Blessing from the sky: rainwater harvesting can enhance ecosystem productivity and livelihoods - Stockh

Written by Sturle hauge Simonsen

Wednesday, 22 April 2009 12:33

A joint SEI/UNEP report outlines the advantages of investing in better water resource
management.

Rainfall and soil water are fundamental parts of ecosystems which supply goods and services
for human well-being. The availability of rain and soil water will consequently determine
ecosystem productivity, both for agricultural and natural systems. However, increasing demand
for water for development as well as the desire to maintain healthy ecosystems puts water
resources under pressure.
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Ecosystem services suffer when rain and soil water become scarce. This in turn affects human
livelihoods. The strain on water resources has led to an immediate need to find innovative
opportunities that enable development and improve human well-begin without undermining
ecosystem services.

A neglected opportunity
A recently published policy report entitled "Rainwater harvesting: a lifeline for human well-being"
which is edited by SEI researcher Jennie Barron , highlights the potential of rainwater
harvesting as a way to create synergies in landscape management and human well-being.

The report, prepared jointly for the World Water Forum by the United Nations Environment
Programme and SEI , explains how rainwater harvesting can serve as an opportunity to
enhance ecosystem productivity, thereby improving livelihoods, human well-being and
economies.

- Rainwater harvesting has often been a neglected opportunity in water resource management
because only liquid water in surface and groundwater sources (often called blue water) is
usually considered. If we develop better ways of managing rainwater, we can improve water
supply, enhance agricultural production and even sustain the ecosystem services we rely upon,
Barron says.

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Blessing from the sky: rainwater harvesting can enhance ecosystem productivity and livelihoods - Stockh

Written by Sturle hauge Simonsen

Wednesday, 22 April 2009 12:33

Rainwater harvesting is the collective term for a wide variety of ways of collecting and storing
rainfall, be it soil as storage, man-made dams, tanks or containers. The intention is to improve
water management for multiple purposes. With farms being the most important ecosystem for
human welfare, rainfed agriculture provides nearly 60 percent of global food value. Needless to
say, rainfall variability constitutes a challenge to such agricultural systems.

- Low agricultural productivity often aggravates a negative spiral in landscape productivity, with
degradation of ecosystem services through soil erosion, reduced vegetation cover and species
decline, says Barron. She points to two reasons why rainwater harvesting deserves serious
consideration:

- One reason is that the cost of decentralised water supply, especially in rural areas: harvesting
and storage of rainfall is much lower than the cost of public water infra-structure in a hilly
landscape with scattered homesteads. Secondly, rainwater harvesting reduces pressure to
withdraw water from existing groundwater and/or surface water sources which could negatively
impact ecosystems habitats and services.

Applicable in both rural and urban areas

In India, rainwater harvesting has been a successful starting point to put development on a
positive track addressing both improved human well-being and re-generation of degraded
landscapes, in particularly semi-arid and sub-humid zones. One of the most extensive rainwater
harvesting programmes to date has been implemented in the Ganzu province in China.

- Through promoting small-scale storage at the household level, 15 million people now have an
improved water supply. The water has also generated extra income through small-scale
horticulture and increased livestock and poutry keeping. Because people’s health and income
have improved, the ecosystem services have also been improved, Barron says.

Rainwater harvesting is increasingly also being promoted and implemented in urban areas.
Recurrent droughts in Australia have spurred private and public establishments to invest in
rainwater harvesting for their own needs. In parts of Japan and South Korea, rainwater
harvesting has also been implemented as a way to reduce vulnerability in emergencies such as
earthquakes or severe flooding which can disrupt public water supplies.

Not a magic bullet, but…

Barron recommends that rainwater harvesting should be better implemented in water
management policies, strategies and plans in order to better recognize the valued impact of
rainwater harvesting.

- Such harvesting is not a ‘magic bullet’ but it can be effective as a complementary and viable
alternative to large-scale water withdrawals, and as a way of reducing the negative impacts on
ecosystem services, not least in emerging water-stressed basins, Barron concludes.

Download the report from UNEP.org (pdf)

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Blessing from the sky: rainwater harvesting can enhance ecosystem productivity and livelihoods - Stockh

Written by Sturle hauge Simonsen

Wednesday, 22 April 2009 12:33

Download policy brief of the report (pdf)

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