Climate Change, Food Security and Natural Resource Management

The natural resources used for water, energy and food are under increasing pressure across the world. Growth in both population and incomes is increasing consumption globally, stretching towards the planet’s ecological boundaries. Climate change exacerbates the pressure on all three interdependent resources, intensify the risk of insecurity and the significance of interdependencies, and makes millions of people, predominantly in developing countries, more vulnerable. Hence, in addition to the need to address these resource systems simultaneously, understanding and managing the links among them is essential for formulating policies for more resilient and adaptable societies. In this perspective, the concept of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has become widely used to help understand the complexities of these interdependent systems and how they can be managed sustainably and equitably to meet growing demand. Furthermore, proponents of the WEF nexus as an approach to planning and resource management highlight the need to improve efficiencies in resource use to reduce environmental degradation and maximize the social and economic benefits of increasingly scarce natural resources. The approach has been also advocated to address conflicts or trade-offs among the water, energy and food sectors.

The chapter bears upon the challenges for food security in Yemen and the factors that constrain sustainable development of the agriculture sector. The serious constraints that prevent the agriculture sector to flourish include, inter alia, low productivity, lack of financial resources, inadequate marketing systems, low human resource, poor infrastructure, dearth of suitable production technologies and insufficient availability of inputs. The government has also been responsible for the poor state of agriculture because over the years due to financial crisis it has not assigned high priority to this vital sector of economic activity. External factors such as climate change, internal social conflicts, and security issues are also negatively impacting on the agricultural sector. The government has to spend a huge amount of money to import food commodities to meet its food requirements, although considerable potential exists to earn a significant amount of foreign exchange by exporting its good quality coffee. A major portion of the meager resources (land and water) of the country is being utilized to produce qat – a narcotic plant chewed by the huge segment of population. The qat is gradually replacing coffee and appears to be the chief rival of the coffee crop, restricting its growth to small pockets of land. Thus, in the present scenario, the country needs a sound plan, and a pragmatic policy that could re-establish agriculture sector to ensure food security and alleviate rural poverty. Agricultural extension can play a critical role in addressing the issues faced by the agricultural sector and help in enhancing food supplies. Unfortunately, the National Agricultural Extension Service (NAES) in the country is also beset with innumerable problems that, besides others, range from organizational weakness, lack of resources, poor extension staff performing non-extension activities with no clear responsibilities. The chapter provides in-depth analyses of the issues and challenges that render NAES ineffective and inefficient. If measures are taken in letter and spirit to improve the National Extension Service, it can help the country realize sustainable agriculture. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to identify the constraints faced by the agricultural sector and national extension system and suggest suitable innovative strategies that could improve crop yields and ensure food security through sustainable agricultural production systems.

By 2050, the world’s population may reach 9.1 billion, a 50% increase compared to 2000. To feed this growing population, food and agricultural systems will have to increase their productivity and deal with many challenges such as land and water shortage and degradation problems. In Morocco, agriculture is a key sector of the national economy, playing crucial social and economic roles and generating some negative externalities. Cereals are the dominant crops and their production fluctuates depending on weather conditions. Therefore, cereal yields forecasting is a major tool for decision making to ensure food security, which still relies heavily on cereal production. The present work is essentially oriented towards the study of: water productivity (WP) of rainfed wheat as an indicator of agricultural development related to water management; and winter soft wheat yields forecasting in the rural commune of Ouled Saleh, characterized by a semi-arid climate and limited water resources to satisfy crop growth requirements. The results indicated that WP is relatively low and has to be improved, and that there is a good agreement between predicted and observed soft wheat yields using AquaCrop under rainfed conditions.

Food waste has emerged as one of the prime issues and the major challenges threatening food security on the global level, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom is exposed to harsh climatic conditions and has limited arable lands and scarce water resources to produce agricultural crops, therefore food requirements are met through heavy imports. Demands for food commodities are rising due to population increases and rising living standards. Saudi Arabia makes good quality food available to the society at the highly subsidized prices despite several limiting factors. Saudis still spend about 27–30% of their incomes on their food. They like to organize festivals and celebrate events by providing more food than required resulting in enormous wastes. In an estimate, about 78% of food purchased in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and United Arab Emirates (UAE) is not being consumed and is thrown in the garbage to make place for the new set of groceries in the refrigrators. Food leftovers make the single-largest component of the landfills. The food is wasted through the entire food chain starting from the farmers’ fields, to the food industries, retailers, caterers and till it reaches to the consumers. The principal drivers of food waste include: lack of awareness; unplanned shopping for groceries; consumable leftovers; and losses in households, restaurants, parties, friends and families get togethers, religious celebrations and special occasions. The chapter examines these factors responsible for food waste, identifies the major food waster groups and discusses the over-all food waste scenario in the Kingdom. The purpose of the work is to determine the implications for extension education to reduce the food waste in the Kingdom through sound and appropriate capacity-building programs for the youth and women in particular and the society in general.

