Concept
FutureWater provides advice for water resources management on different time scales, from day-to-day operational management of water levels in streams, soils and irrigation channels to larger-scale strategic decision making on water allocation to different users and sectors in a river basin. With increased competition for water resources and prolonged dry periods expected under climate change in most of the world’s river basins, sound decision making on the river basin scale is more urgent than ever. To facilitate river basin authorities to take well-informed decisions, it is essential to deploy modeling tools that dynamically simulate water demand across a basin and enable the evaluation of different supply strategies and infrastructure options. Executing such studies is part of the core business of FutureWater. We are specialized in selecting the appropriate tools for each challenge, using them to explore large amounts of climate scenarios and intervention strategies, visualizing the output to an end user in an attractive and informative way, and providing tailor-made advice. A key variable to consider in many of these applications is the unmet demand, i.e. the shortage of water experienced by a user due to a lack of supply under specific conditions. FutureWater has the expertise in-house to translate this unmet demand into relevant terms for specific sectors, e.g. crop yield loss (agriculture) or reductions in energy production (hydropower). For detailed studies examining water supply vs. demand, we couple physically-based modeling tools such as SPHY or SWAT to more conceptual models such as the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) framework, in an integrated approach that makes optimal use of the strengths of the individual tools.
FutureWater applications
FutureWater constructed a detailed WEAP model for the Segura River Basin in southeastern Spain, one of the driest European basins. The map shows the model schematization and interlinkages between different water users and infrastructure, with inflows, storages, and outflows being extracted across the model. The model is deployed to support government authorities on management decisions.
Under assignment of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), FutureWater built an extensive WEAP model to provide advice on irrigation infrastrucutre investments foreseen by ADB and the Ministry of Water Resources And Meteorology (MOWRAM). The graph shows the extent to which the agricultural water demand is covered by supply in different catchments under various scenarios: irrigated area expansion in Oddar Manchey Province (01), two interbasin transfer options that are currently considered (02 and 03), increased reservoir expansion (04), irrigation modernization (05), and intensified cropping patterns (06).
Related projects
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Water Allocation for Biodiversity Conservation in the Lower Amu Darya
The objective is to increase water supply to ecosystems upstream in the Amu Darya delta, upstream of the Aral Sea. The project consists of water allocation analysis and develop water supply scenarios for irrigated agriculture and biodiversity conservation, through consultations and water allocation modelling.
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Monapo Catchment Water Allocation Model in Support of ARA-Norte in Mozambique
The aim of this project is to advance water system analysis for ARA-Norte, the regional water administration authority in Mozambique, focusing on the Monapo Catchment. In collaboration with ARA-Norte's hydrologists, we're crafting a Water Allocation Model employing the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) system.
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Climate Change Adaptation Scoping Assessment for Turkmenistan
The project aims to facilitate the identification and conceptualization of projects focused on climate adaptation, particularly enhancing resilience in Turkmenistan's water and agriculture sectors. This involves creating maps of climate-related hazards to engage with government and development partners. The mapped climate risks will serve as a foundation for discussions on...
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Updating the Operational Water Allocation Model for the Pequenos Libombos Reservoir for ARA-Sul
This project supports ARA-Sul (Administração Regional de Águas do Sul) in the licensing of water users in the Pequenos Libombos Reservoir area, FutureWater, in a project commissioned by Blue Deal Mozambique, updated the operational WEAP water allocation model, originally developed in 2014, to reflect the 2023 water demand and hydrological...
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Sustainable Water Resources Management in Mongolia
In Mongolia, the continental semi-arid to arid climate of most of the territory results in low water availability, with the southern region particularly affected by a lack of perennial rivers and reliance on fossil groundwater reservoirs, where recharge is negligible. Climate change and increasing water demand are further threatening future...
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Capacity Building on Water Accounting Under the Water Scarcity Program in Lao PDR
The capacity-building program on water accounting in Lao PDR focuses on enhancing participants' understanding of the status of water resources in the Nam Ngum pilot basin and enabling them to quantify the fluxes using various tools, including remote sensing.
