Pecologix Political Ecology Blotter

The utilization of plants for mitigating carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects and biofuel production causes a severe burden on the limited sources of arable land and fresh water. This research is aimed at finding alternative plant types for biomass and biofuel production among desert halophytes. Such plants have [...]

They found that, in many areas, water production can be substantially increased without harming the environment. In Africa, for example, most cropland is rain-fed and only four per cent of available water is captured for crops and livestock.”Somehow, we have to get more food without taking more water — and the most promising way is [...]

By mimicking the leaves of a carnivorous tropical plant, US scientists have developed a surface so slippery that everything slides off: water, oil, blood, ice, jam and even ants. This kind of ‘omniphobic’ surface could be used to produce graffiti-repelling walls, self-cleaning windows and pipes that transport fluids easily and quickly. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature10447 Ed. Note: [...]

Under present weather conditions, miscanthus and switchgrass utilized more water than maize for total seasonal evapotranspiration by approximately 58% and 36%, respectively. Projected higher concentrations of atmospheric CO2 (550 ppm) is likely to decrease water used for evapotranspiration of miscanthus, switchgrass, and maize by 12%, 10%, and 11%, respectively. However, when climate change with projected [...]

As freshwater resources dwindle, purified wastewater is increasingly discussed as a supplement for such high-volume uses as crop irrigation. In a 15-year field-scale test of this prospect, Assouline and Narkis studied the soil properties of an irrigated avocado farm in Israel; one side of the farm received natural fresh water, while the other received treated [...]

Global stress on water and land resources is increasing as a consequence of population growth and higher caloric food demand. Many terrestrial ecosystems have already massively been degraded for providing agricultural land, and water scarcity related to irrigation has damaged water dependent ecosystems. Coping with the food and biomass demand of an increased population, while [...]

This perspective reviews water metrics for accounting total water demand to produce bioenergy at various spatial scales. Volumes of water abstracted, consumed, and altered are estimated to assess water requirements of a bioenergy product, providing useful tools for water resource management and planning at local, regional, and global scale. Blue-water use accounting, integrated over time [...]