Das Projekt "B 1.2: Efficient water use in limestone areas - Phase 2" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Bodenkunde und Standortslehre durchgeführt. The elevated areas of Northern Thailand highlands are inhabited by ethnic minorities. On the other hand, the Thai majority prefers the valley bottoms. Population growth of all groups, reforestation and commercialisation of agriculture lead to an increasing pressure on land and water resources. Therefore, intensified land and water use systems are desired which are resource conserving at the same time. Here, special problem areas are the karstic limestone catchments due to the limited of surface waters.Own pre-investigations together with subproject A1 have shown, that land use systems there are subsistence oriented and local farmers do not use irrigation. But they would like to develop such technology, especially in order to increase staple crop production (highland rice, maize). But lack of irrigation possibilities is also responsible for the lack of diversification of land use systems with respect to orchards. One possibility to increase staple crop yields is to prolong the vegetation period by use of water harvesting technologies. Aim of this project is to develop such low cost water harvesting technologies (together with subproject B3.1) based on a participatory approach and to model the effect of these on the water balance at the catchments scale. This will be done on the basis of the previous variability studies and should lead to model tools, which allow to evaluate ex ante SFB innovation effects on the water balance. The project area is the Bor Krai catchments. Here, weirs will be installed to quantify surface water availability. An investigation plot will be situated near the village of Bor Krai which serves for water balance measurements (TDR/densitometry) and at the same time as demonstration plot for the local community. Here water harvesting by means of filling the soils field capacity at the end of the rainy season by gravity irrigation in order to prolong the vegetation period will be researched. Through cropping of participatory evaluated varieties the crop yield should be increased. The water consumption of traditionally managed and dominant crops (including orchards) will be measured at three further sites in the catchment (TDR, tensiometer). The water balance of the soil cover in the karst catchment will be based on the coupling of a SOTER map with a water transport model. The data base will be completed by soil type mapping, spatially randomised collection of soil physical properties (texture, bulk density, infiltration, water retention curve) and determination of the ku-function at two representative sites. As project results the available water amount for irrigation purposes will be quantified. The effective use of this water reserve will lead to increased productivity of the dominant crops and limitations to orchard productivity will be reduced. (abridged text)
Das Projekt "B 3.1: Efficient water use of mixed cropping systems in watersheds of Northern Thailand highlands" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Kulturpflanzenwissenschaften (340), Fachgebiet Düngung und Bodenstoffhaushalt (340i) durchgeführt. Worldwide an important part of agricultural added value is produced under irrigation. By irrigation unproductive areas can be cultivated, additional harvests can be obtained or different crops can be planted. Since its introduction into Northern Thailand lychee has developed as one of the dominating cash crops. Lychee is produced in the hillside areas and has to be irrigated during the dry season, which is the main yield-forming period. Water therefore is mainly taken from sources or streams in the mountain forests. As nowadays all the available resources are being used do to increased production, a further increase in production can only be achieved by increasing the water use efficiency. In recent years, partial root-zone drying has become a well-established irrigation technique in wine growing areas. In a ten to fifteen days rhythm one part of the root system is irrigated while the other dries out and produces abscisic acid (ABA) a drought stress hormone. While the vegetative growth and thus labor for pruning is reduced, the generative growth remains widely unaffected. Thereby water-use efficiency can be increased by more than 40Prozent. In this sub-project the PRD-technique as well as other deficit irrigation strategies shall be applied in lychee and mango orchards and its effects on plant growth and yield shall be analyzed. Especially effects of this water-saving technology on the nutrient balance shall be considered, in order to develop an optimized fertigation strategy with respect to yield and fruit quality. As shown in preliminary studies, the nutrient supply is low in soils and fruit trees in Northern Thailand (e.g. phosphate) and even deficient for both micronutrients boron (B) and zinc (Zn). Additionally, non-adapted supply of nitrogen (mineralization, fertilization) can induce uneven flowering and fruit set. Therefore, improvement is necessary. For a better understanding of possible influence of low B and Zn supply on flowering and fruit set, mobility and retranslocation of both micronutrients shall be investigated for mango and lychee. Finally, the intended system of partial root-zone fertigation (PRF) shall guarantee an even flowering and a better yield formation under improved use of the limited resource water. As this modern technique, which requires a higher level of irrigation-technology, cannot be immediately spread among the farmers in the region, in a parallel approach potential users shall be integrated in a participative process for adaptation and development. Water transport and irrigation shall be considered, as both factors offer a tremendous potential for water saving. Local knowledge shall be integrated in the participatory process (supported by subproject A1.2, Participatory Research) in order to finally offer adapted technologies for application within PRF systems for the different conditions of farmers in the hillsides of Northern Thailand.