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Megadroughts in the water towers of Europe – from process understanding to strategies for management and adaptation
Megadroughts are rare and poorly understood hazards. They are defined as exceptionally severe, multi-year, prolonged (>5 years) periods of drought that impact severely large areas and different sectors of the economy and the environment (Cook et al., 2022). They are generally caused by the concurrence of extreme events of dryness...
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Catchment Assessment for Water Stewardship Plan
Highly productive berry farms and water scarcity are causing conflicts with the environmental assets and values of the Doñana National Park, Spain. There is growing interest in the agricultural sector to reverse this situation by implementing a water stewardship program. A catchment assessment is needed to produce baseline information to...
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Scientific Support for a Watershed Investment Program for Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa's water supply is under threat caused by the complex interaction of rapid population growth, increased water demand, intensive groundwater development, natural resource degradation, and climate change. A comprehensive Watershed Investment Program should return this situation and secure water supply for the future. An in-depth study is performed to...
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Water Evaluation And Planning Training for the Umbeluzi Catchment
ARA-Sul is improving their decision-making procedures. One component is improved water allocation planning. FutureWater has developed for the Umbeluzi two Water Allocation Models (WAMs) in 2014. A refreshing workshop for water managers and decision makers was held in June 2023.
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WEAP Ground Water Modelling in Mozambique
Groundwater availability is critical to the Umbeluzi Catchment. Currently, there is a need for a simple tool that can asses the availability of resources in the ground. This especially to asses the permits for groundwater extractions. It is expected that a simplified modelling approach can provide a trend analysis sufficient...
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Integrated Water Resources Management in Tajikistan
Given the abundant freshwater resources in Tajikistan, water plays a crucial role in the country's socioeconomic development. However, the rising population, economic growth, and the growing impacts of climate change pose significant challenges to ensure water availability and accessibility. This project aims to address the aforementioned information gap by improving...
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GLOW: Global Water Availability Forecasting Service to Support Water Security
The GLOW project aims to pilot an operational service that provides timely and easy access to current and forecasted water availability and demand across the entire Maputo River and the Black Umbeluzi River Basins.
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WE-ACT: Water Efficient Allocation in a Central Asian Transboundary River Basin
The WE-ACT project’s overall goal is to demonstrate a Decision Support System (DSS) for water allocation in a Central Asian transboundary river to increase shared benefits and foster the adaptation of water resources management and planning to climate change.
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Climate Change Impact Modelling Tana Basin, Kenya
FutureWater held for knowledge exchange sessions with the Water Resources Authority responsible for the WEAP model of the Tana Basin. The training focused on how to extract Climate Change data, how to interpret this data, and how to set-it up within the WEAP model.
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Strategic Climate Adaptation Planning for the Amu Darya Basin in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan's water resources depend to a large extent on those provided by the transboundary Amu Darya river which are fully allocated and highly sensitive to climate change and water demand and management changes. Especially the agricultural sector, but also the energy and urban water supply sector need to transform into...
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Hydrological Assessment for the Lunyangwa Dam
The Lunyangwa Dam is prone to overtopping during the wet season. Raising the spillway crest and/or installing gates on the existing crest will allow an increase in the retention level. In order to determine the height of the redesigned spillway, a flood analysis was conducted for several return periods in...
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Capacity Building on Water Accounting in Pakistan
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Pakistan has recently secured Green Climate Fund (GCF) funds for increasing the climate resilience of agriculture and water management in the Indus Basin. Given the region’s climate vulnerability, it is critical to improve information services and build the country’s...
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BONEX: Boosting Nexus Framework Implementation in the Mediterranean
BONEX is a project funded by the PRIMA-EU Foundation specifically for the Mediterranean Region. This region faces several challenges to ensure future food and water security, whilst preserving ecosystems. BONEX explores and develops specific solutions promoting the linking of governance with practice to overcome barriers to WEFE (water, energy, food,...
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Follow the Water: Reuse of Water in Irrigated Systems
Reuse of water in irrigated systems is a key component in design and management of irrigation systems. FAO and FutureWater developed a Guidance document, a Tool and a Training package demand for a better understanding of the role of reuse of water in irrigated agriculture systems. Those outcomes will support...
