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Cooperation in transboundary river basins is challenged by the riparian countries' differing needs for water use. This is the case especially in Amu Darya Basin in Central Asia, where upstream Tajikistan is building the Rogun Hydropower Plant (RHP) to increase its energy security, while the downstream countries oppose the plant due to the feared negative impacts to their irrigated agriculture. Several experimental scenarios illustrate how the concept of benefit sharing could be used as a framework to investigate these water-energy-agriculture linkages in a transboundary context. Using a hydro-economic model, we investigate the economic benefits of various scenarios emphasizing agricultural and/or energy production, thus benefiting the riparian countries uniquely. Subsequently, we discuss how benefit-sharing arrangements with different forms of compensations could be used as a mechanism to facilitate transboundary cooperation. Our results indicate that several scenarios have a potential to increase the total energy-agriculture benefits in the basin. Yet, agreeing on the actual benefit-sharing mechanism between the countries poses special challenges as each may require countries to give up some of their anticipated maximum potential benefits. The presented scenarios provide a potential starting point for debates over benefit-sharing arrangements across countries needing to address the water-energy-agriculture nexus.

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Restoration of degraded peatland has proven to be complex and many activities that have been initiated in recent years have not had a significant impacted on restoring peatland condition. Revitalization activities that have been carried out in several locations have not been effective. Likewise, rewetting actions were often poorly understood by the community. This research aimed to analyze land use-based peatland restoration opportunities and challenges in Kayu Labu village, South Sumatra. Survey methods and interviews with the stakeholders were applied to collect primary data in the field. The results showed that although Kayu Labu has been designated as one of the focus villages for restoration by the Peatland Restoration Agency, the restoration efforts to date have not significantly impacted on people’s lives. The community has not widely known the implementation of the programs, and only those who were directly involved in the activities were aware of the peatland restoration program. Several opportunities are available to support the implementation of land use-based peatland restoration in Kayu Labu: the community has a strong willingness and commitment to restore their peatlands because they have suffered badly from peatland fires in the past. The community also acknowledges the loss of their livelihoods due to peatland degradation, especially for purun craftsmen, gelam collectors, and fishers. There are also opportunities from government and research programs to be implemented in this area to support peatland restoration. However, there are still challenges that must be faced: the increasingly massive expansion of oil palm plantations by clearing the peatlands, the lack of knowledge about peatland, and there is a general feeling from the community that without peatland their lives would be better off because they could grow diverse crops with higher yields. Therefore, capacity building, communication and knowledge enhancement, and partnerships are needed for the success of land use-based peatland restoration in Kayu Labu.

This paper verifies the statement that “women contribute greatly to growing crops year-round, but their work is not recognized” through in-depth empirical investigation of their participation in rice and vegetable production and farm decision-making processes in Northwest Bangladesh. Interviews were held with 240 randomly selected couples (husband and wife interviewed separately) to document their views of the female’s participation in crop farming activities and farm and household decision-making. The findings reveal that women play a substantial role in farming and are increasingly involved in farm management, but they are generally overlooked or under-valued by their male counterparts. Looking at crop-specific participation, among 18 different activities of the rice production cycle, men recognized that their spouse had “high” participation in three activities, “strong” in one, “moderate” in five, and “weak” in nine. A similar result was found for activities in vegetable production. In both cases, men’s recognition differed from that reported by their spouses. Logistic regression modeling against eleven variables (selected from the intersectionality and patriarchy literature) revealed six statistically significant variables that influence men to consult with their wives regarding farm decisions. The dominant variables were spouse education (years of schooling), spouse Non-governmental organization (NGO) membership, and the number of hours per day that the spouse spent working on the farm. The article provides a new insight into family dynamics in household and farm decision-making processes. The collection and analysis of both counterparts’ (husband and wife) views provides empirical evidence that not only is women’s participation in agricultural activities and decision-making under-recognized, but that higher education and being involved in NGO activities have a positive influence on male perceptions of women’s contributions. While these findings may not be universally applicable, the framework (using intersectionality and patriarchy indicators together with logistic regression modeling) is highly adaptable. Application in other parts of Bangladesh would reveal perceptions in those regions, and would support a more comprehensive approach to future policy intervention towards gender integration into crop farming in line with promoting women’s education and NGO participation.

Abstract:Modeling insecurity under future climate change and socio-economic development is indispensable for adaptive planning and sustainable management of water resources. This case study strives to assess the water quality and quantity status for both the present and the near future in the Ciliwung River basin inside the Jakarta Province under different scenarios using population growth with planned additional wastewater management infrastructure by 2030 as mentioned in the local master plan, and comparing the above conditions with the addition of the effects of climate change. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nitrate (NO 3 ), the three important indicators of aquatic ecosystem health, were simulated to assess river pollution. Simulation results suggest that water quality in year 2030 will further deteriorate compared to the base year 2000 due to population growth and climate change, even considering the planned wastewater management infrastructure. The magnitude of impact from population growth is far greater than that from climate change. Simulated values of NO 3 , BOD and COD ranged from 6.07 to 13.34 mg/L, 7.65 to 11.41 mg/L, and 20.16 to 51.01 mg/L, respectively. Almost all of the water quality parameters exceeded the safe limit suitable for a healthy aquatic system, especially for the year 2030. The situation of water quality is worse for the downstream sampling location because of the cumulative effect of transport of untreated pollutants coming from upstream, as well as local dumping. This result will be useful for local policy makers and stakeholders involved in the water sector to formulate strategic and adaptive policies and plan for the future. One of the potential policy interventions is to implement a national integrated sewerage and septage management program on a priority basis, considering various factors like population density and growth, and global changes for both short-and long-term measures.

Human activities during recent decades have led to increased degradation of the river water environment in South Asia. This degradation has led to concerns for the populations of the major cities of Nepal, including those of the Kathmandu Valley. The deterioration of the rivers in the valley is directly linked to the prevalence of poor sanitary conditions, as well as the presence of industries that discharge their effluents into the river. This study aims to investigate the water quality aspect for the aquatic ecosystems and recreation of the major rivers in the Kathmandu Valley using the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment water quality index (CCME WQI). Ten physicochemical parameters were used to determine the CCME WQI at 20 different sampling locations. Analysis of the data indicated that the water quality in rural areas ranges from excellent to good, whereas in denser settlements and core urban areas, the water quality is poor. The study results are expected to provide policy-makers with valuable information related to the use of river water by local people in the study area.