Watershed Management in Dry Areas: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Water availability is a major constraint to the prosperity and development of communities in the arid and semi-arid areas, and the West Asia and North Africa region is not an exception. The project 'GIS for watershed management in the arid regions of Tunisia' started in January 2002, as a joint venture between the Institute des Regions Arides (IRA), Purdue University, and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). It has the improved understanding of water management in watersheds in the dry areas as a major research goal.

Monitoring and analysis of hydrologic processes have traditionally been focused on cropland areas. For arid areas, tools and data are scarce. This cooperative project aims at defining the uniqueness of dryland watersheds and the research framework that can help in developing datasets, relationships, and tools to address the dynamics between people, land, and water in these dry environments.

The international workshop: "Watershed Management in Dry Areas: Challenges and Opportunities", held during January 4-6, 2005 in Djerba, Tunisia, was a milestone activity for the project. The workshop had the objectives to:

1. Present the results of the collaborative activities of IRA, Purdue, and ICARDA on watershed modeling and management; 2. Share current knowledge and on-going activities in watershed management in dry areas; and 3. Identify development challenges and research opportunities for dryland watershed management.

These proceedings compile the presentations of the workshop participants, representing three North African countries: Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria; Belgium; three US states: Arizona, Louisiana, and Indiana; the United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service, International Cooperation and Development, Research and Scientific Exchanges Division (USDNFAS/ICD/RSED), IRA, ICARDA. and the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture. The impact of the workshop was immediate as was witnessed from the improvements that were made to several of the papers after the discussions. Hydrologic, socioeconomic, management, and development-related research needs for dryland areas were addressed.