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Integrated Strategic Water Resources Planning and Management for Rwanda
Rwanda recently published its “Vision 2050” which sets out the national long-term development strategy, stating new objectives for urbanization, energy production, irrigation and water resources development. The Rwanda Green Fund (FONERWA) in collaboration with the Rwanda Water Resources Board (RWB) with financial support from the World Bank undertakes the consultancy...
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CREATE: Cross-Border Climate Vulnerabilities and Remote Impacts of Food Systems of the EU, Turkey and Africa
Knowledge and research on cross-border climate vulnerabilities and impacts of a geographic area is still a new topic in scientific literature. Nowadays, climate risk and impact assessments of food-systems focus typically on the production within a geographic area only. Consequently, knowledge and research on the cross-border climate vulnerabilities of food-systems...
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Training on Real Water Savings for FAO’s Regional Water Scarcity Program
The Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has recently secured funds to continue a program of training on ReWaS, which is a simple tool to estimate the potential for generating real water savings from various agronomic, water...
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Technical Coordination for the Norfolk Water Fund
FutureWater provide support and technical expertise to The Nature Conservancy and Water Resources East in the creation of a Water Fund for Norfolk, in the East Anglia region of the UK. This work identifies Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to be implemented accross the county, aiming to leverage blended finance to fund...
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Technical Annexes on Nature-based Solutions for Water Security
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is producing technical modules and guidance documentation to enable water sector actors and their funders to invest in Nature-based Solutions for Water Security (NbS-WS). Part of the material being developed is a module on technical options, which will include annexes with key information for each of...
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Tailor-made Training on Climate Smart Irrigation Strategies to Improve Salinity Control and Enhance Agricultural Production
This tailor-made training, funded by Nuffic and requested by the staff of the college of Agriculture of Basra University, aims to help mitigate soil and water salinization problems hampering agricultural production in Iraq. The training focuses on accessing and using innovative data and tools in the public domain, to gain...
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Bio-Physical Assessment and Hydrological Analysis for Mukungwa and Akagera Lower catchments in Rwanda
FutureWater will conduct the bio-physical assessment and hydrological analysis for the Mukungwa and Akagera Lower Catchments in Rwanda. The project will be the basis for two catchment plans to be developed through the “EIWRM Project”, funded by the Government of the Netherlands and implemented by a consortium led by the...
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Development of a Glacio-Hydrological Model and IWRM Plan for the Uttarakhand subbasin in India
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s (SDCs) Global Programme Climate Change and Environment (GP CCE) India is supporting the operationalization of climate change adaptation actions in the mountain states of Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh through the phase two of the “Strengthening State Strategies for Climate Action” (3SCA) project...
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Improved Watershed and Forestry Activities to Secure Hydropower
This study supports Gabon in preserving Hydrologic Ecosystem Services in a river basin which faces challenges due to planned hydropower and forestry operations. It will evaluate various watershed management scenarios which may improve hydrological flow conditions and hydropower options. FutureWater analyzes hydrological ecosystem services provision in the Komo basin through...
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Tailor Made Training for the Rwanda Water Resources Board (RWB) on Water Allocation Modelling and Remote Sensing Analysis
FutureWater will provide a Tailor Made Training to water professionals at the Rwanda Water Resources Board (RWB) on Water Allocation Modeling and Remote Sensing Analysis. About 20 participants of the RWB are thought to work with the Water Evaluation And Planning model WEAP and the Remote Sensing platform of Google...
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Climate Risk Screening: Water Availability Indonesia
Indonesia is planning to use its water resources more extensively. Drinking water, irrigation and environmental flow requirements should be served and the baseline of how much water is available currently and under climate change should be known. FutureWater has developed a climate risk screening approach, based on a rapid assessment,...
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Training in Hydrology and Water Allocation Modelling for Kenyan Water Resources Professionals
This course on hydrology and water allocation modelling is organized for the Kenya Water Resources Authority (WRA) and funded by the Blue Deal program of the Netherlands. The first four-week course block introduces the participants to the main concepts in hydrology, hydrological modelling and data collection, including remote sensing. Exercises...
