “Jetpura Panchaayat” has been selected randomly. Besides, it is again important that this Panchaayat is growing for quartz production where 10–15 crusher plants are already established in the area. Primary data have been collected from pre-tested schedules and raw data have been analysed with the help of % and averages and conclusions have been drawn accordingly. It is concluded that land use pattern of the district is changing rapidly after the introduction of marble industry. The area under forest was decreasing from 24,663 hectares in 2001 to 23,214 hectares in 2010; this may be due to conversion of the area into non-forest purposes. Similarly, the area under non-agricultural use has been decreased from 1,27,697 hectares in 2001 to 1,85,439 hectares in 2010, which further strengthens the statement of introduction of marble industry. It is further clear from the results that productivity of all the crops have been on the decline over the study period and as such this has implication for food security in the region.

This chapter examines the biophysical, socio-economic, environmental and human health dimensions of urban and peri-urban agriculture in Dakar city (Senegal) and identifies structural threats to urban agriculture, including those already induced, or have the potential to be induced, by climate change. Urban agriculture, which provides an important source of fresh vegetables and other fresh products for the city is being increasingly marginalised due to a combination of factors including diminished soil and water quality, increasing temperatures and reduced rainfall, urban encroachment and pollution from industrial sources. A lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities between local and national governments hinders the ability to protect urban agricultural land from urban encroachment and a lack of access to credit by farmers adds to their ability to cope with the multitude of other pressures. Dakar is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the northern, western and southern sides with no room for expansion, including any potential expansion of urban agriculture. Ground water in this urban zone is steadily deteriorating due to nitrate pollution of shallow groundwater in soil aquifers combined with increasing saltwater intrusion. Recycling of untreated wastewater for use in urban agriculture, a common practice in Dakar and other cities in Africa has increased the incidence of food-borne contamination. For example, recent microbial sampling of water showed a very high proportion of sites (87 %) with contamination levels above World Health Organisation standards for irrigation without restriction. Solid and liquid waste management is one of the biggest problems Dakar is facing as are many other cities of developing countries. Climate change will further impact urban agriculture. Shortening of cold periods favorable to vegetable cropping in semi-arid areas, increasingly hotter summers, more frequent flooding and drought periods, and higher incidence of pest and diseases are among the potential impacts of climate change. Coastal zones of the city are particularly under threat due to the rising sea level with negative consequences of coastal erosion and salt-water intrusion in lowlands. Projection models show a strong warming trend in the region. Conversely, there is no agreed trend of rainfall prediction at present but deficits are anticipated by general circulation models. Adaptation strategies of farmers include lifting the ground surface with landfill in order to better cope with flooding (specifically for flower cultivation), development of soil and soilless micro gardens in boxes, crop diversification and use of hybrid seeds. Urban agriculture has the potential to contribute to climate change adaptation through reinforcement of urban agricultural systems resilience, water recycling, buffering thermal and hydraulic shocks, providing safe and nutritious food, recycling wastes and conserving biodiversity. Despite its huge potential to reduce poverty and make the city more resilient to impacts from climate change, urban agriculture is not high on the urban planning agenda. Recommendations are formulated towards taking into consideration urban agriculture in national and local planning, strengthening capacities of stakeholders and awareness at all levels of society on the economic, social and environmental role of urban agriculture can play in sustainable development and greening of the city and its economy.

Quantification of greenhouse gas emissions for decentralised water supply systems is essential for water policy development, decision making and implementation of these systems. Two potential water supply strategies ‘Effluent Reuse’ and ‘Stormwater Harvesting’ applicable for the planned growth centre development of Western Sydney were developed. The associated energy intensities and operational greenhouse gas emissions of these two strategies were quantified by using the factors and methods prescribed by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency National Greenhouse Accounts Factors, 2011. It was found that in terms of operational greenhouse gas emissions, stormwater harvesting performs marginally better than effluent reuse while the cost of stormwater harvesting is expected to be about four times cheaper than effluent reuse in Australia.

