Journal of Environmental Sciences Juniper Publishers

  Abstract Water is so essential for living organisms that it is said “ save water, save life ”. Pollution of water, scarcity of water (drought), excess of water (flood) and excessive snow-fall are the different forms in which water becomes unusable/creates problems for the survival of many organisms. Therefore, saving water in its usable form is essential for the existence of life on the earth. One of the ways to save water is its judicial use, which is essential for increasing water productivity. Availability of water in sufficient amount, for those who require it, is necessary for ecological integrity as well as ecological efficiency. While ecological efficiency is related with resource utilization and the extent to which resources are converted into biomass, ecological integrity is crucial for biodiversity conservation. About two-third of the available fresh water is utilized for agricultural activities, and any imprudent/imbalanced use of water in agriculture w...

  Abstract The relation of evaporation deriving meteorological parameters particularly wind speed, solar radiation and vapor pressure deficit with evaporation schemes namely Class A pan evaporation (Ep), potential evapotranspiration (PET) and reference evapotranspiration (ETo) at Tharandt, Germany for the summer half-year of 2004-2013 was investigated. PET was calculated using three methods: 1. Haude (2005), 2. Wendling (1991), 3. Penman (1963); whereas, ETo was calculated according to Food and Agricultural Organization-Penman Monteith method. The results showed that the evaporatin schemes were mainly driven by solar radiation (R2 ≥ 0.69, RMSE ≤ 0.76mm d-1) and vapor pressure deficit (R2 ≥ 0.53, RMSE ≤ 0.92mm d-1). The effect of wind speed at 2m in deriving the evaporation schemes was negligibly small (R2 < 0.12). An equation is derived for estimation of Ep from measured meteorological parameters alone which makes this study special. In another scenario, Class A ...

  Juniper Publishers-Open Access Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources Community Adoption of Watershed Management Practices at Kindo Didaye District, Southern Ethiopia Authored by Merkineh Mesene Mena Abstract Watershed degradation resulted in long-term reduction in the quantity and quality of land resources, which has negative impact on the livelihoods of the rural poor who rely on land resources. The overall intention of this work was assessing Community Adoption of Watershed Management practices at Kindo Didaye district, by taking 6%(40HHs) randomly selected households from the watershed. Through semi structured questionnaire, focus group discussion, transect walk, key informant interview with guide checklist, primary data was collected. By using percentage, frequencies, and chi-square (X2 test) data was analyzed. The findings revealed that almost all respondents (100%) have recognized the watershed degradation problem; and the role of watershed management p...