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Future Evapotranspiration in the Souss-Massa Basin
In this project, FutureWater used the outputs of the bias corrected "EuroCordex" RCM ensemble generated for IMWI in a previous work package. Using temperature and precipitation trends from this dataset for both past and future, an application of the Budyko methodology combined with the Modified Hargreaves approach was implemented to...
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Robust Decision Making for Land Use Planning in the Panama Canal River Basin
A Land Use Plan will be prepared for the river basin that belongs to and provides water for the Panama Canal. The regional plan (PIOTA) will set the framework, vision and direction for strategic planning and land use in the basin. For this purpose, the Panama Canal Authority and stakeholders...
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CAREC: Developing the Water Pillar for Central Asia
For the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program, a scoping study was commissioned to develop a framework for the Water Pillar: an investment vehicle for water infrastructure and capacity development that generate regional benefits. The objective of the study is to develop the scope of the Water Pillar Framework...
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Efficient Irrigation of Oil Palms in Colombia
This is a feasibility study on the adoption of more efficient irrigation techniques by oil palm farmers in the Sevilla basin, one of the key basins in the Sierra Nevada, Colombia. The general objective is to identify the local environment at basin scale, the limiting factors and suitable field interventions...
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Climate Risk Assessment of Irrigation and Drainage Modernization Projects
The ADB supports Tajikistan in modernizing tow Irrigation and Drainage projects in the Lower Vaksh river basin in Tajikistan. A holistic feasibility study and project design for the system (38,000 ha), as well as advanced designs and bidding documents for selected works are prepared. FutureWater prepares the Climate Risk and...
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Transboundary water management between Thailand and Cambodia
Transboundary projects aid the development of effective water resource management (WRM) by helping to limit competition over resources and in creating a dialogue for the transferral of beneficial lessons between the countries. This project takes an integrated approach to support the development of a water resource management plan for a...
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Training Package and Technical Guidance for Water Productivity and Real Water Savings
The overall project objective is to compile an inventory of agricultural field interventions and develop a training package to evaluate Real Water Savings from irrigated fields, to systems and basins. A guidance document is developed for agricultural field interventions by compiling a literature database containing published experiences and results of...
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Water Resources and Eco-hydrological Assessments of Tonle Sap and Mekong Delta Basins
The overall project objective is to support MOWRAM to make more informed, evidence-based water resources management and irrigation investment decisions through better understanding of water resources and ecosystems of two river basin groups: the Tonle Sap and the Mekong Delta. The project concerns (i) rapid water resources assessment of the...
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Application of the Decision Tree Framework in the Chancay-Lambayeque Basin, Peru
The Chancay-Lambayeque watershed faces the challenges of rapid population growth and economic development in the presence of inadequate water supply, flood risk and environmental degradation. The study applies a step-wise approach, i.e. the World Bank’s Decision Tree Framework (DTF), to identify most important climate and nonclimate vulnerabilities for the system...
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Climate Risk Assessment Using the Decision Tree Framework
The novel methodology that is piloted by the World Bank for assessing climate risks versus other risks on water resource projects, called the Decision Tree Framework (DTF), is applied to two two planned investments: (1) flood protection infrastructure and irrigated cropland expansion on the Nzoia river, Kenya; and (2) the...
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Hydrological and water resources assessment for the Muhazi Dam
The current infrastructure at the outlet of the large Muhazi Lake in Rwanda is highly unstable and causes a risk to the surrounding and downsteam inhabitants. The authorities want to improve this situation by building a new dyke. A feasibility and detailed designs study was performed for this new structure....
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SMART-WADI: SMART WAter Decisions for Iran
The SMART-WADI project (SMART Water Decisions for Iran), carried out by a consortium of FutureWater, IHE-Delft, and local partner EWERI, focuses on farmers who irrigate their crops with groundwater. The aim is to provide up-to-date information and advice on water productivity, irrigation and farm management. The project combines the latest...
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Remote Sensing for Land Suitability Assessment in Angola
The government of Angola considers the agricultural sector as an economic sector that offers great prospects and therefore aims to further develop the agricultural sector in order to diversify its economy. The potential for expanding the area under production is great. To support the effective planning of interventions that increase...
