The deadline for receipt of the entries for WatSave awards and WHIS from the National Committees along with the completed ‘Nomination Form’ and related details to the ICID Central Office, New Delhi (India) is 30th June 2020.
For queries, please contact Dr. Sahdev Singh, Director (Knowledge Management) at icid@icid.org

How will the coronavirus affect agriculture in Australia?
12 February 2020
The coronavirus outbreak is already having a severe impact on China’s foodservice and on-trade channels and this could become “more serious and longer-lasting” if the virus is not contained in the next six to eight weeks, leading agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank has warned.
https://www.foodmag.com.au/how-will-the-coronavirus-affect-agriculture-in-australia/
 

Regenerative and Sustainable Agriculture
12 February 2020
Sustainable isn’t enough. Sustainable just maintains the current state of degraded soil. What’s needed is a regenerative agriculture … to restore the soil to the level of nutrients that existed prior to industrial farming. Then, we can practice sustainable agriculture.
https://www.mysteinbach.ca/blogs/9965/regenerative-and-sustainable-agriculture/

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CLIMATE CHANGE 







15 Years after the Kyoto Protocol Went into Force, the Climate Crisis is Worse Than Ever
16 February 2020
The Kyoto Protocol went to force a full 15 years ago today—and yet, the climate crisis is more urgent than ever. The purpose of the protocol was to provide structure to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC (1994)—a treaty committing industrialized countries to make efforts to reduce emissions and meet individual targets.
https://www.newsweek.com/15-years-anniversary-kyoto-protocol-climate-crisis-1487358

 

Planting Trees is Good, But Cutting Emissions is Better
15 February 2020
There’s no silver bullet for stopping global warming. Trees not only provide a habitat for wildlife, they can mitigate global warming, to an extent. Some people may be mistaking tree planting as a substitute for cutting emissions. Trees can definitely absorb carbon dioxide, but alone they won’t be enough to stop global warming.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-02-15/planting-a-trillion-trees-isn-t-enough-to-stop-climate-change
 

Climate change ‘could cost global economy nearly $10tn by 2050’
13 February 2020
A new report warns nature losses and environmental damage need to be rapidly reversed in order to avoid severe financial losses across multiple vital sectors. Climate change could cost the global economy as much as $9.87 trillion (£7.6tn) between 2011 and 2050 if nature losses and environmental damage are not reversed.
https://www.energylivenews.com/2020/02/13/climate-change-could-cost-global-economy-nearly-10tn-by-2050/ 

[Top] 

DROUGHTS 






Somalia's energy and water ministry, sign pact with QC
15 February 2020
Qatar Charity (QC) signed a co-operation and partnership agreement with the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources in Mogadishu, Somalia to continue its efforts for the benefit of those affected by recurrent droughts and floods. The deal aims to support the efforts of the ministry in achieving sustainable development gradually in the energy and water sector of Somalia, in co-ordination and co-operation with relevant governmental international authorities.
https://www.gulf-times.com/story/655955/Somalia-s-energy-and-water-ministry-sign-pact-with
 

No deal yet on Nile talks, Ethiopia says
15 February 2020
Ethiopian officials announced on Friday that negotiations between them and Sudan and Egypt that this past week in Washington ended without a final agreement on the longstanding Nile River dispute. Officials from the three countries met February 12 to 13 to discuss the operation of Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam project on the Nile River.
https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/africa/Ethiopia-says-no-deal-yet-on-Nile-talks/4552902-5456930-14fjtkm/index.html

Afghanistan Drought Risk Management Strategy
15 February 2020
The 2018-drought directly affected more than two-thirds of Afghanistan (22 out of total 34 provinces) with around 10.5 million people being most severely affected (of the total 17 million in these 22 provinces). 13.5 million people were facing “Crisis” or worse levels of food insecurity in September 2018 and at least 300,000 people internally displaced due to drought. This was one of the most severe droughts in recent times in Afghanistan.
https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-drought-risk-management-strategy

[Top] 