Egypt has been famous for its productive and prominent agriculture for many centuries. For the past two decades, its agricultural sector has faced innumerable constraints and issues, lowering its yields and limiting economic returns. Agricultural Extension and Advisory Service has played an appreciable role in elevating crop yields, that in turn contributed towards national economy and improved rural livelihoods. However, due to multiple distortions, National Extension System needs to be revisited. The chapter examines the present fuctioning of extension system, identifies the constraints faced by the agriculture sector and the shortcomings of the agricultural extension department. Based on these analyses, improvement measures have been suggested and viable and workable development strategies outlined for improving the working of extension. The objective of the chapter is to optimise farmer practices in sustainable agriculture to achieve food security. The information provided could be helpful to the farmers, the planners and the policy makers to develop the agricultural sector on sound footings by employing scientific principles and practices of sustainable agriculture to achieve food security in the country. An improved extension system can help realize sustainable agriculture and achieve food security if strong links are established among Egyptian Agricultural Departments (Agricultural Reseach and Development) and National Agricultural Extension Service (NAES). Further it is important to have a strong coordination to ehance the working efficiency of the both departments to meet national needs.

Food availability and access is a necessary condition for food security. This chapter aims to analyze the state of declining foodgrain availability in India despite record agricultural production and rising food subsidy. In terms of methodology, the data have been procured from the Economic Survey of India and the Annual Reports of the Food Corporation of India. Maximum, minimum, average, standard deviation, and correlation coefficients have been calculated for the pairs of net availability vs. carrying cost, net availability vs. total food subsidy, and food subsidy vs. Public Distribution System (PDS) offtake for analysis. The findings show that the availability of foodgrain ranges from 186.19 to 146.51 kg per person per year and the average 167.14 kg per person per year with a standard deviation of 10.10. Availability declined consistently from its peak of 186.19 kg per person in 1991 to the bottom of 146.51 in 2013. This difference becomes starker when one considers that an average family of five had 198 kg of foodgrain less to eat in 2013 than in 1991. The study found that the correlation coefficient of per capita net availability with subsidy was low at 0.19 but the correlation of subsidy with agricultural production was high at 0.91. The originality and value of this study are derived from its focus on the present government policies and resolutions for food management and the reasons as to why the present policies have not been able to address the problem of food availability in the country.

Although global food-production would be sufficient to feed the entire world’s population, there are 800 million people suffering from undernutrition. About 70% of those starving live in rural areas in less developed and developing countries. The reduction of hunger and under-nutrition is the ambitious target of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) striving against rapid population growth, technological disparities and environmental destruction that have significant effects on future food systems. In order to transform food systems and enhance the development of rural areas, food security should be guaranteed through investment, training, research and balancing local, regional and global markets and trade. Responsible consumers are also crucial to ensure food security. In response to environmental changes, the European Union contributes to the SDGs through its own policy initiatives and thematic food security programmes and actions. The European Union (EU) approaches the arising challenges from the aspects of agriculture, nutrition and resilience. This chapter gives an overview of the processes of designing and implementing initiatives, building cooperation with governments and participation in partnerships to facilitate change in developing countries, as well as measures taken with the help of financial instruments at EU-level. The chapter also focuses on the responsibility of recipient countries.

In this paper, the impact of climate change on water demand in the Middle Draa Valley (south of Morocco) has been analyzed. The study is based on the outputs of two software runs under socio-economical and climate change scenarios. The Statistical downscaling models (SDSM) that allow the observation of climate change at local level were used. The outputs were used to evaluate the impact of climate change on water demand, and as input to the Water Evaluation and Planning System (WEAP) to simulate water systems. The result predicts increase in mean temperatures from 1.4 to 3 °C and decrease in precipitation by approximately 3.9–15% in a number of scenarios considered in the study. The estimation of water balance is made through WEAP model; which shows that the study area will suffer from a lack of water supply due to the impact of climate change and the increase of water demand, which will be accelerated by high population growth.

