Preface
Shortage of water resources and deterioration in the quality and availability of agricultural land are worldwide problems. Water and land are critical resources and cannot be regarded as available in abundance. Degradation of land, reduction of river flow, and the increasing frequency of severe dust storms have seriously damaged the natural environment and retarded economic development. These problems have reached dangerous levels in many countries. It is widely believed that an increase in the efficiency with which water is used in agriculture is one key way to reduce many of these problems. For many countries, agriculture is the largest water user and to improve water-use efficiency in agriculture would have a significant impact on sustainable development. It is important to ensure the availability of water in the right quantity at the right time, but it is also important to ensure that water of an appropriate quality is used in agriculture. Therefore, research on water-efficient agriculture, and on sustainable use of water and land resources in arid and semi-arid areas has a high international priority.
To address many of these important issues an International Conference on Water-saving agriculture and sustainable use of water and land resources in arid and semi-arid areas was organized in October 2003, in Yangling, Shaanxi Province, China. The objective was to bring together a multi-disciplinary group of researchers, engineers, and regulators to interdisciplinary research interests. More than 600 delegates from around 20 countries attended the Conference and a range of the papers addressing the biological aspects of water-saving agriculture are published here. Other papers are published in: Kang S, Davies WJ, Shan L, Cai H. (eds) (2003). Water-saving agriculture and sustainable use of water and land resources, Volumes 1 and 2, Shaanxi Science and Technology Press.
Yangling, chosen as the venue for this conference, is an important agro-science town in the western part of the beautiful Guanzhong Plain, 90 km west of the ancient city of Xi'an. With the Qinling Mountain across the Wei River to the south and the Zhouyuan Plain to the north, Yangling is recognized as the main birthplace of Chinese agriculture. In accordance with legend, this is the place where Houji, the first official in charge of agriculture during the Yao and Shun dynasties, taught people how to grow crops 4000 years ago.
Water shortage in China, particularly in north-west China is very serious. This region (including Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xingjiang, and Western Inner Mongolia) accounts for one-third of the area of China, but has only 8.3% of the total national available water resources. While the water shortage in this region is serious, waste of water resources and water pollution remain as major issues. Overall irrigation water-use efficiency is approximately 40%, with a typical irrigation water productivity around 0.46 kg m–3. Excessive irrigation in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia have had a significant influence on water users downstream on the Yellow River. In addition, the frequency and severity of dust storms, sourced from north-west China, have been increasing every year. This has been accompanied by an increase in the desertification of large areas of land.
We are grateful to the many sponsors of the Conference and particularly to the local team of organizers who did an outstanding job with conference arrangements and made all feel welcome to this interesting region of China.
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