agriculture land irrigated News

FAO warns of the risk of a double tragedy in the Philippines

Immediate assistance from the international community for Philippine farmers is critical to avoid a double tragedy befalling rural survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, FAO announced today. FAO is calling on the donor community to urgently step forward and provide more than $11 million to get money to rural people to help clean and clear agricultural land and de-silt irrigation canals in the aftermath of ...

Nov. 27, 2013

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Predicting the spread of plant invasions across Europe

For the first time, a map has been produced that can be used to predict the level of invasion by alien plants across Europe, which could help policy makers design conservation policies suited to different habitats and landscapes. Areas dominated by farming and urban land are among those identified as particularly at risk. Alien plants are non-native species introduced into foreign areas, ...

Mar. 3, 2009

By European Commission, Environment DG

UN and partners launch 3-year humanitarian plan to help Africa`s Sahel region

The United Nations and humanitarian partners launched a three-year Regional Strategic Response Plan to provide aid to millions of people in nine countries in Africa's Sahel region. The plan seeks to mobilize an initial US$2 billion from international donors in 2014. Some twenty million people are currently at risk of food insecurity in the Sahel and 2.5 million of them need urgent lifesaving ...

Feb. 3, 2014

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Irrigation threatening steppe birds in Mediterranean wetlands

Intensive irrigation of agricultural land in a Mediterranean water basin is altering the habitats of associated wetlands and changing the balance of the bird population living there, according to a recent study. The Mar Menor coastal lagoon is located in the Southeast of Spain. Inland there are an associated series of wetlands of ecological interest, protected by the Natura 2000 Network1. The ...

Jan. 21, 2010

By Science for Environment Policy - European Commission DG Environment News Alert Service

Global irrigated area at record levels, but expansion slowing

In 2009, the most recent year for which global data are available from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 311 million hectares in the world was equipped for irrigation but only 84 percent of that area was actually being irrigated, according to new research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online service (www.worldwatch.org). As of 2010, the ...

Nov. 27, 2012

By Worldwatch Institute

Water reform urgently needed in Asia to feed extra 1.5bn people by 2050, says new report

A comprehensive new study of irrigation in Asia warns that, without major reforms and innovations in the way water is used for agriculture, many developing nations face the politically risky prospect of having to import more than a quarter of the rice, wheat and maize they will need by 2050. This warning, along with related forecasts and possible solutions, appear in a report entitled, ...

Aug. 18, 2009

By International Water Management Institute (IWMI)