Sand dams for sustainable water management: Challenges and future opportunities.

Sand dams are impermeable water harvesting structures built to collect and store water within the volume of sediments transported by ephemeral rivers. The artificial sandy aquifer created by the sand dam reduces evaporation losses relative to surface water storage in traditional dams. Recent years have seen a renaissance of studies on sand dams as an effective water scarcity adaptation strategy for drylands.

Water Ecosystem Services Footprint of agricultural production in Central Italy.

The appropriate implementation of the concept of Water-related Ecosystem Services (WES) in water resources planning can support the development of productive activities and, at the same time, sustain local ecosystems. However, such implementation it is only possible when both WES supply and demand are evaluated, eventually with a spatially explicit method, for gaining insights into the ecohydrological behavior of a basin and the anthropogenic pressures on the available water resources. Based on the integration of hydrological modelling and Water Footprint (WF) analysis, this study aims at developing a methodology to analyze both the supply and demand of WES, evaluating a Water Ecosystem Services Footprint (WESF) associated with the agricultural sector.

Evidence-Based Integrated Analysis of Environmental Hazards in Southern Bolivia.

The "Valles Cruceños" rural region plays a fundamental role for securing food and other resources for the neighboring, and fast sprawling, city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia). Due to the increasing pressure on its natural resources, the region is affected by progressive and severe environmental degradation, as many other rural regions in South and Central America. In this situation, sound policies and governance for sustainable land management are weak and not supported by data and scientific research outputs.

Fog collection as a strategy to sequester carbon in drylands.

Advection fog is the sole source of water for many near-the-sea arid areas worldwide such as the lomas, i.e. fog-dependant landscapes of the coastal zone of Peru and Northern Chile, where deforestation occurred since 16th century, leading to a progressive and severe desertification.