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, with a current population of 14.64 million, is one of the fastest growing megacities of the world. With already over saturated population density; some 300,000 to 400,000 new migrants, mostly poor, arrive at the city annually from coastal and rural areas after experiencing some kind of environmental hardship. At present, these uprooted people constitute almost one-third of the city’s population. Along with the burden of massive population, the problems of Dhaka City are manifold. In the face of additional challenges resulting from the changing climate and increasing intensity and frequency of extreme climatic events; the overall situation is getting worse. On the other hand, poor urban governance and absence of a comprehensive policy on urbanisation have resulted in an unliveable metropolitan area with acute land scarcity and excessively high land prices, poor housing, traffic congestion, water shortages, poor sanitation and drainage, irregular electric supply, unplanned construction and environmental degradation. Now, the biggest challenge is to explore the opportunities to feed the ever-increasing urban population of Dhaka. Hence, with a particular focus on the urban food security situation, this paper has critically analysed the existing policies, strategies, urban governance system and practices; and has eventually identified the loopholes that hinder the promotion and expansion of Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture (UPA). This analysis has also proposed some strategic directions for mainstreaming UPA in the existing policies and urban governance system.

In this study, Western Sydney region was used as the ‘laboratory’ for understanding issues and options to harmonise rapidly changing peri-urban landscapes and identifying options for regional water security and land use planning. The main focus of the study was to engage and work with a range of stakeholder and government agencies to identify issues that impact on the use of potable water, stormwater, effluent and groundwater. The study involved transdisciplinary research and system harmonisation approach to understand the role of water in primary production, identifying opportunities and constraints as influenced by water quantity and quality, analysing market options and mechanisms to improve water productivity and environmental outcomes, review water policies, institutional barriers and community aspirations and identifying changes needed to improve water security. In this chapter, we discuss how the system harmonisation approach was applied to a peri-urban catchment in the Western Sydney region and a number of lessons that emerged from this study and the relevance of this approach to engaging stakeholders and government agencies and carrying out transdisciplinary research in peri-urban landscapes.

Peri-urban growth can affect local flood and drought risks, which are exacerbated by climate change. Research into optimal planning and arrangement of landscape functions is needed to manage local flood and drought risks. As a first step, simple hydrological models are required to study the range of feedbacks and interactions within the peri-urban areas. A demonstration, using a simple modeling example, indicates how including buffer zones will reduce local flooding and how such models can be used for virtual experiments. Further development of such simple tools into spatial and agent based models will support new field studies and policy development for peri-urban areas.

Urban ecosystems are complex social-ecological systems with important functions. These man-made ecosystems have certain areas with high biological diversity, including both remnant species and species purposefully or unintentionally introduced by human actions. There can be important habitats and valuable corridors for both common and less common species within the urban sprawl. The main aim of this study is to respond to the call for integrative research by studying relationships between the anthropogenic activities and urban biodiversity of the cities from the southern part of Rajasthan, India. We observed that the local population was interested in biodiversity, especially phenological events, and benefited from it by getting aesthetic pleasure and information on seasonal changes. The cities, such as Udaipur have an artificially developed diversified habitat within urban limits which provides shelter and protection to a variety of flora and fauna species. Urban areas are often rich in species, particularly vascular plants and many groups of animals, especially birds. Further, urban green spaces in the form of artificial parks and agricultural fields have the diversity of flora, whereas artificial lakes are the sites of wetland species. The most eye-catching faunal group of birds was used to understand the importance of biodiversity for Udaipur. Bird diversity and abundance are indicators of the condition of watershed habitats, both terrestrial and wetland. The role of urban areas in functions, such as the provision of ecosystem services will largely be determined by patterns of biodiversity within that area. To keep these biological indicators healthy, watershed conditions should be managed to encourage bird survival and reproduction. Further, to support an integrative approach in urban green planning, both ecological and social research has to be incorporated in the planning process.

Keoladeo National Park (KNP) at Bharatpur, locally known as “Ghana,” is acknowledged as one of the most enchanting and outstanding wetland reserves in the world. The wetland ecosystem is a system of small dams, dykes and sluice gates created to control the water level in different blocks. This park became the hunting preserve of the Bharatpur royalty and one of the best duck-shooting wetlands in the world from the 1850s through to the mid-1960s. It was designated as a bird sanctuary in 1956 and recognized as a Ramsar site in 1981. In 1982, it was established as a national park and inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1985. A socio-ecological study was carried out in the adjoining areas of KNP to assess the perception of children towards water and KNP. The paper highlights the historical perspective of water management in Bharatpur and its importance for the betterment of the unique ecosystem that is KNP. Further, change in the perception towards water through community management of water resources is discussed along with resolving local water problems through sustainable natural solutions with the support of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. The community participatory works invoke that the wetland management strategies need to be carefully integrated with land use planning and management at catchment and landscape levels.