 FLOODS






Wales Bears Brunt as Storm Dennis Rips Across Britain
16 February 2020
Storm Dennis roared across Britain with high winds and heavy rains Sunday, prompting authorities to issue a record number of flood warnings and alerts for England and a rare "red warning" for extremely life-threatening flooding in Wales.
https://www.voanews.com/europe/wales-bears-brunt-storm-dennis-rips-across-britain
 

Flooding expected along Pearl River in Jackson
15 February 2020
The National Weather Service is predicting the Pearl River at Jackson to crest at 38 feet by Sunday and remain there for several days. This would cause the third worst flooding event in Jackson history, according to the American Red Cross, and more rain is expected early next week.
https://mynbc15.com/news/local/flooding-expected-along-pearl-river-in-jackson-evacuations-in-place
 

Indonesia faces catastrophic floods, disappearing islands
12 February 2020
In recent weeks there have been devastating floods in Indonesia. What are the latest statistics about these and is there a link with global warming? It is predicted that in 2020 four more islands will sink. Climate projections state that by 2050 there will be 23 million people throughout Indonesia who will be forced to leave their homes because of rising sea levels due to the climate crisis.
https://mronline.org/2020/02/12/climate-emergency-indonesia-faces-catastrophic-floods-disappearing-islands/

 

[Top]

FOOD SECURITY 








Millions of locusts invade farms in Saudi Arabia and Yemen
17 February 2020
Large swarms of locusts have been seen on farms and in rural areas in Saudi Arabia and Yemen over the past few days, after countries in the Horn of Africa suffered the largest outbreak in decades.
Kuwait's Al Rai newspaper reported on Monday that the swarms of locusts invaded the agricultural areas in four Saudi regions: Riyadh, Qassim, Hail and the Eastern Province.
Desert locusts pose a significant threat to food security and livelihoods by feeding on plants and crops on farms.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/gcc/millions-of-locusts-invade-farms-in-saudi-arabia-and-yemen-1.979993
 

Advocacy for Zero Hunger
16 February 2020
Despite a strong global commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2): Zero Hunger, evidence shows that the number of hungry people in the world is increasing. This is in large part due to conflict, which uproots people and disrupts their livelihoods, making it more difficult and costly for them to access or produce food. Climate change also plays an important role in exacerbating food insecurity globally, as it makes natural disasters more frequent and intense, with significant impact on the ground. In this evolving scenario, business as usual is no longer an option for the World Food Programme (WFP).
https://www.wfp.org/advocacy
 

ICRISAT facility to cut seed breeding time
15 February 2020
The International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) unveiled a new facility at its premises on Friday that will revolutionise seed breeding by reducing the time to produce them.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/icrisat-facility-to-cut-seed-breeding-time/article30824837.ece

 

[Top]

IRRIGATION






Research Report Explores the Ready to Use Agricultural Irrigation Machinery Market
14 February 2020
The Agricultural Irrigation Machinery market’s business intelligence report extensively offers a summary of vital factors including the product classification, critical explanation, and other industry-connected data. The report also encloses the crucial aspects connected with the recent events such as new product launches, mergers & acquisitions, and alliances.
https://redhillcouncillors.co.uk/uncategorised/42437/research-report-explores-the-ready-to-use-agricultural-irrigation-machinery-market-for-the-forecast-period-2019-2024/
 

Seasonal irrigation affects the partitioning of new photosynthate carbon in soil
12 February 2020
Long-term irrigation of temperate pastures has been reported to either increase or decrease soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks when compared with dryland systems. Understanding the short-term effects of irrigation on the fixation and partitioning of carbon (C) to plant and soil components may be important to explaining the observed differences.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0038071720300481
 

Farmers in southern Tasmania call for new irrigation scheme as harvesters sit idle
12 February 2020
Farmers in the Bagdad Valley, north of Hobart, suffering badly from a lack of rainfall over the past few years, want action over a new irrigation scheme. Since the colony of Van Diemen's Land was established in the early 1800s, Bagdad has been central to providing food to the residents of Hobart.
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-02-11/farmers-call-for-new-irrigation-scheme-north-of-hobart/11950342
 

WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT 







More than 50% of Iranian dams' capacity full
15 February 2020
Iran’s deputy energy minister says currently 54 percent of the capacity of the country’s dams has been filled and the rest is kept for flood management, IRIB reported on Saturday.
Speaking on the sidelines of an exhibition in Tehran, Ghasem Taghizadeh Khamesi expressed hope that considering the recent heavy snowfall, the country won’t be facing any water shortage in the upcoming hot seasons.
https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/445154/More-than-50-of-Iranian-dams-capacity-full
 

Turkmenistan takes part in meeting of EU Central Asia on environment, climate change
14 February 2020
The delegation of Turkmenistan participated in the 9th session of the meeting of the EU–Central Asia working group on environment and climate change that was held in Brussels on Feb. 12–13, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry. The meeting was organized in the framework of the EU–Central Asia Platform on cooperation in the area of environment and water resources which encompasses the following priority fields: the management of nature protection activities, closed cycle economy, sustainable production and consumption, climate change and water resources management.
https://menafn.com/1099704729/Turkmenistan-takes-part-in-meeting-of-EU-Central-Asia-on-environment-climate-change
 

Tourism growth threatens Bali’s water security
13 February 2020
Water insecurity is a growing challenge on Bali, with at least one media outlet reporting that the island is at risk of “running out”. As Bali receives an average of over 1,200 millimetres of rainfall a year, it is unlikely to actually run out of water. But the pressure on water is real and its main cause is tourists using more than they need to. This is likely to be difficult, but not impossible, to overcome. The Indonesian Environmental Protection Agency found that 260 of Bali’s 400 rivers had run dry.
https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/11852-Tourism-growth-threatens-Bali-s-water-security

[Top]

Roorkee Water Conclave: Roorkee, India 26-28 February 2020 The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee and National Institute of Hydrology Roorkee will jointly organize regular international conference every 2 years in the area of various facets of water to be known as Roorkee Water Conclave. Keeping in view the importance of the potential impact of climate change on the water sector, the first edition of the Roorkee Water Conclave will be on the theme “Hydrological Aspects of Climate Change” and it will be held at IIT Roorkee during 26-28 February 2020. Contact: Organizing Committee, Roorkee Water Conclave, Department of Water Resources Development & Management, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee-247 667, Uttarakhand, India. Phone: +91-1332-285872/ 284755/ 249229/ 249244; E-mail: info.rwc@iitr.ac.in info.rwc2020@gmail.com Website: http://www.iitr.ac.in/rwc2020/

Water Pollution 2020: 15th International Conference on Monitoring, Modelling and Management of Water Pollution, 13-15 May 2020, Valencia, Spain. For more details, please visit: https://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2020-conferences/water-pollution-2020; Email: wit@wessex.ac.uk

MinWat 2020: 3rd International Multidisciplinary Conference on Mineral Waters: Genesis, Exploitation, Protection and Valorisation, 31 March-3 April 2020, Caserta, Italy. For more details, please visit: https://iah.org/events/minwat-2020; Email: segratario@iahitaly.it

6th IWA International Symposium on Water, Wastewater and Environment in Ancient Civilizations: Traditions and Cultures
28-30 April 2020
the 6th IWA International Symposium which will be Co-organized by the Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey and the Hellenic Open University, Patra, Greece. It will take place at the Bogazici University (28 & 29 April) and in the Conference Hall of the Theological School of Halki in the island of Heybeliada, Istanbul, Turkey (30 April).
https://iwa-network.org/events/iwa-regional-symposium-on-water-wastewater-and-environment-traditions-and-cultures/
 

[Top]

 Irrigation and Drainage (ICID Journal No.68.4)

The latest issue of ICID Journal, Irrigation and Drainage (No.68.4) published in December 2019 is now available online free via Wiley online library for all ICID office bearers, work body members and subscribers. Papers are available in easy to read PDF format. The journal provides access to the full text of all articles published in Irrigation and Drainage since 2001, as well as Tables of Contents and Abstracts.
Early View service provides papers online as soon as they have been accepted for publication, which can be several months earlier than the papers published in print. Sign up for FREE Wiley Alerts – receive the table of contents via email as soon as an issue is published online:

For 2019 Wiley has provided each ICID office bearer, work body member and subscriber a membership registration number. Your e-mail address is your user nam and you can choose your own password.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1531-0361