Caroline King

A Socio-Ecological Investigation of Options to Manage Groundwater Degradation in the Western Desert, Egypt

Under increasing water scarcity, collective groundwater management is a global concern. This article presents an interdisciplinary analysis of this challenge drawing on a survey including 50 large and small farms and gardens in a village in an agricultural land reclamation area on the edge of the Western Desert of Egypt. Findings revealed that smallholders rely on a practice of shallow groundwater use, through which drainage water from adjacent irrigation areas is effectively recycled within the surface aquifer. Expanding agroindustrial activities in the surrounding area are socio-economically important, but by mining non-renewable water in the surrounding area, they set in motion a degradation process with social and ecological consequences for all users in the multi-layered aquifer system. Based on the findings of our investigation, we identify opportunities for local authorities to more systematically connect available environmental information sources and common pool resource management precedents, to counterbalance the degradation threat.

Impact of the Syrian conflict on irrigated agriculture in the Orontes Basin

The impact of conflict on irrigated agriculture and consequently summer crop production within conflict-affected agricultural lands was observed in the Orontes Basin. Water and energy use were reconfigured through a transition from rainfed to irrigated agricultural production over the past 20 years, but have been disrupted as the Syrian war has unfolded since 2011. Remotely sensed vegetation indices were used to determine irrigated summer crop yields during the year 2013. Findings suggest that irrigated agricultural production dropped between 15% and 30% in the Syrian portion of the basin in 2000–2013, with hotspots identifiable in Idleb, Homs, Hama, Daraa and Aleppo. The developed approach demonstrated effectiveness in quantifying and geolocating hotspots where conflicts have the strongest impact on agricultural water use, agricultural production, and eventually support relief and regional agricultural reconstruction in this and other conflict regions.

Assessing the Cost of Groundwater Degradation in the Urbanizing Desert Area of Wadi El Natrun

This chapter shows how economic models and analysis can be used to capture the cost of environmental degradation. A series of approaches to assessing the costs of environmental degradation are explored in the context of a fast-growing desert settlement on the edge of Egypt’s Western Desert. First, a modeling approach focusing on the local agro-industrial economy and the loss of productivity caused by degradation in groundwater availability and quality is considered. This is based on integrating available environmental and economic models of the area. A second modeling approach isolates replacement costs associated with loss of artesianism and the failure of wells as groundwater extraction increases. Third and finally, a holistic approach to the valuation of the degradation of the desert ecosystem and its natural services is outlined. The final discussion considers the perspective for further use of these methods by local decision-makers at the Wadi El Natrun City Council, and other local authorities in rapidly developing regions.