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HERMANA: Tool for Integrated Water Management
HERMANA aims to foster the development of an integrated water management decision support system (DSS) that supports daily, tactical and strategic decision-making related to water resources in Colombia, and specifically in the Cauca Valley Basin. The HERMANA tool will be a comprehensive system able to provide valuable, relevant, and reliable...
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Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment of Irrigation in Kazakhstan
The government of Kazakhstan with financial support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is planning to upgrade and rehabilitate its irrigation sector. A detailed Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA) has been undertaken by a consortium led by FutureWater in 2017. The team collected all available data on the project...
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Hydropower Development Assessment for the Tamakoshi River Basin
The overall objective of this project is to improve the understanding of the expected impacts of climate change on water availability in the context of potential hydropower development in the Tamakoshi River Basin. Specifically, the project aims to (i) Understand the current baseline hydrological regime of the Tamakoshi River Basin,...
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IMPREX: IMproving PRedictions and management of hydrological EXtremes
FutureWater leads the coordination of the “Agriculture and Drought” sectoral Work Package of IMPREX. This WP specifically aims to study and evaluate the use of IMPREX weather forecasts and predictions, climate variability, and drought indicators to assess agricultural drought risk and impacts over four case studies and at the pan-European...
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Strategic Basin Planning Ganga River Basin
The World Bank has assigned Deltares and its partners AECOM India and FutureWater to carry out the project ”Analytical Work and Technical Assistance to support Strategic Basin Planning for Ganga River Basin in India”. The key objectives of this project are (i) Significantly strengthen the capability of relevant central and...
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Fresh Water Options Optimization
This project identified opportunities for innovative solutions that decrease local fresh water shortages in economic vulnerable regions under increasing water stress (droughts, salinization). The project demonstrated the business potential of fresh water solutions for a case study area with intensive agriculture within the Valencia region, Spain. FutureWater’s role in this...
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Demonstration of Remote Sensing Information for Integrated Reservoir Management in the Red River Basin in Northern Vietnam
In 2011 the Vietnamese and Dutch government signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of a Government to Government (G2G) program for improved integrated planning and monitoring of water resources for transboundary water management and disaster risk management. This project was formulated as part of the G2G trajectory towards...
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Water Allocation Model Development to Support Decision Making Procedures
Two water allocation models were developed in this project as a tool to support policy evaluation and improve strategic and operational decision making procedures of ARA-Sul, which is one of the five water management organizations in Mozambique. WEAP (Water Evaluation And Planning) was chosen as modelling framework. Different scenarios were...
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Central Asia Regional Risk Assessment for Water Related Energy Sector Impacts
The objective of this study was to support the “Central Asia Regional Energy Sector Vulnerability Study” led by Industrial Economics (IEc) and funded by the World Bank, by carrying out an expanded risk assessment for water availability and water related energy sector impacts in Central Asia. The work built on...
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The Nairobi Water Fund: hydrologic modelling and economic valuation of investment options
In 2013 The Nature Conservancy (TNC) started working to launch the first Water Fund in Africa to restore and protect the condition of the Tana River and improve Nairobi’s water security. Key questions that needed to be answered were “Where and in what activities should the fund invest its money?”...
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Online field-scale irrigation management for Romania
In this project a field-scale irrigation planning and management system was setup and tested. The basis for this system is formed by online in-situ ground data on soil moisture content and hydrological model calculations of the root zone and shallow subsoil. Weather stations and soil moisture sensors were installed at...
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Climate adaptation Colombia
The 2011 floods and droughts in the Magdalena river basin triggered the Colombian government and water institutions to enforce the attention given to water security and dike safety. To improve the capacities of Colombia for adaptation of water management to climate change pilot projects were started in one small and...
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Mainstream Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Into Agriculture in the Southern Caucasus
This study contributes to the agriculture sector climate change impact assessment and adaptation and mitigation strategy identification and evaluation. The study encompasses the three countries of the Southern Caucasus region: Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The project also includes components for capacity building among in-country staff, and support of the World...
