Modern technologies, strategies and tools for sustainable irrigation management and governante in Mediterranean Agriculture (IrriMed 2015), Proceedings - Book of Abstracts

Water scarcity is becoming a real threat to the sustainability of irrigated agriculture. This issue is of primary interest in Mediterranean countries, where population dynamics, upgraded standards of living, economic and social development, and the use of water-consuming technologies require careful and continuous assessment of models and strategies for water resources use. The increasing competition for water resources has raised the interest of consumers and governments to adopt water conservation practices and to limit environmental burden. The focus is turned towards increasing the efficiency of water use in the Mediterranean agricultural systems since agricultural sector is the major consumer of water resources. This means also the development of optimal governance strategies considering the multiple interest of various stakeholders in water sector. The failure to adopt appropriate strategies for irrigation management could lead to further deterioration of resources and extended water shortage in Mediterranean agro-environments. Irrigation management embraces a set of technical, socio-economic and environmental issues. Management decisions directly affect the whole chain of water delivery and its application to the fields. Hence, irrigation practices affect crop performance and can lead to qualitative and quantitative improvements in agricultural production. In turn, efficient irrigation management also contributes to the reduction of environmental impact and sustainable use of resources. On the other hand, excessive irrigation results in low water use efficiency, leaching, and runoff of water, fertilizers, and other agrochemicals, contributing to make agriculture an important source of non-point source pollution. With this background, the IRMA project ("Efficient Irrigation Management Tools for Agricultural Cultivations and Urban Landscapes"), granted in the framework of the European Territorial Cooperation Programmes (ETCP) GREECE-ITALY 2007-2013 (http://www.irrigation-management.eu/), has been launched on April 2013, with the aim to establish a network of knowledge and expertise exchange which will lead to the development of practical irrigation management tools for demand-driven capitalization of scientific knowledge and good practices. The closing event of IRMA is the International Conference on "Modern technologies, strategies and tools for sustainable irrigation management and governance in Mediterranean agriculture" (IrriMed 2015), held on 23-24-25 September 2015 in Valenzano (Bari, Italy). IrriMed 2015 has been organised by Regione Puglia (Italy), with the scientific support of the Institute of Sciences of Food Production (CNR-ISPA, Bari, Italy) and in the partnership with the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (CIHEAM-IAMB, Bari). IrriMed 2015 has been focused on the presentation of the latest scientific and technological achievements in the irrigation sector, with the ambition to offer a platform for discussion and debate among actors and stakeholders involved in the management and governance of water for agricultural use. Both scientific research advancements on irrigation practice and water resources governance topics have been covered in the sessions of the Conference. The present "Book of Abstracts" includes the abstracts of the presentations (oral and poster) included in the Conference programme. The abstracts are presented according to the sessions of the Conference: Water governance; Environmental, social and economic aspects of water management; Use of non-conventional water resources; Soil-plant-atmosphere continuum; Innovative tools for irrigation management at farm and district level; Modern strategies for water management under protected environment; Modern strategies for water management for open field crops. The IrriMed 2015 Conference attracted participants and presenters with different background (scientific, administrative, commercial), coming from a wide range of areas of the Mediterranean Basin. We thank all of them for their interest in IrriMed 2015, and for helping us in giving life to this event.