In this study, the Surface Energy Balance Algorithms for Land (SEBAL) model and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products from Terra satellite were combined with meteorological data to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) over the Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China. Land cover/land use was classified by using a recursive partitioning and regression tree with MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series data, which were reconstructed based on the Savitzky-Golay filtering approach.

Large rivers are particularly under pressure due to multiple uses which often have severe impacts on ecosystems, or water quality and flow. Conflicting aims and a lack of integration and cooperation in planning and management are not beneficial to sustainable management. Important elements of integrated river basin management (IRBM) include both water quality aspects and floodplain and flood risk management. On the other hand, land use and land use planning are also both of great importance for sustainable river management.

In arid and semiarid regions that have deep soils, plant root systems can extract soil water to a depth of 20m or more. An accurate evaluation of soil water conditions in such regions is essential in order to improve the understanding of the role of soils as a water pool and to design scientifically based water management strategies. However, the vertical distribution of soil water and its storage in deeper layers are unclear due to the shortage of field data.

Sustainable water resources management plans depend on reliable monitoring of land use –land cover (LULC) changes. The use of the remote sensing techniques in LULC changes detection brings consistency and reliability to the decision maker at regional scale. Three temporal data sets of images were used to obtain the land cover changes in this study: Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) acquired in 1984, and Landsat-7 enhanced Thematic Mapper acquired in 2000 and 2005 consequently. Each temporal data set consists of four Landsat scenes, which were mosaicked to cover the whole Nile Delta.

Agriculture is extremely sensitive to climate and weather conditions. The resilience of our crop production systems to changes in climate can be enhanced by improved understanding impacts and responses of crops to changing climates. Several countries in Asia and Africa are at the risk of losing about 280 million tons of potential cereal production as a result of climate change factor, particularly increasing temperatures and prolonged dry periods.

This study examined the separate and combined impacts of future changes in climate and land use/land cover (LULC) on streamflow in the Hoeya River Basin, South Korea, using the representative concentration pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). First, a LULC change model was developed using RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 storylines and logistic regression.

Over the past 20 years, water reform has moved to clarify water rights and responsibilities among users, separated water and land management, and introduced markets. Most recently, water policy has clearly recognised the need for environmental allocations to ensure sustainability. These reforms, especially the last, have created conflicts between stakeholder groups.

The latest theories on the governance of water resources point to the need to adopt integrated approaches, allowing the mediation of conflict between public and private interests by building consensus to include the participation of stakeholders and civil society in formulating and implementing policies, thereby ensuring their legitimacy. Models of governance have particular relevance in the context of estuaries, because of the complexity associated with them.

In the Andean region of South America, understanding communities’ water perceptions is particularly important for water management as many rural communities must decide by themselves if and how they will protect their micro-watersheds and distribute their water. In this study we examine how Water User Associations in the Eastern Andes of Colombia perceive water scarcity and the relationship between this perception and observed climate, land use, and demographic changes. Results demonstrate a complex relationship between perceptions and observed changes.

Rio Grande water is intensively managed and regulated by international and interstate compacts, Native American treaties, local water rights, and federal, state, and local agencies. Legislation and engineering projects in the early twentieth century brought about water impoundment projects and channelization of the Rio Grande which led to the eventual loss of floodplain habitats.

It is well known that land-use changes influence the hydrological cycle and that those changes in the hydrological cycle influence land use. The sophisticated spatial dynamic planning tools that have been developed in the last decades to support policy makers in the decision making process do not take into account the mutual feedbacks between land use and hydrology.