Water Resources Assessment and Management in Drylands

Drylands are fragile environments and therefore highly susceptible to environmental changes. They cover nearly 50% of the worlds land surface and are increasingly being reclaimed by a growing population for food production and urbanization. This makes water resources management in drylands an extremely important issue. The unplanned water resources development may result in aquifer depletion soil and/or water salinization loss of water through evapotranspiration due to inadequate irrigation systems and land degradation (e.g. soil erosion soil crusting and sand encroachment).