Water harvesting is increasingly seen as a means of reducing poverty in many drought prone areas. While extensive efforts are going on in constructing and providing smallholder farmers with water harvesting structures, such as household ponds and wells in Ethiopia, there is limited effort to systematically assess the impact of households’ access to ponds and wells on household welfare. This study applies advanced econometric evaluation techniques to assess whether households with ponds and wells are better off compared to those without. It also explores the factors that explain household level poverty. Results show that households with ponds and wells are not significantly better off compared to households without, even though they are comparable in essential household characteristics. A range of household characteristics, demographics, asset endowments and village level factors were found to be significant in explaining household poverty. Policy conclusions are drawn.

Download the paper

PREM

Over the years, policy makers have explored various mechanisms, which address environmental management and poverty alleviation.  Payments for environmental services (PES) is a relatively new concept which is now recognized as a way to address both of these goals. In a PES system, those who benefit from the environmental services (ES) compensate those who provide these services in order to secure ES provision. This paper investigates the value that domestic water users in Tuguegarao City place on watershed protection. Using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), this study established the willingness to pay of domestic water users in Tuguegarao City. Payments would contribute to a fund that would provide for the watershed protection of the Penablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape (PPLS). This would help to ensure the provision of a reliable water supply for their households. This local fund may lead to funding for a possible watershed management program. This would generate solutions to forest problems by directing funding support to upstream communities to implement measures protecting the PPLS.

Download the paper

PREM

OROUMIEH LAKE, Iran – From a hillside, Kamal Saadat looked forlornly at hundreds of potential customers, knowing he could not take them for trips in his boat to enjoy a spring weekend on picturesque Oroumieh Lake, the third largest saltwater lake on earth.
"Look, the boat is stuck... It cannot move anymore," said Saadat, gesturing to where it lay encased by solidifying salt and lamenting that he could not understand why the lake was fading away.
The long popular lake, home to migrating flamingos, pelicans and gulls, has shrunken by 60 percent and could disappear entirely in just a few years, experts say — drained by drought, misguided irrigation policies, development and the damming of rivers that feed it.

Read More

Yahoo! News

Nam Theun 2, the Lao People's Democratic Republic's (Lao PDR) largest hydropower facility, was officially inaugurated today, signaling a new era for growth, development and poverty reduction in the landlocked Southeast Asian country.

Over 90% of the electricity generated by the project is being sold to Thailand, providing Lao PDR with a $2 billion revenue stream over the next 25 years.

The funds are earmarked for the nationwide improvement of health and education services, and other poverty alleviation programs.

"This project is a testament to the fact that when hydropower projects are done right, in a socially and environmentally responsible manner, the benefits are considerable," said Kunio Senga, Director General of ADB's Southeast Asia Department.

Read More

For more on the project, click here.

ADB

Climate change will create unprecedented challenges in the Asia-Pacific region in coming years, intensifying existing pressures on water and food supplies, while exacerbating weather related disasters, a panel of experts stressed today.

The seminar, “Climate Risk and Resilience: Securing the Region’s Future,” examined the threats posed by climate change to water and food security in the region and explored strategies to manage those threats. Key solutions include scaling up efforts to “climate proof” infrastructure, manage disaster risks such as floods and droughts, and adopt regional food security strategies. The seminar took place at ADB’s 44th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors in Hanoi, Viet Nam.

Read More

ADB

The Government of Australia has agreed to provide an untied grant of A$21.584 million for Asian Development Bank (ADB)-administered trust funds targeted at water investment and clean energy initiatives in Asia and the Pacific.

Read More

ADB

Protecting drylands is essential. Although deserts cover more than 40% of the planet's land area, they are facing dramatic changes as a result of global climate change, high water demands, tourism and salt contamination of irrigated soils.

UNEP

For 5,000 years the Marsh Arabs lived in the mythical Garden of Eden in the marshes of southern Iraq. Saddam decimated the marshes in the early 90s. Tens of thousands died; over 300,000 people fled into exile. With Saddam toppled the waters are returning. Earth Report discovers if Eden will ever be the same again?

Read More

Rwanda's Nyungwe National Park stands on the spine of Africa. The forest generates a damp micro-climate that spreads well beyond the Park's boundaries. 2200mm of rain falls in this area each year and a huge amount is stored by the rainforest in the trees, plants and soil. Scientists call it a 'Highland Water Tower' -- an incredibly valuable ecosystem that stores water year round - even through the dry season - releasing it slowly into the surrounding region. So Nyungwe is vital for the water supply to local populations and tea plantations and it feeds the head-waters of two of the world's greatest rivers - the Nile and the Congo. Produced by tve and EEMP for UNEP.

This EEPSEA study from the People's Republic of China assesses a number of potential policy options that could help protect the Qixinghe Wetlands which lie in the country’s Sanjiang Plain. The region’s wetlands are the most important breeding ground and migration route for waterfowls in Northeastern Asia, and provide a habitat for numerous species of wildlife. They face many challenges, one of the most significant being the disruption of the water supplies that feed them. Agriculture is the main cause of this problem, accounting for more than 75% of the total water use in the area. As the flow of water entering the wetlands is diverted, its ecosystem is damaged. This problem affects many wetland areas in the PRC.

Read the paper

EEPSEA