Books

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SANREM personnel and partners have had the chance to be collaborators or contributors to a number of books. Here are a few notable examples, with executive summaries and links to where you can get more information.

Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT): Global Applications

A compilation of SWAT Model publications by Jeff Arnold, Raghavan Srinivasan, Susan Neitsch, Chris George, Karim Abbaspour, Philip Gassman, Fang Hua Hao, Ann van Griensven, Ashvin Gosain, Patrick Debels, Nam Won Kim, Hiroaki Somura, Victor Ella, Luis Leon, Attachai Jintrawet, Manuel Reyes and Samran Sombatpanit.World Association of Soil and Water Conservation Special Publication No. 4 , Bangkok, Thailand 2009.

Poor land use management practices are degrading soils and water quality around the world. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) provides a means to locate and quantify these impacts in large complex watersheds with varying soils, land use and management conditions over long periods of time. Until now documentation of its use has been limited to developed countries. Due to its technological requirements, it is only in recent years that SWAT research has expanded to developing countries. The chapters in this book, originally published as stand-alone papers, constitute a growing global research tradition. Together they describe the successful application of SWAT around the world. The book gives examples of SWAT application for the assessment of water availability in Africa, the study of water resource impacts from climate change in India, and sedimentation issues in China’s rivers, to name a few. An accompanying DVD contains free open-source SWAT software to educate and improve soil and water resource management in countries that cannot readily access mapping software.

An overview of this book is available on the SANREM Knowledgebase: Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT): Global Applications (overview). To order the book, email mannyreyes@nc.rr.com.

The Sciences and Art of Adaptive Management: Innovating for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management

Keith M. Moore, editor. Soil and Water Conservation Society, Ankeny, Iowa, 2009.

Small farmers globally are grappling with the linked problems of poverty and environmental degradation. To address the multiple, complex factors shaping these conditions, this book presents an evolving, adaptive management approach to sustainable agriculture and natural resource systems. The goal is to provide local level development practitioners with the knowledge, understanding, and tools to improve the capacity of smallholders to better use and manage their assets. The principal objective is to empower natural resource managers at all levels through a participatory approach. Part I introduces the concept of adaptive management for complex adaptive systems using the SANREM CRSP Landscape Systems framework. Part II of the book includes a chapter on each of the landscape systems (field, farm/household, watershed, ecosystem, and policy/market systems) as well as chapters on governance and communication for innovation and adaptive management. Part II presents three case studies that demonstrate the application of landscape system adaptive management principles.

This book is available on the Soil and Water Conservation Society's website – click here to order. Printed chapters of the book are available digitally for developing country nationals.

Winning the water war: Watersheds, water policies and water institutions

Agnes C. Rola, Herminia A. Francisco, and Jennifer P.T. Liguton, co-editors, Philippine Institute for Development Studies, Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development , 2004.

There is a water crisis, which is aggravated by a flawed governance of water resources. There is a need to empower local government units and communities to address the water crisis. This book presents a holistic analysis of the water situation that focuses on supply and demand conditions as well as on the social, economic, legal and institutional context of the problem. It argues for watersheds as the appropriate planning unit for an integrated water resources management system. It recommends pluralism in the modes in water governance in the country that will enable local stakeholders…to evolve appropriate mechanisms in accordance with local social, political, economic and ecological realities. In sum, the book seeks innovative ways of trying to win the ‘water war’ or of dealing with water scarcity and its related concerns.

This book is not available digitally. It can be ordered from the Philippines Institute of Development Studies’ publications catalog. To request a copy of the catalog, e-mail publications@pidsnet.pids.gov.ph

