IRRINET is an expert system for irrigation scheduling developed by the CER (Emiliano-Romagnolo Canal Irrigation Consortium), implementing the results of more than 50 years of research on plant/water relation and sustainable irrigation management. The IRRINET project was supported and co-funded by the Emilia-Romagna Region with the aim to progressively reduce water use for irrigation all over the region. IRRINET is among the tools provided to the farmers in the frame of Emilia-Romagna Regional Action Plan for Rural Development 2007-2013. The service started in 1984, on the Videotext network, and, nowadays, IRRINET is spreading in other 6 regions of Italy, with IRRIFRAME project. The following step after the 1984 was in 1999 when IRRINET service was developed on WEB. The IRRINET service is freely available on Internet and provides an 'irrigation advice' for the main water demanding crops. The system provides a real-time irrigation scheduling: day-by-day information on how much and when to irrigate farm crops. The aim of present paper is describe the evolution of IRRINET service, the sub-models of IRRINET water balance model and the main development trends. With special attention is analyzed the future development needs in precision irrigation context.
Although landslides are frequent natural phenomena in mountainous regions, the lack of data in emerging countries is a significant issue in the assessment of shallow landslide susceptibility. A key factor in risk-mitigation strategies is the evaluation of deterministic physical models for hazard assessment in these data-poor regions. Given the lack of physical information, input parameters to these data-intensive deterministic models have to be estimated, which has a negative impact on the reliability of the assessment. To address this problem, we examined shallow landslide hazard in Comitancillo municipality, Guatemala. Shallow landslides are here defined as small (less than two or three metre-deep) rotational or translational slides or earth flows. We based our hazard simulation on the stability index mapping model. The model's input parameters were estimated from a statistical analysis of factors affecting landslides in the municipality obtained from a geodatabase. The outputs from the model were analysed and compared to an inventory of small-scale landslides. The results of the comparison show the effectiveness of the method developed to estimate input parameters for a deterministic model, in regions where physical data related to the assessment of shallow landslide susceptibility is lacking. IntroductionVarious natural disasters in recent centuries in Central America have been caused by landslides and debris flows (Zaitchik and van Es, 2003;Petley et al., 2005;Devoli et al., 2007aDevoli et al., , 2007bMedina, 2007;Miner and Villagran de Leon, 2008;Devoli et al., 2009). For example, in early October 2005 at the end of the rainy season, a storm system led to heavy rainfall in Guatemala (UNEP, 2005) and resulted in several landslides that had a severe impact on communities. More than 1800 people died (Cepeda et al., 2010) and the landslides that hit the Sololà and San Marcos Departments wrecked entire villages (Medina, 2007). However, the municipality of Comitancillo (San Marcos Department) escaped the disaster. There were no large-scale land movements (MAGA, 2001), although several shallow landslides and/or earthflows were observed. Nevertheless, landslides are the most significant cause of denudation in watersheds with steep slopes (Wentworth, 1943;Scott and Street, 1976;Li, 1988;Terlien, 1997;Lan et al., 2004).Most landslides in Central and South America occur (or have the potential to occur) in mountainous regions of the Andes and steep slopes in volcanic regions. In rural zones of Guatemala, forested land has been degraded (Medina, 2007) or partially converted to subsistence agriculture (Bresci et al., 2013). Such changes in land use and land cover affect soil cohesion and critical pore water pressure, causing loss of root reinforcement and reduction of the canopy effect on interception and evapotranspiration (Kuriakose et al., 2009).In the municipality the factors affecting landslides have never been identified or analysed; they include lithology, soil texture, slope angle, elevation (Lan et al....
Recent studies highlight the fragility of the Mediterranean basin against climate stresses and the difficulties of managing the sustainable development of groundwater resources. In this work, the main issues related to groundwater management have been identified from the stakeholder’s perspective in the following four representative water-stressed Mediterranean areas: the coastal aquifer of Comacchio (Italy), the Alto Guadalentín aquifer (Spain), the alluvial aquifer of the Gediz River basin (Turkey), and the Azraq aquifer (Azraq Wetland Reserve, Jordan). This has been achieved by designing a methodology to involve and engage a representative set of stakeholders, including a questionnaire to learn their point of view concerning the current management of aquifer systems and their experience with the already available tools for groundwater resource management, such as monitoring networks and numerical models. The outcome of the survey has allowed us to identify both particular and common challenges among the four study sites and among the various groups of stakeholders. This information provides valuable insights to improve the transfer of scientific knowledge from the research centers to the authorities managing the groundwater resources and it will help to plan more effective research activities on aquifer management. The proposed methodology could be applied in other aquifers facing similar problems.
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