Water P-Notes

51 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

These practitioner notes (P-Notes) are published by the Water Sector Board of the Sustainable Development Network of the World Bank Group. P-Notes are a synopsis of larger World Bank documents in the water sector.

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Competition or Cooperation? A New Era for Agricultural Water Management
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-04) Ward, Christopher ; Darghouth, Salah ; Minasyan, Gayane ; Gambarelli, Gretel
    Reliable supplies of water for agriculture have helped meet rapidly rising demand for food in developing countries, making farms more profitable, reducing poverty, and helping vast regions of the world develop more dynamic and diversified economies. Can these successes be sustained with demand for food rising and water resources waning? That is the challenge now facing policy makers, planners, and practitioners in agricultural water management (AWM), as well as their allies in the World Bank and other development organizations.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Rural Watershed Management : The Power of Integration
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-02) Darghouth, Salah ; Ward, Christopher ; Gambarelli, Gretel ; Styger, Erika ; Roux, Julienne
    A watershed is an area that supplies water by surface or subsurface flow to a drainage system or body of water. Watersheds vary from a few hectares to thousands of square kilometers. Watershed management (WSM) is the integrated use of land, vegetation, and water in a specific drainage area with the objective of conserving hydrologic services and reducing or avoiding damage downstream or underground. The first generation of WSM projects emphasized engineering and civil works. By the end of the 1980s, the comparative failure of this top-down approach was clear. Since the 1990s, WSM programs have integrated livelihood improvements and poverty reduction objectives with soil and water conservation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Poverty Analysis in Agricultural Water Operations of the World Bank
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-01) Darghouth, Salah ; Ward, Christopher ; Gittinger, Price ; Roux, Julienne ; Srivastava, Animesh
    Agricultural water has been seen as a prime mechanism for fostering rural economic growth and reducing rural poverty. But agricultural water has encountered problems of performance, profitability and sustainability. This resulted in a reduction in investments from governments and lending from development organizations like the World Bank up to early 2000s. A sourcebook on improving poverty reduction performance of agricultural water investments should be prepared to help task teams assess the poverty reduction role of agricultural water, to design and implement agricultural water operations maximizing poverty reduction impacts, and to measure results more effectively.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Public Private Partnerships in Irrigation Development and Management
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-06) Darghouth, Salah
    Irrigation has been vital to agricultural gains in the last half century. But demand for food continues to rise as the world's population increases and economic progress allows more people to eat better. Demand for irrigation grows apace with the demand for food. But in recent years the pace of irrigation development has slowed: expansion of irrigated fields has not kept up with population growth. Governments have been investing less in irrigation infrastructure, and less water is available, as competing demands from cities and industry reduce the water supply. To avoid a severe gap between supply and demand, advanced irrigation techniques and technology must replace inefficient water management practices. With guidance and support from the World Bank, public-private partnerships (PPPs) could improve the way water is used.