Many technologies, such as irrigation scheduling, advanced irrigation systems, limited irrigation methods, soil moisture management, wastewater irrigation, can be used to reduce the problems attributed to date palm irrigation. Improvement of water management is required at all levels of irrigation including planning and design, project implementation, and operation and maintenance. This chapter provides information to determine the monthly and annual water requirements by date palm in eight different regions of Saudi Arabia that help improve irrigation water management. Areas selected for this study are located in regions of the Medina (Al Ula), Tabuk (Teimaa), Makkah (Al Jumum), Al Jouf (Sakakah), Riyadh (Sodos), Qassim (Riyad Al Khabra, Hail (AL Kaedh), and East Region (Al Ahsa). Irrigation water requirements (m³/ha) after taking into account the proportion of cultivated area of date palm for each year were found to be 9495.24, 7340.18, 7298.93, 8913.59, 8614.96, 8568.68, 7996.99, 8510.72 m³/ha, respectively, per 100 Date Palm trees/ha. The annual total irrigation water requirements (m³/tree) in these regions is 95, 73.4, 73, 89, 86, 85.7, 80, 85 m³, respectively as the radius of shaded area per tree is 3.5 m. The decrease of the crop water requirement (CRW) in all sites of study to around 8000 m³/ha from previously reported by many researchers is mainly attributed to percentage of shaded area of date palm tree. Therefore, it is recommended that the practice of a distance between trees to 10 m × 10 m should be changed to 7 m × 7 m in order to reduce the estimation of CRW of date palm trees.

The threats of water scarcity and insecurity are imminent in the Maghreb region. Population growth, urbanization, climate change, poor water management, and soil contamination are severely affecting water supplies and endangering community livelihoods. The engineering of a new water approach appears to be crucial to reduce social vulnerabilities, secure safe water supplies, and ensure water security in the region. But this does not seem to be solely the job of governments. In an already ecologically fragile Maghreb region, a collaborative action is urgently required to address water scarcity and contamination risks. Any action to protect water resources in the region seems to necessitate the involvement of both private and public businesses as they are using about 10% of water resources and are partly responsible for water contamination. Their action needs to be redirected to strike a balance between business promotions on the one hand, and water protection and risk reduction on the other. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is about risk management. This paper illustrates the water risks with which the Maghreb region is concerned and draws attention to the contribution of CSR to water conservation and pollution risk reduction. It examines whether the involvement of the business sector can abate the threats of water deterioration in the region. It further seeks to know how CSR could allocate resources to positively and effectively impact the use of valuable water resources, control water contamination risks, and sustain water resource management. The aim of this paper is to formulate a new approach capable of combating water scarcity and degradation, containing future water risks, and ensuring water security for the region’s populations.

Africa is classified as the continent with the highest threat caused by a changing earth climate. This threat is a result of interaction between diverse stressing factors which are already indicated in local ecosystems. These climatic effects are more visible in Africa than on any other continent or regions in the world. The interactions of climate change and anthropogenic caused environmental influences are specifically distinct like fire clearance, overfishing, and food security. Environmental and agricultural resources are fundamentals for social, economic, and ecologic development and essential for African countries. With increased interferences in the ecological balance of ecosystems, booming productions are one of the major and most serious effects on soil degradation. With indicators like soil wetness, pH, water-holding-capacity, soil fertility, drought etc. the productivity of different soils can be evaluated. With this evaluation, it will be possible to estimate the economic efficiency, and therefore concrete market potentials. Against this background, the impact of soil degradation will be investigated on examples of agricultural production in Africa. The importance to understand the market relevance and key markets in the agricultural sector is essential for the success of agricultural production in Africa.

The main objective of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of the treated wastewater reuse from the Agadir M’zar plant for golf grass irrigation. The current potential of this water is 10,000 m³/day, which can be used for irrigation without any restriction (Category A, WHO standards). This production capacity of treated wastewater by the Agadir M’zar plant will permit to satisfy completely the needs in water for irrigating Agadir city’s green spaces. The purpose is to investigate the effects of the reuse of treated wastewater which contains higher concentration of soluble salts compared to groundwater on plant, soil and leachate. To do so, full-scale tests have been carried out in the wastewater plant site on parcels of 25 m² using different variety of grass seed. The results presented in this chapter are related: firstly to the monitoring of parameters of grass growth during the first 21 days of irrigation; secondly to the monitoring of physicochemical parameters of leachate during the first 60 days of irrigation; and thirdly to the analysis of soil in three depths (20 cm, 40 cm and 60 cm) for composite samples taken at the end of the process. The parameters of grass growth and the physicochemical analysis of leachate and soil show that irrigation with treated wastewater in comparison with conventional water (groundwater) has a positive effect on the grass growth (tillering and evolution of leave length) and increases salinity in both groundwater and the top soil, thus tending to promote the training of soluble salts insoil.

