Large-scale bioenergy production will affect the hydrologic cycle in multiple ways, including changes in canopy interception, evapotranspiration, infiltration, and the quantity and quality of surface runoff and groundwater recharge. As such, the water footprints of bioenergy sources vary significantly by type of feedstock, soil characteristics, cultivation practices, and hydro-climatic regime. Furthermore, water management implications of bioenergy production depend on existing land use, relative water availability, and competing water uses at a watershed scale. This paper reviews previous research on the water resource impacts of bioenergy production-from plot-scale hydrologic and nutrient cycling impacts to watershed and regional scale hydro-economic systems relationships. Primary gaps in knowledge that hinder policy development for integrated management of water-bioenergy systems are highlighted. Four case studies in the Americas are analyzed to illustrate relevant spatial and temporal scales for impact assessment, along with unique aspects of biofuel production compared to other agroforestry systems, such as energy-related conflicts and tradeoffs. Based on the case studies, the potential benefits of integrated resource management are assessed, as is the need for further case-specific research.
Economic values of water for the main Public Irrigation Schemes in the Sub-Middle region of the São Francisco River Basin, in northeastern Brazil, are determined in this study using an integration of a global agro-economic land and water use (MAgPIE) with a local economic model (Positive Mathematical Programming). As in the latter the water values depend on the crops grown, and as Brazilian agriculture is strongly influenced by the global market, we used a regionalized version of the global model adapted to the region in order to simulate the crop land use, which is in turn determined by changes in global demand, trade barriers, and climate. The allocation of sugarcane and fruit crops projected with climate change by the global model, showed an impact on the average yields and on the water costs in the main schemes resulting in changes in the water values locally. The economic values for all schemes in the baseline year were higher than the water prices established for agricultural use in the basin. In the future, these water values will be higher in all the schemes. The highest water values currently and in the future were identified in municipalities with a significant proportion of area growing irrigated sugarcane.Being aware of current water values of each user in a baseline year and in a projected future under global climate and socioeconomic changes, decision makers should improve water allocation policies at local scale, in order to avoid conflicts and unsustainable development in the future.
Energy securities, increases in fossil fuel prices, and concern about climate change have been major causes of increased bioenergy production. Because biomass production is rural‐based and generally labor‐intensive, bioenergy development happens mainly in less developed countries. Comprehensive analysis is needed to develop appropriate policies to ensure the sustainability of resource use while promoting economic development. Given this, public policies must promote more efficient inter‐ and intra‐sector water allocation schemes. Economic instruments, such as water pricing and water markets, can be used to avoid transferring negative environmental and economic impacts of meeting global renewable energy targets to production regions. In Brazil, water markets are not allowed, but the law has established raw water charges as a management instrument at the river basin level. However, the majority of bulk water charge systems have been defined exclusively for raising revenue. Integrated economic modeling can be a useful tool to support the design of effective economic instruments. This paper describes the main features of two economic modeling approaches that can support effective water pricing decisions. Three case studies illustrate sugarcane ethanol production river basins in Brazil where water prices have already been established but fail to reflect the real scarcity value of water in the region. In addition, preliminary results of a national‐level economic model being built for Brazil show that increasing water charges for the agricultural sector can have significant effects on water demand and agriculture production. The potential benefits of water pricing policy decisions based on economic modeling results are assessed. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
The San Francisco Integration Project is a Brazilian government project aiming to bring water to the semiarid region of the northeast. The project provides funding for two diversions of the San Francisco River, supplementing the supply of local water in four Brazilian states. The Piranhas-Açú and Jaguaribe basins will become the largest recipients of these water deliveries. In this paper, we propose methodologies to state in monetary terms the technical coefficients of water use for the economic sectors associated with urban supply (US) and agricultural irrigation (AI) in different regions of these basins. These coefficients show that for the US economic sectors, at a certain level of urbanization the productivity of water is decreasing. The coefficients of AI obtained are much lower than those of US. The coefficients of AI, when calculated by crop, showed that there is generally an inadequate crop mix in the two basins. When this is associated with the low efficiency of water use, the result is a low economic value per cubic metre of water allocated to the sector. This implies, for both sectors, a need for incentives to use water in a more efficient way.
This paper discusses the theoretical basis of the Project of Evaluation and Development of High Performance Teams, based upon the meta-learning methodology and on the model of evolution, extended through the lights of the Theory of Complexity. This project aimed at the development and application of a methodology for evaluation and constitution and maintenance of high performance teams in the environment of research and graduate programs. It was empirically tested by taking advantage and overcoming some of the limitations of both original models. This is addressed to lecturers and researchers of various fields, as well as for managers of higher education and research institutions
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