Africa’s lands are largely vulnerable and threatened by soil degradation and low water availability, especially in semi-arid and arid regions, limiting crop and livestock productivity and farmer livelihood options. Therefore, in African agricultural lands, adopting/improving measures that conserve soil and water resources is crucial. This review aims to provide an update on soil and water conservation (SWC) in terms of farmer practices and research actions and explore how SWC technologies and practices represent a pathway to build or re-establish soil health and enhance sustainable agriculture in Africa. It also aims to increase knowledge on best-fit SWC approaches. Soil conservation, which includes measures of controlling soil erosion and maintaining or improving soil fertility, is inseparable from water conservation. On agricultural lands, the two are typically co-addressed. Increasing plant biomass production through improved water, crop and soil management practices, and managing this biomass judiciously, have direct and indirect impacts on conserving soils and water resources, particularly in drylands. This study focuses on rainfed agricultural systems. We discuss the barriers and challenges to scaling up best-bet SWC technological and management options. Moreover, we show that options, such as Conservation Agriculture (CA), Agroforestry (AF), as well as integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) and field-scale rainwater harvesting (RWH), remain promising for the preservation and improvement of soil health in Africa’s farmlands and improving the resilience of agrosystems to climate change and variability as well as droughts.

/pdf/soil-and-water-conservation-in-africa-state-of-play-and-1imxrzlh.pdf

Soil and Water Conservation in Africa: State of Play and Potential Role in Tackling Soil Degradation and Building Soil Health in Agricultural Lands

In this paper, we quantify the water balance of Jessour at the scale of agricultural plots. Jessour (plural of Jesr) are ancestral hydro-agricultural systems in the Dahar plateau (southeastern Tunisia). They consist of small dams built across wadis and gullies, which retain rainwater and sediments, hence enabling cropping. Despite arid climate conditions, Jessour allow the culture of the olive tree beyond its ecological limits. Weather monitoring stations were set up and soil moisture sensors installed down to a depth of 1.25 m in the soil in two neighboring gullies in the village of Zammour: one with a Jesr and one without. Laser granulometry and organic matter analyses were carried out on samples collected near the soil moisture sensors. Measurements were recorded from 28 September 2017 to 21 September 2018. From 10 to 12 November 2017, the region received 123.3 mm rainfall. The Jesr retained the equivalent of 410.3 mm of soil moisture to a depth of 1.25 m whereas the value in the gully was 224.6 mm. Throughout the summer of 2018, the soil available water capacity (AWC) remained above 55 mm in the Jesr, while it dropped to zero in the gully. Jessour are thus very suitable hydro-agricultural systems to face the climate changes concerning this fragile region, located in the transition zone between the semi-arid to arid Mediterranean region and the Sahara.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/1/295/pdf

Benefits of Water-Harvesting Systems (Jessour) on Soil Water Retention in Southeast Tunisia

The concept of water–energy–food (WEF) nexus is gaining favor as a means to highlight the functions of the three individual nexus elements as interrelated components of a single complex system. In practice, the nexus approach projects forward from the present, seeking to maximize future WEF synergies and avoid undesirable tradeoffs. A complementary approach was employed here to gain insights into how the ancients dealt with WEF relationships, whether currently relevant nexus principles were practiced long ago, and how past WEF dynamics compare to those of today. Two examples, both dating to before the common era (BCE), are considered in detail. The qanats of ancient Persia brought groundwater to the surface and directed it to clusters of agricultural fields in arid areas where crop production was not otherwise feasible. In contrast, the Dujiangyan irrigation scheme of ancient China harnessed previously destructive surface water flows to stabilize food production across a vast agricultural plain. Designed and constructed under highly uncertain conditions and with a long-term perspective, both relied on local resources and expertise to exploit the tight coupling of water and the intrinsic energy from its flows to produce food. Ingenious infrastructure combined with sound governance allowed both to achieve remarkable synergies among the WEF components with minimal apparent tradeoffs. Although both are now challenged by climate change and the increasing complexity of modern WEF relationships, qanat systems and the Dujiangyan irrigation scheme have survived for millennia and still exist in recognizable form. This is due in large part to the persistence of governance systems that devolved significant decision-making authority to those who used water and energy for food production. Although it is not feasible to roll back technology to that of an earlier time, the successful attributes of earlier WEF governance systems warrant more attention in the future.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/7/925/pdf

