Abstract
One third of the land on Earth is suitable for growing crops and livestock grazing and one third is in forest with poor soils. About 1,369 million ha or 10% of agricultural land is used to grow annual crops and of this, approximately 270 million ha are irrigated. The majority of the world’s irrigated area (70%) is in Asia where China and India each have approximately 55 million ha of irrigated area (Table 1). Most of the world’s irrigation is for rice, a wetland crop in Asia. Most other grain crops are grown in semi-arid climates and no food crops are grown in tropical forests. Negligible food crops are grown in wetlands.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
CAN$ = US$0.944, average over 2008
References
AIPA. 2002. South Saskatchewan River Basin. Irrigation in the 21 st Century. Report on line at http://www.aipa.org/21st_Century.html
BCMAF. 2000. Irrigation Fact Sheet: Irrigated Area in British Columbia. Order No. 550.100.1, British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture
FAOSTAT. 2004. Food Security Statistics. http://www.fao.org/faostat/foodsecurity/index_en.htm
Giordano, M. Zhongping Zhu, Ximing Cai, Shangqi Hong, Xuecheng Zhang and Yunpeng Xue. 2004. Water Management in the Yellow River Basin:Background, Current Critical Issues and Future Research Needs. Comprehensive Assessment Research Report 3. Columbo Sri Lanka, Comprehensive Assessment Secretariat.
Hart JR. 2002. South Saskatchewan River Basin. Irrigation in the 21 century. Alberta Irrigation Projects Association, Lethbridge, Alberta. 175 pp
IPPC. 2007. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control Fourth Assessment Report. http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-syr.htm
NRCAN. 2006. Okanagan Basin Waterscape. Geoscape Canada. Geoscape.nrcan.gc.ca
Ring L. 2006. Irrigation Infrastructure Rehabilitation in Alberta; 38 Years of Government/Industry Cooperation. Presentation at the CSBE/SCGAB 2006 Annual Conference. The Canadian Society for Bioengineering, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Shortt, R., Caldwell, W.J., Ball, J. and Agnew, P. 2006. A participatory approach to water management: Irrigation Advisory Committees in South Ontario. Can. Water Res. J. 31:13–24.
Stockholm International Water Institute/International Water Management Institute. 2008. Saving water: from field to fork. Curbing losses and wastage in the food chain. Stockholm International Water Institute/International Water Management Institute, Stockholm, 30 pp.
Statistics Canada. 2001. Total area of farms, land tenure and land in crops, by province (1981–2001 Census of Agriculture). www40.statscan.ca
UNESCAP. 2006. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific News Release. March 2006. http://www.unescap.org/unis/press/2006/mar/g06.asp
United Nations. 2009a. Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision. Department of Economics and Social Affairs. Population Division. Available on-line at http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp2008/peps_documents.htm
United Nations. 2009b. World urbanization prospects: The 2009 Revision. Department of Economics and Social Affairs. Population Division. Available on-line at http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/index.htm
World Bank. 2006. Directions of Development. Reengaging in agricultural water management. Challenges and Options. World Bank, Washington, DC. 218 pp http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTARD/Resources/DID_AWM.pdf
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Madramootoo, C., Baker, R., Shady, A., Fyles, H. (2011). Global Challenges in Water Management: The Canadian Context. In: Madramootoo, C., Dukhovny, V. (eds) Water and Food Security in Central Asia. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9974-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9974-7_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-9973-0
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-9974-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)