Das Projekt "B 2: Lateral water flow and transport of agrochemicals - Phase 1" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Bodenkunde und Standortslehre durchgeführt. The project aims at developing a model of the dynamics of agrochemicals (fertilisers, pesticides) and selected heavy metals on a regional scale as a function of cropping intensity in the highland areas of Northern Thailand. The model shall predict the effects of cropping intensity on mobility and leaching of agrochemicals in the agriculturally used system itself but also on the chemical status of neighbouring ecosystems including downstream areas. The methods for measuring and estimating the fluxes of agrochemicals in soils will be adapted to the conditions of the soils and sites in Northern Thailand. Fluxes of agrochemicals will be measured in fruit tree orchards on the experimental sites established together with projects B1, C1 and D1. Also, processes governing the dynamics of agrochemicals will be studied. The objectives for the first phase are as follows: - To identify suitable study sites - To establish the methods for measuring the fluxes of agrochemicals in the study sites - To adopt the analytical procedures for pesticides - To identify and parametrise the processes governing the mobility of agrochemicals - To identify the major chemical transformation processes for agrochemicals in the soils of the project area - To establish models of the fate of agrochemicals an the plot scale. Dynamics of agrochemicals include processes of mobilisation/immobilisation, degradation and transport. Both, experiments and field inventories are needed to elucidate the complex interaction of the various processes. Field measurements of the fluxes of nutrient elements (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Zn, Cu), pesticides and some heavy metals will be conducted at different regional scales (plot, agricultural system, small catchment, region). Laboratory and field experiments consider chemical, physicochemical and biological processes. Biological processes and degradation of pesticides will not be considered in the first phase of the project, however, they should be included later on. The project as a whole is broken down into three essential parts, which consecutively follow each other. The subproject is methods- and processes-orientated. Methods, which were developed in Hohenheim to quantify the fluxes of chemicals in soils have to be adapted to meet the requirements of the specific conditions in the study area. Recently, these methods are already under development in tropical environments (Vietnam, Costa Rica). After adaptation the methods will be used to yield flux data on the plot scale. These data are needed to help deciding which of the hypothesised processes are of major importance for modelling the dynamics of agrochemicals. The final outcome of this project phase are models of the fate of agrochemicals as a function of management intensity on the plot scale.
Das Projekt "B 1.3: Water conservation scenario development at the regional level innovative mapping techniques - Phase 3" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Bodenkunde und Standortslehre durchgeführt. Population increase especial in the highlands of northern Thailand, reforestation, in-creasing wealth gradient between highland and lowland as well as the commercialisation of agriculture is responsible for the extreme competition for land and water re-sources. For this reason new approaches are urgently required, which intensify the use of land and water on the one hand, and which are ecologically and economically acceptable. The investigations of the second phase showed, that there are many agriculture systems in the highlands of northern Thailand. All of them can clearly be distinguished by their ecological and economical sustainability. A basic requirement of agricultural land use planning is the knowledge about the distribution pattern of soils and their site properties. Until now, there is not any soil map or soil information system for the highlands available, which could be used for a serious land use planning. For this reason intensive soil and petrographic mapping was carried out for three different petrographic areas. This soil knowledge gained during the second phase will now be used to calibrate radiometric data of northern Thailand to generate a digital soil map. In a next step the soil physical properties will be assigned to specific soils by transfer functions. Participative soil mapping, carried out in cooperation with A1.3, will help to find the boundaries of soil physical properties and to validate the soil map. Finally, the soil map information will be a tool which can be used for different kinds of models. In cooperation with C4.1; using the WaNulCAS model; efficient and adapted land use strategies will be developed and assigned to suitable areas. In the past many land development projects failed, because of their top down nature. For this reason a participatory land suitability analysis (PALSA), in cooperation with A1.3, C4.1 and G1.2, will be applied to assure that the developed land use strategies will be acceptable for the local people.