Recipes for Life

V. Nazarea, J. Camacho, and N. Parra (University of Georgia). Abya-Yala, Quito, Ecuador. 2006.

A recent increase in the younger generation’s exposure to modern language and culture has threatened the oral traditions of the people in the Cotacachi region of Ecuador. When SANREM began its work in the region, the Cotacachi people asked for help documenting beliefs, rituals, sayings, and recipes that had long been passed along by word of mouth. In response to their request, as well as a need to establish an understanding of the Cotacachi culture, researchers Virginia Nazarea, Juana Camacho, and Natalia Parra documented recipes, folk sayings, local customs, and folk cures for physical ailments, painting a picture of the rich cultural and oral heritage that has evolved in the region. Titled Recipes for Life, the book contains cures for such ailments as varicose veins, headaches, cough and cold, fevers, and liver pain; advice on childbirth and child rearing; explanations of cultural ceremonies and traditions; recipes for ritual and everyday foods; and sayings meant to guide each generation toward a better life. The book was written in three languages-Quechua, Spanish, and English-to connect with a universal audience and it illustrates SANREM’s efforts to embrace the distinct, yet common, elements that characterize project sites around the globe.

Ecoagriculture: A Review and Assessment of its Scientific Foundations

Ecoagriculture Discussion Paper No. 1. L. Buck, T. Gavin, D. Lee, and N. Uphoff (Cornell University). Ecoagriculture Partners, Washington DC. 2004.

Continued population growth and urban expansion are reducing the availability per capita of land for agricultural purposes. Growing water scarcity is threatening agricultural production and creating challenges for farmers. As the severity of these problems increases, the world continues to demand that agriculture:

  • feed the growing global population and reduce hunger;
  • generate sustainable incomes and livelihoods;
  • contribute to export growth strategies;
  • reduce poverty; and
  • support economic and social equity.

There is growing concern that current agricultural systems are not sustainable and may be contributing to the degradation of ecosystems that are important to humans and other species. Out of this concern comes an approach called ecoagriculture, which promotes sustainable solutions to global malnutrition and hunger while protecting and enhancing the natural resources used in food production and wildlife conservation. This work summarizes input from researchers worldwide, examines the scientific basis for ecoagriculture, and looks at its potential for future development.

Conflict, Social Capital and Managing Natural Resources: A West African Case Study

Ed. K. Moore (Virginia Tech). CABI Publishing, Oxford, UK. 2005.

The Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP)-West Africa Project designed and implemented a program to develop and test an approach to address issues surrounding decentralization, conflict, and NRM. The driving force behind the approach is the need to find long-term solutions to complex natural resource management problems. In dealing with conflict over natural resources, it is important to implement short-term conflict resolution/management strategies, as well as address the underlying causes generating conflict situations. This book describes the SANREM Project approach, focusing on long-term consensus building, the provision of social infrastructure as a platform for change, and improved agricultural and natural resource technologies and decision making tools.

Land Use Changes in Tropical Watersheds: Evidence, Causes and Remedies

Ed. I. Coxhead (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and G.E. Shively (Purdue University). CABI Publishing, Oxford, UK. 2005.

This book addresses land use change in tropical landscapes, with particular emphasis on the economic processes that influence rates of land degradation and forest clearing. Multidisciplinary contributions draw lessons from a rich, decade-long collection of economic, social, and environmental data on the Manupali watershed in the southern Philippines. Through this detailed case study the book documents forces leading to land use changes, in particular the potential impacts of institutional devolution and policy reforms, and highlights interrelationships among biological, economic and social phenomena. This book will be of significant interest to those studying natural resource economics, soil and water conservation, land use, and agricultural development.

Development with Identity: Community, Culture and Sustainability in the Andes

Ed. R. Rhoades (University of Georgia). CABI Publishing, Oxfordshire, UK. 2005.

Throughout Latin America, indigenous peoples are demanding that development must address local priorities, including ethnic identity. Simultaneously, sustainability scientists need to conduct place-based research on the interaction between environment and society that will have global relevance. This book reports on a six-year interdisciplinary research project on natural resource management in Cotachachi, Ecuador, where scientists and indigenous groups learnt to seek common ground. The book discusses how local people and the environment have engaged each other over time to create contemporary Andean landscapes. It also explores human-environment interaction in relation to biodiversity, soils and water, and equitable development. This book will be of significant interest to sociologists, anthropologists, economists, and sustainability scientists researching environment and agriculture in rural communities