Until the Paris Agreement on Climate Change accorded equal importance to adaptation and mitigation, the market instruments framed under the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) focused mainly on mitigation. However, realizing the importance of existing forests in storing and sequestering carbon, the UNFCCC introduced the concept of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+) at Bali in 2007, promising to benefit multiple sectors linking climate change, biodiversity, sustainable livelihoods, and water resource conservation. Due to its widespread acceptance among the forest rich countries, it became increasingly relevant to study the impacts of its implementation in developing countries. This work is a case study of a USAID-funded pilot project in the northern Indian hill state of Himachal Pradesh designed to draw lessons for forest conservation and generate data for future REDD+ projects. Focused group discussions with the local people to solicit their views on the promises and potential of the initiative bring out the loss of trust in such projects. They fear loss of livelihoods and homes as they are largely dependent on the ecosystem services provided by the forests, including non-timber forest produce (NTFP), medicinal plants, and honey. They expressed concern over the ruthless destruction of forests in the nearby regions and felt that the Government has been supporting destructive projects at the cost of their livelihoods. Feeling left out of monetary benefits resulting out of projects, they compared the REDD+ initiative with the ‘industry-oriented’ motives. In addition, the study also integrates expert views of scientists on implementing REDD+ as an effective adaptation mechanism. Effective governance, increased stakeholder participation and synergizing the program with watershed management initiatives can help yield full potential of REDD+.

This article analyses the twin objectives of conserving carbon and biodiversity through results based payments coming from implementation of ‘reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks’ (collectively known as REDD+) activities in tropical countries. Possible ways to amalgamate the international carbon and biodiversity markets have been explored. Forest carbon stock can be conserved through financing mechanisms under both, compliance and voluntary structures of the carbon market. Most of the tropical countries are developing economies that need capacity building, technology transfer and financial support to efficiently reduce deforestation and conserve biodiversity. Under the New York Declaration on Forests, countries have taken collective voluntary targets to reduce deforestation. An estimation of potential emission reduction from reduced deforestation through voluntary targets in selected tropical countries has been presented.

Our understanding of forest carbon dynamics is a crucial component of global carbon management given the potential impacts from future climatic changes. Observed increases in carbon storage in New England forests are not fully understood, and explanations range from increased atmospheric nitrogen deposition to longer growing seasons. These explanations highlight the importance of investigating the phenological and ecosystem function responses to increases in the growing season. Responses were modeled and studied at Harvard Forest, a temperate deciduous forest located in Petersham, MA. Ongoing biometric and eddy flux measurements at the forest provided 17 years of data for this study. Measurements included biometry components, such as leaf area index (LAI) and aboveground woody biomass, and the eddy flux parameters, including carbon flux and measurements of PAR and vapor pressure deficit (VPD). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze these data and investigate their whole ecosystem direct and indirect interactions. SEM allowed for analyses that addressed the complexity of forest ecosystems and their components. Growing season length was a significant driver of carbon uptake, and was heavily influenced by soil temperatures below the surface. Analyses of the eddy flux data resulted in a model that accurately portrayed the interactions between the eddy flux components and the growing season (GFI = 0.90). Further, the best-fit integrated model simulated an ecological 1-year time lag between the eddy flux and biometry data (GFI = 0.78). This study presents a basis for SEM analyses with the biometry and eddy flux measurements at Harvard Forest. Further research is needed to investigate the ecosystem function responses to changes in the growing season.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a forest deficit country due to high temperatures and lack of water resources, covering only 1.0% of the country’s landmass. The unfavorable climate not only causes low vegetation forests, but also makes it hard to re-establish forest vegetation once destroyed. Factors responsible for thin forest cover include low and variable rainfall, high temperatures; and low humidity. The lack of rivers and scarcity of underground water also have a great influence on forest stands of Saudi Arabia. In addition to these factors, anthropogenic activities like over-grazing, illegal felling, and heavy extraction of wood fuel by the locals highly damage the local forests, hampering the natural growth and making regeneration of the forests very slow. To bring back the forest cover, various afforestation and tree planting programs, though very expansive, have been initiated in the Kingdom. However, to keep the existing forest cover in place, the most viable option would be to encourage and ensure the participation of all the stakeholders comprising locals, NGOs, government, industries, academicians and Extension Educators in protecting and conserving the prevalent forest stands through an appropriate and acceptable forest management plan. Among the available strategies to enhance and ensure this participation, the role of forestry extension and education is of paramount importance. Forestry extension programs can help educating stakeholders involved in planning, developing policies and undertaking institutional measures aiming at improving the existing forests. This chapter aims to highlight the importance for the Kingdom of a plan that focuses on reforestation, restoration and afforestation, and establish the significance of local participation to slow, halt and reverse deforestation, illegal harvesting and forest degradation. The chapter also provides information on the challenges and constraints currently faced by forests, and discuss the possible roles of participatory management approach and forestry extension education in improving the situation and moving towards a sustainable future.