The Cultures of Water Management

This book assesses the importance of the cultural dimensions of water management, which differ from one region of the world to another, from humid Southeast Asia to arid parts of the Middle East and Africa. Water is a vital resource, and water circulation brings invaluable benefits in many ways. Too much or too little water can also create disasters, however, including flooding and drought. Water is considered “too much to control” in humid areas and “too little to survive” in arid regions. There is a great storehouse of traditional and scientific knowledge on water management as an expression of culture in both arid and humid areas. The qanat, for example, is used in some arid regions to control the transport of water underground. In humid areas, people have long existed under the threat of heavy flooding by drawing upon traditional knowledge for survival. Once-effective water management is threatened, however, by climate change such as global warming and by the globalization and urbanization of society. Adaptive water management is now imperative as climate and society undergo changes. Not only political and institutional solutions are called for. As well, adaptations of traditional methods must be introduced into modern systems of water management. This book provides valuable guidance on how that synthesis can be achieved.

Part I       Introduction

1.      Cultures of Water Management

Hiroshi Nawata and Makoto Taniguchi

 

Part II     Civilization, Religion, and Urbanization in Water Management

2.    The Traditional Concept of Water in Islamic Egypt

Tsugitaka Sato

3.    Aspects of Policy and Decision Making Regarding Nile Flood Control in 14^th-Century Mamluk Egypt

Takenori Yoshimura

4.    Water Culture with Canals and Groundwater in Thailand

Makoto Taniguchi

5.    Water Culture and its Role in Water Management: A Case Study of the Middle Reach of the Red River

Xiao Yun Zheng

 

Part III    Qanats: Comparisons of a Traditional Water Management System

6.    Comparative Study of Qanats in the Islamic World

Iwao Kobori

7.    Traditional Water Management Systems in Iran: Focus on Qanats (or Karezes)

Ali Asghar Semsar Yazdi

8.    The role of Water Management in the Political History of Iran

Zohre Cheraghi

 

Part IV    Sustainability and Diversity of Oasis Agriculture

9.    The “Oasis Concept”: Part of a Sustainability Paradigm for Applying Traditional Knowledge to Current Environmental Issues

Pietro Laureano

10.  Agrobiodiversity in Date Palm Oases: Case Study of In Belbel and Matriouen in Algerian Sahara

Abderrahmane Benkhalifa

11.  Short-Term Changes in a Saharan Oasis: Water Supply, Farm Expansion, and the Habitation Movement

Shun Ishiyama

 

Part V     Cultures of Development Projects: Drinking Water, Food Security, and Monitoring

12.  Availability of Drinking Water in the Sahel Region

Fumiko Hakoyama

13.  Water and Food Security in the Arabian Peninsula: Struggling for More Action

Ahmed T. Moustafa, Abdul Wahid Jasra, and Abdullah Al Shankiti

14.  Remote Sensing Methods for Surface Run-Off, Soil Moisture and Alien Invasive Species Control in African Arid and Semi-Arid Lands

Buho Hoshino, Hiroshi Nawata, Abdelaziz Karamalla Gaiballa, Kiyotsugu Yoda, and Hiroshi Yasuda

 

Part VI    Conflict Resolution Through Water Management

15.  The Iraqi Mesopotamian Marshlands: Environmental Crisis Mirrors the Cumulative Impact within the Tigris and Euphrates Basin

Ryuichi Fukuhara

16.  Water Conflict and Negotiations in the Post-Oslo Period

Aiko Nishikida

17.  A New Horizon for Peace in the Middle East Involving Water and Energy

Masahiro Murakami

 

Part VII  Conclusion

18.  Water as the Key to the Earth’s Future: “To be Poor without Resentment is Difficult. To be Rich without Arrogance is Easy.”

Hiroshi Nawata

 Part I       Introduction

1.      Cultures of Water Management

Hiroshi Nawata and Makoto Taniguchi

 

Part II     Civilization, Religion, and Urbanization in Water Management

2.    The Traditional Concept of Water in Islamic Egypt

Tsugitaka Sato

3.    Aspects of Policy and Decision Making Regarding Nile Flood Control in 14^th-Century Mamluk Egypt

Takenori Yoshimura

4.    Water Culture with Canals and Groundwater in Thailand

Makoto Taniguchi

5.    Water Culture and its Role in Water Management: A Case Study of the Middle Reach of the Red River

Xiao Yun Zheng

 

Part III    Qanats: Comparisons of a Traditional Water Management System

6.    Comparative Study of Qanats in the Islamic World

Iwao Kobori

7.    Traditional Water Management Systems in Iran: Focus on Qanats (or Karezes)

Ali Asghar Semsar Yazdi

8.    The role of Water Management in the Political History of Iran

Zohre Cheraghi

 

Part IV    Sustainability and Diversity of Oasis Agriculture

9.    The “Oasis Concept”: Part of a Sustainability Paradigm for Applying Traditional Knowledge toCurrent Environmental Issues

Pietro Laureano

10.  Agrobiodiversity in Date Palm Oases: Case Study of In Belbel and Matriouen in Algerian Sahara

Abderrahmane Benkhalifa

11.  Short-Term Changes in a Saharan Oasis: Water Supply, Farm Expansion, and the Habitation Movement

Shun Ishiyama

 

Part V     Cultures of Development Projects: Drinking Water, Food Security, and Monitoring

12.  Availability of Drinking Water in the Sahel Region

Fumiko Hakoyama

13.  Water and Food Security in the Arabian Peninsula: Struggling for More Action

Ahmed T. Moustafa, Abdul Wahid Jasra, and Abdullah Al Shankiti

14.  Remote Sensing Methods for Surface Run-Off, Soil Moisture and Alien Invasive Species Control in African Arid and Semi-Arid Lands

Buho Hoshino, Hiroshi Nawata, Abdelaziz Karamalla Gaiballa, Kiyotsugu Yoda, and Hiroshi Yasuda

 

Part VI    Conflict Resolution Through Water Management

15.  The Iraqi Mesopotamian Marshlands: Environmental Crisis Mirrors the Cumulative Impact within the Tigris and Euphrates Basin

Ryuichi Fukuhara

16.  Water Conflict and Negotiations in the Post-Oslo Period

Aiko Nishikida

17.  A New Horizon for Peace in the Middle East Involving Water and Energy

Masahiro Murakami

 

Part VII  Conclusion

18.  Water as the Key to the Earth’s Future: “To be Poor without Resentment is Difficult. To be Rich without Arrogance is Easy.”

Hiroshi Nawata