Overall Score:
| Target Readership | Sen. Secondary | For help with criteria, click here | ||||
| Presentation/Style |  |
|
|
 |
||
| Content | |
|
|
|
||
| Literature | |
|
|
|||
| Originality | |
|
|
|
||
| Overall | |
|
|
|
||
Contents:
1 - Water - the bloodstream of the biosphere; 2 - Water availability - expanding the perspective; 3 - human water requirements; 4 - Incorporating water for ecosystem services; 5 - Regional differences; 6 - Vulnerability of the savanna zone; 7 - Water perspectives on feeding humanity; 8 - Closing the yield gap on the savanna - the real world perspective; 9 - Finding the balance between water for humans and nature; 10 - Towards hydrosolidarity through integrated land/water/ecosystem management.
Review:
There is a fundamental problem that has yet to be fully addressed - there's not enough water to allow unlimited human and ecosystem activity. It follows that in order to stop problems there needs to be management based on a proper analysis of the situation. The aim of this text is to put forward one way forward. As such it comes out of ideas of the UN Millennium Declaration where both conventional water management forms - supply-side and demand-side are seen to fail in the reality of water supply and food security especially at a time when we approach 2/3 of the human population suffering some form of water scarcity in a few decades.
To develop this argument, the book is divided into three parts. Part one deals with the use of water in the ecosphere. Chapter one takes the more familiar position of the water cycle but divides water into two: green water (vapour) and blue water (liquid). This is not just a new division but represents a key argument of the book that both aspects need management (rather than just freshwater). Chapter two extends this by looking at soil water and rainfall distribution. If we are to look at water needs then we need to see what we actually need - the focus of chapter three. This, by extension can then be increased to loo at the role of water in ecosystem service maintenance (chapter four). Finally there's and examination (chapter five) of the disparity of green and blue water flows: the argument being developed that we need to have a holistic management picture to best solve these problems. Part two looks at one crucial environment - the savanna. The three chapters comprising this section focus on this area because it contains such a high percentage of those who will first experience water stress (and many who already do). It also follows that if we can manage this more extreme environment we should be able to look after 'easier' places. In doing this, chapter six highlights the actual water regime of savanna areas; chapter 7 the ways in which we could get more out of each drop of rain ('more crop per drop'!) and chapter 8 some ways we could achieve this. Part three looks at ways in which we might achieve a more sustainable water balance with nature. Chapter 9 suggests that we need to re-organise our priorities and learn to co-evolve with the water situation whilst chapter 10 argues for a new approach - called ecohydrology - where we manage holistically, this precious resource.
Although this might be seen as a specialist text there actually a great deal that the beginner can use. A large part of this comes from the accessibility of the work. It's clearly written with large numbers of tables, diagrams, images and graphs all helping the reader make sense of the topic. A clear summary at the end of each chapter helps cement understanding. Given these benefits, this book should be of interest to a wide range of readers. It's rare that a text aimed at a high level can be used by students: it deserves a wide readership.