Das Projekt "F 1: Resource tenure and management of natural resources in mountainous regions of Northern Thailand and Northwest Vietnam" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Agrar- und Sozialökonomie in den Tropen und Subtropen durchgeführt. In this subproject the effects of access to land on management of natural resources in highland regions of Southeast Asia are analysed drawing on case studies in selected watersheds of Northern Thailand and Northern Vietnam. The policies with regard to land tenure regimes in mountainous regions differ significantly between Thailand and Vietnam. Whereas Thailand largely neglects land use rights of ethnic minorities for both forest and agricultural land, Vietnam has started with the allocation of land use certificates for agricultural and forest land to individual households. The purpose of this subproject is to analyse how these policies are implemented and transformed at the local level and to provide insight into the effects of different land use policies on land use planning, natural resource management, adoption of soil and water conservation and other long-term investments, such as planting of fruit trees. Moreover, the different strategies of villagers to sustain their land use rights under various property regimes are analysed. Thus, the subproject will provide valuable information on resource management to other subprojects of the proposed SFB which are concentrating on the development of more sustainable land use practices in the highlands of Northern Thailand and Northern Vietnam. At the same time it will also draw upon the information gained in other subprojects on technical and socio-economic production constraints. Close connections exist with the studies on 'Sustainability of mountain farming systems' (D3), 'Rural finance development' (F2) 'Development projects, state administration and local responses' (F3), 'Soil conservation and crop productivity' (B3), 'Ecological assessment of barren hills' (C2) and ' Efficiency of smallholder animal husbandry' (D2).
Das Projekt "Functional Ecology and Sustainable Management of the Munessa Forest, Ethiopia; Silvicultural contributions towards sustainable management and conservation of forest resources in the highlands of Ethiopia" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Technische Universität München, Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan für Ernährung, Landnutzung und Umwelt, Lehrstuhl für Waldbau durchgeführt. Up till now there are no sustainable use and management options of Ethiopian forests. The objective of the silviculture experiment is to provide the necessary knowledge on how forests can be managed in a sustainable way. Based on scientific studies on different management options in plantation and natural forests, the effect of such options on the stands, regeneration, vegetation, and soil can be determined and an evaluation of the options can be made. The natural forest in the study area is heavily degraded and characterised by many gaps resulting from uncontrolled logging. Therefore, investigation in natural forest includes enrichment plantings of the gaps with four ecologically and economically important indigenous tree species (Podocarpus falcatus, Prunus africana, Cordia africana and Juniperus procera). The plantation forests in the study area are poorly managed. Therefore, an experiment including three different silvicultural measures at different age classes will be carried out in the most important and frequent plantation forests (Eucalyptus saligna, Cupressus lusitanica, and Pinus patula). As the livestock considerably affects the forests in the study area, the research includes two different variant of protection (non-protection and protection by fencing). Results will provide a scientific basis for recommendations on the sustainable management of the highland forests in Ethiopia.
Das Projekt "D 2.3: Efficiency of smallholder animal husbandry depending on intensity of management and genetic potential of livestock - Community driven breeding programmes: Optimisation of planning procedures" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Tierproduktion in den Tropen und Subtropen durchgeführt. In the mountainous regions of North Vietnam, smallholder farmers try to sustain and improve their livelihoods under conditions of growing population density and land pressure. Livestock husbandry appears as major development opportunity for them. Yet, 'mountainous regions' are heterogeneous, comprising areas near town with favourable access to markets and infrastructure but higher land pressure and remote areas, disadvantaged concerning market and infrastructure access but disposing of larger cropping and pasture areas. Low and unsteady resource availability in marginal areas limits the possibilities for intensification of livestock production. One solution is to increase production efficiency through improved resource utilisation. In animal production this can be realised through the development of sustainable livestock breeding and management programmes, using genotypes with high productive adaptability. Such programmes will have different structures depending on short- and medium-term resource availability, production objectives and production intensity of respective smallholder production systems.Based on the results of phase 1 and 2, D2.3 focuses on planning procedures for livestock breeding and management programmes for four combinations of production systems and species/genotypes, namely production of lean pork with exotic higher-yielding breeds in demand-driven systems, production of branded pork from local Ban pigs including remote, resource-driven pig producers, production of beef in farming systems of different scale, organisational set-up and remoteness, and production of goat meat as niche product in systems in transition. The four programmes will respond to the large heterogeneity of smallholder production systems in the project area. In fulfilment of its research objectives, D2.3 relies on cooperation with sub-projects E4.1 (Product marketing) concerning the design of a pork marketing and quality control system in the frame of village breeding and pork marketing programmes, G1.2 (Innovations and sustainability strategies) and C4.1 (Land use modelling) on integrated modelling concerning the identification of most sustainable development paths for farms of different production intensity, scale, organisational set-up and remoteness, F2.3 (Livelihood risks) for characterisation of smallholder farms using key indicator regarding adoption of technologies in livestock husbandry, A1.3 (Participatory research) on adoption of optimised breeding strategies by farmers, and D5.2 (Aquaculture) on conflicts and complementarities in the use of feed resources for investigated livestock species and fish/aquaculture.