Ancient WEF: Water–Energy–Food Nexus in the Distant Past

Along with the global climate change, gully erosion, flood and drought jointly restrict the sustainable development of arid rangeland in Central Asia. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) system in gully is a flexible practice that alleviate complex environmental problems. In the Kulusitai watershed of Xinjiang, China, our study presented a decision-making system using GIS combined with multi-criteria analysis and a field survey to identify suitability of gully for RWH. The results showed that nearly 40% of rangeland belonged to high runoff potential area, and gullies as the runoff collection channel became the potential site of RWH. The selection of RWH systems depended on catchment environment and gully characteristics. Therefore, based on the unique natural conditions of Xinjiang and successful RWH cases in other regions, we discussed some suitable low-cost RWH techniques to restore degraded grassland and promote community development. Our study will provide some suggestions for ecological restoration and pasture management in arid regions of Central Asia.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/9/2533/pdf

Sustainable Development of Arid Rangelands and Managing Rainwater in Gullies, Central Asia

Abstract. The presence of geoheritage of international value is the basis of any candidature as a UNESCO Global Geopark. Within the framework of the elaboration of a roadmap for the creation of a UNESCO Global Geopark in South-East Tunisia, a geological and geomorphological study was carried out. The selected geoheritage can be divided into two main families :
palaeontological and sedimentological sites, which provide complete documentation of the opening of the southern Tethysian margin, from the
Triassic to the Cretaceous, and geomorphological and landscape sites
(cultural geomorphosites), which offer an exceptional range of adaptations
of human societies to the morphoclimatic context. This analysis of the
geoheritage is the basis for the implementation of a strategy of geoconservation, geotouristic enhancement and, ultimately, the creation of a geopark in the Djebel Dahar. It demonstrates the importance of the
interrelationships between the cultural, tangible and intangible, heritage
and the geomorphological context.


Patrimoine géologique et géomorphologique : base pour le géotourisme et la création d'un géoparc UNESCO dans le Dahar (Sud-est tunisien)

Les 11 et 12 novembre 2017, le sud-est tunisien a connu un evenement pluviometrique intense. Les quantites tombees ont, dans plusieurs cas, atteint le total annuel. L'analyse climatique de l'evenement demontre le role de la circulation azonale de secteur est, source des importantes pluies qui touchent la Tunisie orientale en general, associee a une circulation meridienne de secteur nord. Malgre des intensites horaires des averses faibles a moderees, les importantes quantites de pluies ont eu des effets considerables sur le systeme hydraulique des Jessour. Dans la region de Zammour, sur le plateau du Dahar, 85 % de ces ouvrages hydro-agricoles observes ont ete affectes par ces pluies et 34 % sont devenus non fonctionnels suite a une destruction importante qui a touche une ou plusieurs de leurs composantes.

https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_99FA3D75636D.P001/REF.pdf

Analyse de l'événement pluviométrique intense du 11 novembre 2017 et ses effets sur le système hydraulique des Jessour (sud-est tunisien)

Des mesures meteorologiques et de la teneur en eau dans le sol a 8 profondeurs differentes ont ete realisees pendant une annee dans 2 parcelles situees au fond de 2 ravins a 130 m de distance, l’un est amenage en Jessour et l’autre est sans Jessour, en vue de quantifier les impacts de ces amenagements hydro-agricoles sur le bilan hydrique. Ces mesures ont montre que seuls 3 episodes pluvieux majeurs (> 20 mm) ont entraine une hausse significative de la teneur en eau dans le sol jusqu’a au moins 125 cm de profondeur. Pour ces 3 episodes, cette hausse a ete rapide et importante jusqu’a 125 cm dans la parcelle amenagee en Jesr, alors qu’une hausse semblable n’a ete mesuree que pour un bref episode pluvieux en aout 2018 dans la parcelle sans Jesr. Pour les deux autres episodes pluvieux plus longs survenus en novembre et decembre 2017, la hausse de la teneur en eau dans le sol a ete nettement plus lente et modeste dans la parcelle sans Jesr au-dela d’une profondeur de 35 cm. Les Jessour semblent avoir des effets differents sur le bilan hydrique dans les sols selon les saisons.

https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_84537B631189.P001/REF.pdf

Impacts des aménagements hydro-agricoles en jessour sur le bilan hydrique dans le sud-est tunisien

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Benefits of Water-Harvesting Systems (Jessour) on Soil Water Retention in Southeast Tunisia

Analyse de l'événement pluviométrique intense du 11 novembre 2017 et ses effets sur le système hydraulique des Jessour (sud-est tunisien)

Impacts des aménagements hydro-agricoles en jessour sur le bilan hydrique dans le sud-est tunisien