Who will protect irrigated farming from Hydro-egoism?
VPH Prof. Victor Dukhovny (Uzbekistan) dukh@icwc-aral.uz
The world more and more dives into the inability to achieve a good wish to feed all hungry population. Many slogans, many different calls to increase agricultural production, but for the last five years, the number of people suffering from malnutrition grew almost by 100 million people instead of the set target to reduce it by 150 million. Most of this people live in arid and semi-arid zones.
Irrigated agriculture produces to the global food market 35% of common stock of agrarian goods. This more productive part of the agrarian sector now is more and more impacted by different factors: climate change, lack of credit capacity as a consequence of financial crises; growth of input costs (fertilizers, machines, spare parts, diesel oil and so on); sharp disparity of prices on agricultural production. But now a new negative factor that started to become stronger appears in oppose to the interests of farmers and irrigated agriculture as a whole. The name of it is the hydropower egoism!!!
Charter of Global Water Security - ICID
- Water is a common social and natural resource, which first must be used for meeting drinking and household needs, nutrition and food production (irrigation agriculture) needs, for ensuring health, diet, minimal livelihoods and well-being of population, especially of
Urban Renewal
These 10 global infrastructure and tech companies are among the early leaders in smart-city programs.
“Like Siemens and ABB, most of the beneficiaries of urbanization will be infrastructure and technology outfits that provide or utilize smartphones, sensors and software and services to track the use of a city’s assets and commit resources when and where they’re needed. Cloud technology, which can cut costs while boosting computing capacity, will play a big role. Even social media will participate, as cities multiply the ways a citizen can spot a problem–anything from a water-main break to a traffic snarl–and then alert others to avoid it or do something about it.
Technology researchers at IDC estimate the size of the smart-city information-technology market is now $34 billion annually and will gain 18%-plus a year to $57 billion by 2014. That’s not a huge amount to global giants, but certainly enough to help drive growth. (The companies don’t break out earnings related to these projects.) The market has broadened to include items like broadband connectivity, green belts, renewable energy, green buildings and other intelligent-city systems. “You are talking about smart water, smart transportation, better public safety,” says Jennifer Bélissent, a consultant at Forrester.”
OK, wuuuuuttttt????
Orca tries to communicate with humans by imitating their boat’s motor.
(Source: bringtheruckuss)
Via Climate Adaptation
If I’m wrong > I’ve expressed an opinion > therefore I care
I might live to regret what I wrote to my client today. I started with an apology about making observations from the luxurious position of an interested bystander, and by admitting I’ve only got a fraction of the full picture. Then I let rip with opinions that might trash the project we’ve all been working hard on for so long, and worse - might end long-term and very enjoyable business/personal relationships. That’s the hard thing about giving independent advice - sometimes it hurts me too. I ended with “I might be wrong, but I’m wrong because I care!”
I wonder if someone important said that?
It just works
Don’t you love it when it just works? My dirt bike never ceases to amaze me - it just works. Eight of us bought Yamaha TTR250’s years ago - and they just work and work - all of them. They go anywhere and take an amazing amount of beating. Some ‘upgraded’ to ‘brands’ like BMW - but they don’t seem to work as well. Hard to start, crappy stand. The mass market gives smart people time to fine tune their technology? Simple is best?
Steve Jobs said ‘it just works’ over and over again. It is a strong message. I love it when a client tells me an irrigation system I designed decades ago is still doing its job. It makes you strive for simplicity in every detail, and robustness in every component and connection. Sure price is an issue when you buy, but after you use and use and use it, you’ve forgotten the price and just love it when it works.
Wikipedia says the 2011 report by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) that “The total deaths reliably attributable to the radiation produced by the accident therefore stands at 62”. Within the first 3 months of the accident, 28 of the 134 staff exposed had died. In the 19 years between 1986 and 2005 another 19 died “but not usually of conditions associated with radiation exposure”. “In the general public, the only effect with ‘persuasive evidence’ is a substantial fraction of the 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer in adolescents observed in the affacted areas. By 2005, 15 cases had proved fatal.” Full report from UNSCEAR.
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