Western Sydney is a peri-urban region of Greater Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia lying within the Hawkesbury Nepean catchment. This catchment has high environmental, cultural and social significance providing vital ecosystem services such as drinking water, food, fibre, nutrient and water cycling, fauna habitat and cultural diversity. The economic value generated from these services includes $1 billion per annum in agriculture and over $6 million a year in commercial fishing. Western Sydney continues to experience ongoing environmental degradation and water shortages as a result of urban development, population demand and climate change. Land use conflicts, climate change predictions and competition for scarce water resources has placed water and food security as high priority issues, as in many other peri-urban regions across the globe. New law and governance strategies are required for peri-urban regions to harmonise the co-existence of agriculture, urban and other land uses. This paper presents a range of methods developed via a case study in Western Sydney (from 2007 to 2010) to facilitate new law and governance strategies for better legal and institutional protection of peri-urban food security and sustainable production.

The sustainable future of peri-urban regions in the face of increased extreme events is dependent upon the development and implementation of adaptive governance models. The case of the Greater Western Sydney region of New South Wales is used here to illustrate the need to improve legal and institutional frameworks for peri-urban governance. This is needed to ensure that decision-making at the regional level is based on science and to effectively address the issues arising in a situation of extreme events that threaten food and water security in the region. Environmental law is relatively well developed in terms of the requirements of “good governance” that should integrate participation in decision-making by stakeholders. Increasingly, the principles of ecologically sustainable development (ESD) are also being elaborated as part of governance systems. The focus of this paper is to elaborate the challenges posed by climate change and variability, and the need to fundamentally re-think the approaches on adaptive governance for food and water security in peri-urban areas. Long term trends may be relatively well understood, but strategic planning and responses must be undertaken in the face of considerable uncertainty about exactly when, and how, extreme events will occur.

Economic theory suggests that resources should be employed in different sectors to the point where their marginal values are equal. Yet what has been observed in many instances is that the marginal values of a resource tend to differ, depending on what they are used for. While this occurs for a variety of reasons, it is argued in this paper that the observable relative differences in the marginal values of a resource are a measure of the pressures forcing a reallocation of those resources within a region. This issue is most acute in peri-urban regions (those places where cities and the rural environment meet) as the competition between a declining agricultural sector and the growing domestic and industrial sectors is most intense. The argument arises as to what extent is the pressure to transfer resources between these declining and expanding sectors. To answer that question it is necessary to value the resource in question in a consistent and comprehensive manner across all sectors. Once done, the forces exerted on the resource can be gauged by observing the relative differences in the values placed on it in each use. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a method that has been used to undertake this task with respect to the allocation of water resources. However, analyzing this question in the water sector has been stymied by the fact that the value of water deployed cannot be compared easily with that allocated to other sectors. The approach taken is an extension of the Residual Method that is used to calculate the marginal value product of water used in each crop and then aggregated to obtain the total value of water allocated to the agricultural sector as a whole. These results are then compared to the more conventionally obtained values of water used in other sectors. The results presented in this paper were drawn from research that has been published on two very different peri-urban sites, in Western Sydney, Australia and in Hyderabad, India. It can be concluded that despite the differences in the circumstances, conditions and concerns of stakeholders, the approach is robust enough to be used in a variety of situations where the competition for water between sectors exists. It was found that the value of water used for domestic purposes is significantly greater than that deployed to the agricultural sector in both peri-urban regions. In addition, it does not matter that the quantities used in the urban areas for domestic and industrial uses are relatively small when compared to those in the agricultural sector (as is the case in Hyderabad) or not (as in the case in Western Sydney). Just like other resources (principally land) it is inevitable that in peri-urban regions water will be and should be allocated to the use that it is most valued; towards urban expansion and away from agriculture.

This chapter provides the summary of the main points covered in the preceding chapters. The book has six parts, including integrated water cycle modelling, urbanization, water and energy covering aspects of urban agriculture, global warming and climate change, landscape and ecosystem, and governance. The topics covered in different sections of the book are wide ranging and therefore the book illustrates the level of complexity of peri-urban landscapes. The book emphasise the need for integrated planning of future development of peri-urban areas so that our cities sustainable, resilient and liveable.