Das Projekt "Europäische Investment Bank - Wasser Management" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Jena-Optronik GmbH durchgeführt. BACKGROUND: The Kingdom of Jordan belongs to the ten water scarcest countries in the world, and climate change is likely to increase the frequency of future droughts. Jordan is considered among the 10 most water impoverished countries in the world, with per capita water availability estimated at 170 m per annum, compared to an average of 1,000 m per annum in other countries. Jordan Government has taken the strategic decision to develop a conveyor system including a 325 km pipe to pump 100 million cubic meters per year of potable water from Disi-Mudawwara close to the Saudi Border in the south, to the Greater Amman area in the north. The construction of the water pipeline has started end of 2009 and shall be finished in 2013. Later on, the pipeline could serve as a major part of a national water carrier in order to convey desalinated water from the Red Sea to the economically most important central region of the country. The conveyor project will not only significantly increase water supplies to the capital, but also provide for the re-allocation of current supplies to other governorates, and for the conservation of aquifers. In the context of the Disi project that is co-funded by EIB two Environmental and Social Management Plans have been prepared: one for the private project partners and one for the Jordan Government. The latter includes the Governments obligation to re-balance water allocations to irrigation and to gradually restore the protected wetlands of Azraq (Ramsar site) east of Amman that has been depleted due to over-abstraction by re-directing discharge of highland aquifers after the Disi pipeline becomes operational. The Water Strategy recognizes that groundwater extraction for irrigation is beyond acceptable limits. Since the source is finite and priority should be given to human consumption it proposes to tackle the demand for irrigation through tariff adjustments, improved irrigation technology and disincentive to water intensive crops. The Disi aquifer is currently used for irrigation by farms producing all kinds of fruits and vegetables on a large scale and exporting most of their products to the Saudi and European markets and it is almost a third of Jordan's total consumption. The licenses for that commercial irrigation were finished by 2011/12. Whilst the licenses will be not renewed the difficulty will be the enforcement and satellite based information become an important supporting tool for monitoring. OUTLOOK: The ESA funded project Water management had the objective to support the South-North conveyor project and the activities of EIB together with the MWI in Jordan to ensure the supply of water for the increasing demand. EO Information provides a baseline for land cover and elevation and support the monitoring of further stages. usw.
Das Projekt "Untersuchungen zur genetischen Vielfalt von Leguminosen für die Erhaltung von Genressourcen und eine nachhaltige Landnutzung im Hochland von Nord-Vietnam" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Fakultät III Agrarwissenschaften I, Institut für Pflanzenproduktion und Agrarökologie in den Tropen und Subtropen, Fachgebiet Biodiversität und Landrehabilitation in den Tropen und Subtropen durchgeführt. Increasing population pressure is leading to unsustainable land use in North Vietnamese highlands and destruction of natural habitats. The resulting loss of biodiversity includes plant genetic resources - both wild (= non-cultivated) species and cultivated landraces - adapted to local conditions, and local knowledge concerning the plants. A particularly important group among endangered plants are the legumes (1) because Southeast Asia is a major centre of genetic diversity for this family, and (2) because the potential contribution of legumes to sustainable land use is, due to their multifunctionality (e.g., soil improvement, human and livestock nutrition), especially high. The project aims to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources of legumes with an integrated approach wherein a series of components are combined: (1) A participatory, indigenous knowledge survey complemented by information from the literature; (2) germplasm collection missions (for ex situ conservation) complemented by field evaluation and seed increase; (3) genetic diversity analysis of selected material by molecular markers; and (4) GIS based analysis of generated data to identify areas of particular genetic diversity as a basis for land area planning and in situ preservation recommendations. Project results are expected to be also applicable to similar highlands in Southeast Asia.
Das Projekt "Palaeooekologie Hochtibets waehrend des juengeren Quartaers" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Fakultät II Biologie, Institut für Botanik und Botanischer Garten, Fachgebiet Allgemeine Botanik durchgeführt. An Hand dreier von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft, der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Wissenschaften und der Academia Sinica gefoerderter Expeditionen in das tibetische Hochland und in die Hochgebirgslandschaften des westlichen Sichuan werden auf geologischem, vegetationsgeschichtlichem und dendroklimatologischem Wege einerseits die Klimageschichte Hochtibets waehrend der letzten 120.000 Jahre untersucht, andererseits die Vegetationsgeschichte dieser faszinierenden Landschaften seit dem Hoehepunkt der letzten Eiszeit, wobei Einwanderungsfragen aus den ehemaligen Refugien im Vordergrund des Interesses stehen, und die Geschichte des menschlichen Eingriffs in den Haushalt der Natur. Es zeigt sich, dass selbst bei etwa 3.500 m Hoehe der Mensch schon seit ungefaehr 5.000 Jahren den Wald zu Gunsten der Steppe zurueckgedraengt hat.
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